Italy: Monza Track Facts

By Phil Huff (10/09/2003)
September 10 2003

Located in a leafy royal park, the 3.6 mile Autodromo Nazionale Monza is bursting with motorsport tradition and remains one of the most challenging circuits in the world.

Possessing a unique character and ambience, Monza is Formula One's oldest track and despite being altered from its original layout in the interest of safety, it is still the fastest.

Because of the pace of the circuit, cars must be set up with the lowest downforce levels possible without causing stability problems under braking. They must also be able to 'ride' the Monza kerbs effectively and remain well balanced without too much understeer at high speed. In addition, good traction is important for exiting the revised Rettifilio and Roggia chicanes effectively and braking must be optimised to cope with the very high temperatures generated when drivers slow from top speed to negotiate these low-speed sections.

With the exception of Curva Grande, overtaking is possible at every corner at Monza but the fast corners before each passing place make it hard to follow another car closely because of the vagaries of modern aerodynamics. Therefore overtaking manoeuvres tend to take place only when cars on two stop strategies have a performance advantage over heavier one-stoppers.

Race Distance	53 laps, 190.586 miles.
Circuit Length	3.600 miles.
Race Start	14.00 local time (13.00 BST)

• The 1967 Italian Grand Prix was the scene of Honda's maiden Formula One triumph in Europe.
• In the years since John Surtees' famous victory, Honda has recorded five further Italian Grand Prix wins: 1986/1987, Nelson Piquet (Williams-Honda); 1989 Alain Prost (McLaren-Honda) and 1990/1991 Ayrton Senna (McLaren-Honda). Those six triumphs make Monza – along with Monte Carlo – the track on which Honda has achieved most wins.
• Honda's first ever pole position also came at Monza when Surtees set the fastest lap during qualifying for the 1968 Italian Grand Prix.