The area around the town of Imola is a hotbed of racing passion. It is the region of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati as well as the town of Maranello, made famous by the Ferrari test facility located there. The Imola race track was born in the early 1950's, the inspiration coming from a group of motor racing enthusiasts. The idea was to link existing public roads to form a racing circuit at which local manufacturers could test their products. Ferrari were among the first to test there and in 1954, the track staged its first sportscar event.

1963 saw the track stage its first F1 race, a non-championship event dominated by Jim Clark in a Lotus. The track was named after Enzo Ferrari's son Dino (who had died of leukemia in 1956) to secure the Old Man's support in raising the funds needed to establish a closed circuit. F1 arrived at the revised circuit in 1979 for another non-championship race, won by the Brabham of Niki Lauda. Brabham won again the following year as Imola hosted the Italian GP with Monza out of favour, Nelson Piquet this time taking the win.

The Italian GP was returned to Monza for 1981, but the authorities, keen to build on the successful races at Imola, presented the venue with the San Marino GP, the tiny republic being located some 50 miles away. Piquet repeated his feat of the previous year by taking the win. The 1982 race had a bitter end for the Ferrari team, Villeneuve refusing to speak to Pironi, claiming the Frenchman had broken team orders in passing him at the end.

In the years that followed, there were growing safety concerns, especially concerning the runoff areas at several points on the circuit. Sadly, it took the deaths of two drivers, Ratzenberger and Senna, during a tragic 1994 race weekend to convince the authorities to improve the safety, the work being completed in time for the 1995 race.

The circuit was renamed 'Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari', following the Old Man's death in 1988, and the 1999 and 2000 races saw popular Ferrari wins for Schumacher. With the arrival of new and modern tracks, the Imola facility now needs upgrading if it is to retain its place on the F1 calendar.