The Imola track has been on the last four F1 games, and it’s a fan favorite for sure, with a high speed, flowing layout and challenging corner sequences. When you’ve put a good lap together here, it’s satisfying for sure.

 

For a race setup, you need something to defend on the massive long pit straight that’s also a DRS zone for sure, but you also need something that’s stable in the high speed chicanes. I found something that’s OK, but which I will probably refine as I keep coming back to the track in my career mode.

Here’s a general baseline dry race setup for Imola for a pad user:

• Wings – 20/22 or 18/20
• Diff – 10/50/50
• Camber – -3.50/-2.20/0.11/0.20
• Suspension –  41-9-13-9-25-58
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/50% Bias
• Tyre pressures – Middle pressures all tyres

This setup maybe needs a little more work, but it’s a decent baseline to get started with.

More Setup Considerations

Wing levels – You need to be super wary of the long pit straight. If you set your wings too high, you’ll just get blown past on the straight by the over-powered AI like you aren’t even there. I used 22/24 wings in my first career mode season and even that’s was probably too high as I was struggling to defend. Next time, I’ll try 20/22 or 18/20 wings to see if that works better. But as with most tracks on this game, you need lower wing levels than the pure lap times might suggest (update – tried 18/20 wings in my second season here and it worked a lot better in being able to defend – held onto 3rd in a lower midfield Williams).

Tyre Pressures – I keep my pressures pretty much in the middle round here and it seems to work fine. But the front right tyre seems to heat up less than the other 3, so you can lower the pressure on this tyre even more if you like (so use something like: Front right 25.0, Front left 26.0/Rears 23.5). And for Quali, you can set them all the minimum if you like to get more temperature in the softs, in the dry at least. For wet Quali, I’d leave the pressures in the middle.

More Aggressive – If you want to make this setup more aggressive, the main thing would be to bring the wings closer together or even invert them and put the rear wing lower. Also lower your Off Throttle Differential to 45, 40 or 35. But this will be much harder to control on a pad once the tyres start to wear in a race. Even the setup I’m using got tricky towards the end of stints, so you’d be trading off stability for potential turn in and pace.

Intermediate Conditions – For light rain conditions, the dry setup will work OK as it is, but I’d always adjust the wings so the rear wing is always 3 clicks above the front wing (some something like 20/23 or 21/24), and lower the on throttle Diff to 10. You can also soften the suspension and raise the ride height 1-2 clicks each.

Full Wet Conditions – For heavy rain full wet conditions, you definitely need the wings spaced 3 clicks apart (rear wing higher) for more stability, plus minimum On throttle diff and some more adjustments.

Here’s a starter wet race setup for Imola for a pad user:

• Wings – 24/27
• Diff – 10/55/50
• Camber – -3.50/-2.20/0.11/0.20
• Suspension –  38-6-10-7-28-61
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/50^ Bias
• Tyre pressures – Fronts right 25.0, Front left 26.0/Rears 23.5

Other Setup Resources For Miami

My setups are definitely not for everyone, and are also not optimized for single lap pace, but more for stability over longer runs.

If you’re looking for more finely tuned setups for different cars, game modes and conditions, check out these additional setup resources:

• My generic starter setup that I always begin with in testing on all tracks also works perfectly fine round here as a baseline. Just port over the wing and Diff settings I’ve used above and take it from there.
• F1laps.com Imola page – Another car setup forum with pages for every track, and loads of custom setups posted, both TT and race, all cars, all conditions.
• F1gamesetup.com – An even more specialized resource with custom setups, every car and every track, wet and dry weather.
• Sim Racing Centre (Premium) – Need to buy these setups, but they’re top end eSports style wheel setups and therefore not optimized for controller users. But their support team may be able to help you out with tweaks to make. Can buy setups for single tracks or bundle packs. Higher end solution if you’re very confident with the controller handling and want some more pace, even if it you’re trading off some stability.

Racing Tips & Strategy

Imola is a tricky track that requires patience and practice to master. It’s not advised to just turn up to competitive races at Imola and hope everything works out fine; it’s really a track you need to practice beforehand on to build up a good rhythm and consistency. Same for career mode – it’s really a circuit when it can pay to make full use of the practice sessions to master the layout and find a setup that works for you.

Here’s some more tips for navigating a race weekend here:

First sector – The kerbs at the first two chicane sections are tricky; do NOT ride them on the first chicane at all; just be precise and thread the car through accurately and don’t try to “force” lap time by riding the kerbs (they’re raised and will spit you off). The second chicane is a bit easier – you can ride the outside kerb a bit on the exit to gain lap time, but watch out for the raised inside kerb.

Last chicane – The last chicane – at the top of the hill before you come down the hill to finish the lap – is the opposite to sector 1. You have to ride this chicane for best lap time. Throw half your car over each kerb, but keep at least one wheel on the track at all times. Don’t apply throttle while riding the kerbs, and be patient before getting back on the throttle at exit. Nailing this chicane section without spinning or getting track limit warnings just requires practice and “repping” it out, but when you get it right, you can gain serious time over the AI.

ERS (Qualifying) – You’ve got about 10-12 seconds worth of extra Overtake ERS deployment to play with on a standard qualifying lap in online lobbies in the dry (even more in the wet). I like to use a few seconds along with DRS on the pit straight to boost top speed, a few more seconds going up the hill, and and the rest coming back onto the start-finish straight to finish the lap. You’re aiming to almost drain the yellow ERS bar just as you finish the flying lap.

Tyre Strategy (Race) – The soft tyre actually holds up better here than at some other tracks, so it cab be used for a 5-7 lap stint in 25% races. For longer 50% races, it’s realistically a medium-hard strategy though. The “undercut” – pitting 1-2 laps early – also works quite well on this track, and you can leapfrog a couple of cars by taking advantage of fresh tyres.

Defending – Holding position in a slower car against the AI can be really tricky on this track, as ERS runs out quickly and is harder to recoup than other tracks. The pit straight is massive and DRS is enabled along most of it, so try to always get a strong exit (smooth throttle) out of the final corner onto this straight, and if necessary save ALL your ERS allowance every lap to use along this straight (and don’t use it anywhere else), as you’ll need it to defend against AI cars closing in on you. As long as you’re consistent, get good exits out the last corner and have your rear wing set low enough, you can’t really be overtaken anywhere else round here, so use your ERS strategically.