Italy: Monza track facts

By Phil Huff
September 6 2006

Located in a leafy royal park, the 5.793 km 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 interests of safety, it is still the fastest.

Featuring long, high-speed straights interspersed with tight chicanes, and culminating with the famous final sweeping bend 'Parabolica', the Autodromo Nationale Monza is a low-downforce circuit with a smooth track surface.

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 curbs effectively and remain well-balanced without too much understeer at high speed. In addition, good traction is important for exiting the revised Rettifilo 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.

Honda's maiden Grand Prix triumph in Europe came at the 1967 Italian Grand Prix. In September 1967, John Surtees recorded a dramatic victory by a mere 0.2 seconds in what was the fastest race of the 1967 season. In the years since Surtees' famous victory, Honda has recorded five further Italian Grand Prix wins with Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. Those six triumphs make Monza – along with Monte Carlo – the track on which Honda has achieved most wins. Adding to the sense of history, Honda's first ever pole position also came at Monza when Surtees set the fastest lap during qualifying for the 1968 Italian Grand Prix – a race he looked all set to win before being forced off the track when avoiding a spinning car.

Last season saw BAR Honda secure the second row of the grid in qualifying, but a lack of race pace saw the team drop back to eighth with Jenson Button. Takuma Sato languished a lap down, following a pit stop blunder that left him needing an extra stop and running 50kg over weight.