Major revamp planned for Imola

The modification will be necessary in order to move the pit building towards Rivazza and thus having much larger paddock and facilities, which is one of F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's requirements in order to consider renewing the contract with the autodrome in the future.

The project, funded with 10 million euro allocated by the Italian government at the end of last year, is likely to go ahead and will involve moving the pit building further away from the Santerno river and expanding it to become 280 metres in length and 18 in width, also allowing for larger and more numerous team garages.

With works at the circuit predicted to start around next October and to be completed before the 2007 GP, Imola mayor Massimo Marchignoli hopes the project will be approved by the end of March.

"We are trying to speed up proceedings as much as possible while evaluating the realization of the project," Marchignoli told Autosprint. "We count on approving it as soon as possible, I'd say at most within a couple of months' time.

"For our town, F1 is an important economic resource. It's an incredible worldwide promotional tool, and losing it would be inexcusable."

Federico Bendinelli, president of Sagis, the group which operates the circuit, is not willing to guarantee whether the proposed project will get the go ahead, however.

"We'll have to see whether the town of Imola will approve our project proposal," said Bendinelli. "We can't rule out the possibility that Mayor Marchignoli will decide to commission a brand new project.

"What we are putting at the town's disposal is a part of our project, in particular the structure of the new pits. This includes new race control, a press room with space for 600-650 journalists, a photographers' room, a new and much larger hospitality area and, obviously, new garages, with two more than what's there at the moment."

Imola, a historically fast circuit, went through major changes which made it slower and safer following the death of triple World Champion Ayrton Senna, who was killed at the sweeping Tamburello curve on May 1st, 1994.

"Getting rid of Variante Bassa is an old idea of ours," Bendinelli revealed to Autosprint. "Already in 1994, having made the Tamburello section safer following Senna's accident, the circuit became substantially slower and we thought of eliminating Variante Bassa. In the end we didn't do it because we made [the chicane] a little faster. Now we can reset the right parameters."

Bendinelli pointed out that works on the pit building are needed in order to retain the place on the F1 calendar rather than for safety reasons, but also admitted that the existing building isn't up to current antiseismic legislations.

"I want to point out that Imola's current pits are neither crumbling nor unsafe, only narrow," commented Bendinelli. "If we want our circuit to have a future we must get in line with what Bernie Ecclestone indicates to us, otherwise there's the risk that in two year's time there won't be a Grand Prix here anymore. Besides, it's also necessary to create a new building structure which is within current antiseismic legislations."

A project devised in 2001, which involves moving the pit building and paddock on the other side of the straight on the inside of the circuit, is considered too expensive to implement.

While Marchignoli said in 2004 that the autodrome's current contract with Bernie Ecclestone expires after the 2009 San Marino Grand Prix, Imola's presence in the Grand Prix calendar is often put in doubt partly because of the fact that it's in Italy, which already stages the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.