Three Main Talking Points Of Upcoming 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Weekend

The seventh race weekend of the season takes F1 back to Imola Circuit in Italy for the first European race. Here are three main talking points of the weekend.

The Haas F1 team already announced that we will see Oliver Bearman in an F1 car for the second time in 2024 during Free Practice Session 1.

The 18-year-old Briton had a fantastic debut during the second race weekend of the season in Saudi Arabia when he replaced Carlos Sainz in Ferrari.

Not only did he manage to bring the car home without a scratch at one of the most challenging circuits of the season, but Bearman also scored six points by finishing in P7.

In fact, he is still 12th in the Drivers' Championship despite participating in only one of six race weekends. But there is a chance we might see him race an F1 car outside of the practice session again this year.

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3. Kevin Magnussen's Penalty Points And Potential One-Race Ban:

Magnussen is currently leading the drivers' standings with the highest number of penalty points. The Danish driver has ten at the moment.

Why is this important? Once he reaches 12, regulations dictate he should sit out one race. Penalty points are not awarded one by one but by two.

This means that if Magnussen makes one more mistake, he should be replaced for one Grand Prix. It will be very challenging for the 31 year old not to get those two points, especially racing in the unpredictable midfield.

Nevertheless, if the Dane does get the two penalty points, Bearman should be the one who replaces him for the next race.

2. The Highly Anticipated Ferrari Upgrade

Scuderia teased the Imola upgrade for quite a while now. The Italian team already even had a chance to test these upgrades during their two filming days last week.

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The expectations are high, especially after Ferrari's team principal, Fred Vasseur, stated his team might challenge Red Bull every single weekend from now on.

McLaren, which introduced a significant upgrade last week, has already shown that Red Bull isn't invincible. Ferrari will be looking to achieve something similar by beating the team from Milton Keynes at Imola Circuit. This also brings us to the final point.

1. Where does Red Bull stand at the moment?

The Austrian team started the season with a significant lead over the remaining nine. However, over the last six race weekends, it seems everyone was able to close the gap a bit more.

In Miami, Lando Norris beat Max Verstappen on pure race pace, and the 24-year-old is confident he will be able to do it again at least a couple of times this season.

Of course, Red Bull isn't standing still at the moment and also plans to introduce an upgrade in Imola. How much time can they gain? Can they maintain the lead over Ferrari, or will Red Bull be in double trouble from now on?

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