Monza Circuit Characteristics © FIA

The circuit is 5.793 kilometres long, which requires 53 laps to get it up to the race distance of 306.7 kilometres. It starts with a long straight and a top speed of 335 kilometres per hour before braking into the first chicane, then going around the high speed Curva Grande into another chicane, before two fast right turns that comprise the Curva di Lesmo.

After going under the original banking, the track comes out of a chicane onto two long straights separated by the Parabolica. The pit straight is the second DRS zone of the race, with the first coming out of turn seven on the track map above and into the Ascari chicane.

The circuit is hard on the brakes despite only having seven braking zones and spending 11% of the lap using them (in comparison to spending 73% of the lap on full throttle), and this is due to the sheer amount of deceleration needed on this fast circuit. It is also low on downforce, meaning that many teams use aerodynamic parts and setups specifically designed for this round of the championship. In addition, the circuit is also notoriously bumpy.

The fastest lap at this circuit was achieved in a free practice session by Juan Pablo Montoya in 2004, which was a 1:19.525. In comparison, the fastest time set at the 2013 race weekend was a 1:23.755 for pole position by Sebastian Vettel.

Form Guide

Surprisingly for a series being dominated by the Mercedes team, Daniel Ricciardo goes into this weekend as the in-form driver, something that I definitely didn’t predict for the last race. Still, if nothing bad happens, expect to see Lewis Hamilton get the better of Nico Rosberg this weekend, even if it is only because we’re getting to the stage of the season where the British driver needs to cut down that points deficit.

Bottas has a reasonable chance of getting on the podium if something happens to the Mercedes drivers, similar to his chances at the majority of the other races this season. And, of course, never write off the Ferrari drivers at their home race, because if they could choose one race to get a first placed finish from, I can guarantee it would be this one.

Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are the only drivers on the grid to have won the Italian Grand Prix on multiple occasions, with the German standing on the top step of the podium in his two championship-winning years, in addition to his first ever victory in Formula One for Toro Rosso in 2008. Alonso has won the race on two occasions, once with Renault and once with Ferrari, the latter being the Italian constructor’s last victory at the track in 2010.

Despite a few years without a victory though, Ferrari are the most successful team at the track, winning 18 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix (and one extra victory in 1949, the first race at Monza). McLaren are next up with ten, while Mercedes have only won two F1 Italian Grand Prix, both with Juan Manuel Fangio; one coming on the road circuit in 1954, and the second occurring in the subsequent season on the full 10 kilometre course.

Pirelli and Monza

Monza is Pirelli’s home race, located just half an hour’s drive from the company’s global headquarters in Milan, where this year’s Formula One tyres are designed. It has significant lateral energy demands, thanks to its famous fast corners such as Parabolica, and also big longitudinal demands in terms of traction and braking, because of the long straights followed by slow chicanes.

For this reason, Pirelli is bringing the two hardest tyres in the range: P Zero Orange hard and P Zero White medium. As well as the forces going through the tyres, the actual tyre structure itself faces heavy punishment due to the high kerbs that are a well-known feature of the Italian circuit. The drivers use these extensively to find the fastest racing line, and the tyre plays a key role in absorbing the impacts as part of the suspension. This year, levels of aerodynamic downforce have been reduced by the regulations, which means that while cornering speeds are slower, the cars will reach some of the highest top speeds seen all year, in the region of 360kph.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “Racing at home is always a source of immense pleasure and pride for us, particularly because many of our employees who don’t normally travel to races get to see our tyres in action for the only time all season.

Our home race also happens to be one of the most demanding races of the year for the tyres, due to the rapid layout of the circuit: the reason why Monza is known as ‘the temple of speed’. The faster a circuit is, generally the more stressful it is for the tyres because of the heat build-up that all these forces entail. The cars run a very low downforce set-up for Monza to maximise their top speed on the straights.

This has a distinct effect on the tyres, as less downforce means that the cars tend to slide more and run a greater risk of wheels locking up in the braking areas, which are a key element of Monza. These lock-ups can lead to flat spots, although the design of our tyre structure and compounds this year means that flat spots are a much less common occurrence than they used to be.”

Jean Alesi, Pirelli consultant: “At Monza there is one rule only: finding the best way to deal with top speeds that are closer to 400 than 300 kph. In order to find the highest maximum speed on the long straights, ultra low downforce is needed.

So the main job for the driver is looking after the rear tyres. In order to do that, you need a set-up that delivers good traction on the exit of the chicanes. Otherwise you get a lot of wear on the rear tyres and braking distances get a lot longer, which is a disaster for the lap time. That’s not all though.

