Formula 1 is coming to Europe.

After the overseas races in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia, the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix is ​​on the program this Sunday (3 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for Formula 1, on Sky and RTL).

A race in Italy on the traditional track in Imola is just right for Ferrari fans.

After all, the Scuderia has the fastest and most reliable car in the field, chief driver Charles Leclerc was able to win two out of three World Championship races.

So it's no wonder that the race has long been sold out, 100,000 fans are expected.

Sonke Sievers

Deputy Head of Department for Sport Online.

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Who goes into the weekend as a favorite?

Definitely Ferrari.

After years of mediocrity, the new F1-75 is the long-awaited big hit.

Leclerc leads the World Cup lonely with 71 points.

This is also due to the weakening competition, especially Red Bull. The team of world champion Max Verstappen is under pressure early in the season.

The RB 18 is too slow and too unreliable.

Motorsport boss Helmut Marko announced improvements for Imola.

The car should be lighter, and the team is hoping for “a few tenths of a second” from this.

But the old racing proverb applies: If you want to be first at the finish line, you first have to get there.

Max Verstappen failed in two out of three races, stopped by technical problems.

Reliability is Red Bull's central problem.

The weather could provide additional excitement.

Last year's race took place under mixed conditions.

It's supposed to rain again and again this weekend in Imola, while showers are forecast for the race Sunday.

In the end, an outsider might benefit from the possible weather lottery.

What is special?

The weekend is going differently than usual. The first of three sprint races of the year is coming up in Imola.

The qualification for the sprint on Saturday (4.30 p.m.) takes place on Friday (5 p.m.).

Before that there is free training on both days.

The sprint race on Saturday decides the starting grid for the main race on Sunday.

A good result in the sprint also earns valuable points for the drivers' standings - significantly more than last year.

So far, only the top three have received points (3-2-1).

Now there are championship points for the first eight drivers: the winner gets eight points and the eighth place still gets one.

The other two sprint races take place in Austria and Brazil.

What about the Germans?

Sebastian Vettel had a weekend to forget in Australia.

His Aston Martin is difficult to drive.

Especially since the four-time world champion missed the first two race weekends due to a corona infection.

That means he's missing a lot of valuable laps in the new car.

"Imola," says Vettel, "is a real test of man and machine."

A weekend without problems would already be progress for the Heppenheimer.

Meanwhile, Mick Schumacher is making his next attempt in Imola to score the first points of his Formula 1 career.

His Haas bolide, which is much faster than last year, offers the potential for this.

The sprint race gives rise to two possibilities for a point result.

In addition, for Schumacher it is once again about being faster than teammate Kevin Magnussen.

And what's going on with Lewis Hamilton?

The record world champion of Formula 1 wants to take over the football club Chelsea FC.

He also attributed his involvement in the plan to his past passion for football.

When he was young, he used to play soccer with the boys around the corner, he said.

Hamilton would like to participate as an investor in a consortium.

"When I heard about it, I thought: Wow, this is one of the greatest opportunities to be part of something big." He didn't name any numbers, but emphasized: "Chelsea is one of the biggest clubs in the world." British multimillionaire Sir Martin Broughton leads the consortium.