The Italian Grand Prix held in Monza is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix first running in 1921 but this was held as a road race while the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza was completed. It was only the third permanent racing facility in the world alongside Bookends and the Indianapolis Speedway and in 1922 cars first raced around the hybrid circuit design which featured a banked section together with a regular road course.

Monza is one of just three of the original circuits used in 1950 for the inaugural FIA F1 world championship. Silverstone and Monaco are the other two but the Northamptonshire circuit has changed significantly over the years while Monaco and the road course used today in Monza have remained pretty much the same.

The banked sector was abandoned permanently by F1 in 1962 following a number of tragic deaths in that section. However, the banking was continued to be used in other racing series and the last race on the crumbling facade was the 1000km sports car race in 1969 which was won by British driver Graham Hill.

 

 

 

Monza one of three original circuits left

Juan Manuel Fangio was the first to claim an F1 pole and win at the ‘Cathedral of Speed’ in 1950. Ferrari are the most successful F1 team to have competed at the track inside the Royal Part with twenty victories and Michael Schumacher together with Lewis Hamilton have the joint highest number of driver wins with five each.

Few circuits from that era have remained identical to their original format and Monza has been tweaked since the F1 teams were here in 2023. The entire track has had the surface recovered along with changes to certain kerbs and track limits.

From the year 2000 onwards a number of new F1 circuits were built and designed by a certain Herman Tilke and a feature of these new tracks was huge run off areas the size of supermarket car parks. Yet the ‘Tilkedromes’ as they became known were not the only circuits to have old school gravel removed and replaced by asphalt.

Even the sacred Monza Parabolica – the final 180 degree turn – was ‘Tilkered’ as gravel was removed from the outside of the turn and replaced by fake grass and concrete. This has been somewhat reversed to near its original form following complaints from fans and F1 pundits alike that the drivers were not respecting track limits.

 

 

 

Drivers unhappy with circuit changes

The tweaks made to Monza for this years Italian Grand Prix have not gone down well with a number of the drivers with Daniel Ricciardo being the most vocal.

“They’ve changed the kerbs,” revealed the Aussie. “I went around the track this morning. I can’t say I’m that impressed because I think some elements have lost some of the character of the circuit.”

Ricciardo goes on to explain that as a driver the circuit layout made “sense to us” although he questions whether outsiders will see much difference.

“But kerbs and things like this…they make a circuit unique, and when you just kind of put some flat kerbs and stuff, like second chicane, so turn five, you get over the kerb and then there was like a thin concrete strip and then gravel.

 

 

 

Greater overtaking opportunity

“[In the past] you’d always just try and run your wheels on that little bit of concrete and use all the track, but not too much.

“It was quite bumpy as well. I think it was kind of old-school and now that’s gone. We haven’t driven it yet but the resurfacing looks great. The asphalt looks really nice, but the kerbs, I’m a bit disappointed in.”

The kerbs at Variante Acari have also been altered and Ricciardo who revealed the F1 drivers were not consulted – believes this may improve the racing, allowing for greater overtaking opportunities.

However, Daniel is not happy with the re-profiling of one of the most famous chicanes in F1 history. “It’s very flat now, so ultimately, because we can use so much more kerb probably, it’s going to be wider and easier to be flat than through nine and ten,” he explained.

 

 

 

FIA disaster after fiddling with Qatar kerbs

“I don’t want to be all negative – maybe that means we can follow closer because it’s easier flat and you get a bigger slipstream, but I don’t know. I think they still underrate the kerbs and what it does to a circuit, how it changes the feeling, the character, the approach.

“We’ll see. Obviously, I am going to enjoy driving here but it feels like it’s lost a little bit of that ‘old-schoolness’ that it had.”

Many of the drivers rate highly a number of the newer F1 course designs, yet for them being able to drive the old school circuits mostly as they were configured brings a smile to even the most hard nosed racer.

The FIA fiddled with Kerbs in Qatar last year and the result was pretty much a disaster. The seated edges were too sharp during one high speed section of the Losail track and Pirelli issued a warning to the FIA that the tyres would start exploding.

 

 

 

McLaren: A repeat 1-2 of 2021?

After practice, the corner was re-profiled with the FIA painting new track limits inside the old ones and fake kerbs were painted on the asphalt to make the drivers believe this was the edge of the circuit.

F1’s governing body had failed to account for the G-Forces present at that particular corner, though the kerbs were planned for use in Austria where the cornering speeds are much slower.

Red Bull come into this weekend having been thrashed by Lando Norris and McLaren in Zandvoort. Ferrari once the world champions closest rivals have fallen away in the past eight race weekends and the form of the Scuderia at their home Grand Prix is uncertain.

The question is whether McLaren are really so far ahead of the others that a repeat for them of a 1-2 in Monza 2021 is probable. If so the team will certainly favour Lando Norris who is closing down Max Verstappen’s lead in the title race.

 

 

 

“Evidence” for Renault quitting F1

In Formula One land nothing should be surprising. Lewis Hamilton announcing he was leaving Mercedes, where he’s claimed six of his seven titles, was indeed a shock for some and then came the news Adrian Newey was leaving Red Bull Racing.

A driver of Carlos Sainz class driving for Williams next season has raised the odd eyebrow or two as has the team’s decision to give their academy driver nine races before the Spaniard joins full time in January.

When it comes to Renault, F1 history shows anything is possible. The French automotive brand first entered the sport in 1977 as a full works team then began selling customer engines in 1983. Renault withdrew their team for 1986 but continued supplying customer engines before pulling out all of F1 all together the following year… READ MORE