At those speeds you actually get the ‘lift’ phenomenon: you feel that the car is about to lift off from the track. It’s something that you only find in Monza; sometimes it even feels quite hard to keep the car in a straight line on the straights. I’ve always loved Monza and I’ve come close to winning on more than one occasion. Listening to the fans cheering in the grandstand is an incredibly emotional experience. And that was with a 12-cylinder engine; with a quieter six- cylinder turbo this year, the drivers will be able to hear the fans even more…”

The circuit from a tyre point of view:
Like Spa, plenty of energy goes through the tyres at Monza. On the straights top speeds can exceed 360kph. Together with braking areas where drivers shed 250kph in a short space of time, this generates longitudinal force of 4.5g. These conditions combined raise the temperature of the compounds up to peaks of 130 degrees, on the surface of the tread.

The medium tyre is a low working range compound, capable of achieving optimal performance even at a wide range of low temperatures. The hard tyre by contrast is a high working range compound, suitable for higher temperatures. Ambient temperatures are usually warm at Monza, but it has also rained in the past – including just before the start of the race last year.

Drivers use the lowest downforce set-up of the year, in order to extract maximum speed on the fast straights: the key to a quick lap time. This means that the tyres have to provide all the mechanical grip necessary to get the cars through the corners.

The winning strategy last year was a one-stopper, with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel starting on the medium tyre and then switching to the hard on lap 23. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso used the same strategy to finish second from fifth on the grid.

Pirelli at Monza in 3D

Brembo and the Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Turn 01 is considered the most demanding for the braking system.

Known by fans as the “temple of speed“, the Monza track is extremely demanding and puts the single-seater braking systems to a hard test.

The presence of long straight lines and the lack of aerodynamic load, which reduces the possibility of efficiently unloading braking torque to the ground, make the braking sections extremely violent and demanding to manage.

Memorable Moments

1971 – Including Jacky Ickx’s retirement due to an engine failure and Chris Amon’s helmet issues putting him back to sixth, the lead changed 24 times in 55 laps between eight drivers, while eventual winner Peter Gethin only led for the first time on lap 52. He dropped back before using the slipstream to overtake Francois Cevert and Ronnie Peterson on the line, creating the closest ever finish at the time with 0.01 seconds between first and second.

1987 – Ayrton Senna drove a car that couldn’t really compete with the Williams at the time, so gambled upon making it to the end of the race on one set of tyres, preserving his tyres to perfection at the right time. However, lapping a backmarker sent him into the gravel trap and Piquet slipped through into the lead, creating a Brazilian one-two despite the state of Senna’s car.

1988 – Ferrari achieved a one-two finish and denied McLaren a clean sweep of all the races that season, after Prost and Senna battled each other while their fuel consumption was too high, leading the Frenchman to retire. Senna attempted to lap Jean-Louis Schlesser as quickly as possible, leading to a collision between them and Gerhard Berger inheriting the lead and the race victory.

1995 – As Hill attempted to lap Taki Inoue’s Footwork, he hit the back of Michael Schumacher’s car, taking them both out of the race, with the marshals going above their normal duties in order to prevent a serious incident between the two title rivals. Ferrari then squandered a one-two finish due to a broken suspension for Berger and a rear wheel-bearing failure for Alesi, so Johnny Herbert took the victory.

2004 – Ferrari showed their dominance as Michael Schumacher recovered from a first lap spin to finish second behind his team mate Rubens Barrichello, who also fought through the field in the wet after having to rectify a bad tyre choice.

Support Races

Jolyon Palmer leads the GP2 series by 32 points from Felipe Nasr, who closed the points gap to him by finishing third and first in the Belgian contests while the British driver completed both races in sixth and third place. Italian heads might be turned towards 2013 Formula 3 champion Raffaele Marciello this weekend after he won the first race in Belgium, although he has been relatively unsuccessful in the 2014 season, as he is currently ninth in the standings.

The GP3 series sees Alex Lynn with a considerable lead over his nearest competitor Richie Stanaway after the top placed man finished eighth and first respectively in order to ultimately add one point to his advantage. The only home driver in the series is Riccardo Agostini, who had finished in point scoring positions in five out of the nine races he has finished, seeing him take 14th place in the championship.

The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup has the closest championship battle of all three support series, with only three points separating championship leader Earl Bamber and second placed driver Kuba Giermaziak, who until recently held the opposite positions. Bamber won the Belgian race while Giermaziak finished eighth, leading to a twelve point swing. The best placed Italian driver there is Enrico Fulgenzi, although he hasn’t taken part since the second race of the season.

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