Things to know ahead of the Italian Grand Prix
Formula 1 teams and drivers descended at Monza this weekend for the Italian Grand that takes place at the calendar’s true home of high-speed racing, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Historic track – Today’s Italian Grand Prix will be the 71th race in Italy which means that the race has been staged in every single year since the the FIA Formula One Championship was launched back in 1950. Of the 70 Italian Grands Prix, 69 race have been staged at Monza. The only exception happened in 1980 when Imola played host to the Italian Grand Prix.
The German and the Briton – Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton are the most successful drivers in the history of the Italian Grand Prix. Both drivers have won on five occasions. With his pole position, the reigning world champion could easily break this redord this afternoon. Nelsion Piquet sits behind the duo on this list with four victories to his name. Of the current field, only Sebastian Vettel is a multiple race winner at Monza – he has been victorious on three occasions.
Ferrari on home soil – The Scuderia is the most successful team in the Italian Grand Prix with 19 triumphs followed by McLaren with ten wins. Mercedes has won seven times with winning every single race in the hybrid era bar the 2019 Italian Grand Prix that saw Charles Leclerc show a heroic performance to secure his second F1 victory.
The Brazilian – Lewis Hamilton set the fastest ever lap in yesterday’s qualifying session with his ultra-dominant Mercedes W11, but the fastest race lap record dates back to 2004. It was Rubens Barrichello who set a time of 1m21.046 with Ferrari that is still the official track record at Monza.
Two DRS zones - There will be two DRS zones in Italy. The detection point for the first zone will be 95m before Turn 7, with the activation point 170m after Turn 7. The second detection point will be 20m before Turn 11, with the activation point 115m after the finish line.
Three compounds – The sport’s tyre supplier Pirelli is providing tyres from the middle of its range at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix. The C2 compound will feature as the white-banded hard tyres, with the C3 as the medium tyres and C4 featuring as the red soft tyre.
Sponsors – The Italian Grand Prix has had a title sponsor since 1988 when Coca-Cola became the major partner of the event. Following four years with the American multinational beverage corporation, the Italian Grands Prix have been sponsored by Pioneer, Campari, Vodafone, Santander and Heineken.
Long cirucit – The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is a relatively long circuit with its length of 5.793km. The race distance will be 306.720km with drivers required to complete 53 laps to cover the entire distance.
Changes - There have been made some changes to the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. The track has been resurfaced from the Exit of Turn 2 to the Exit of Turn 4. Furthermore, timing loops have been installed at Parabolica in a bid to strictly monitor the track limits at Turn 11.
Stewards – The international FIA race stewards will be Garry Connelly, Mathieu Remmerie and Tom Kristensen. The trio will work together with Paolo Longoni who will take on the role of the national steward.
Fastest lap - Three drivers on the current grid have fastest laps at this race. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest race lap on six, Kimi Räikkönen on three occasions while Daniel Ricciardo achieved this feat in 2017 with Red Bull.
The Canadian – Formula One’s only rookie in 2020, Nicholas Latifi has plenty of knowledge of Monza. He raced at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in the Formula Renault 3.5, the FIA Formula 3 Championship, GP2 and FIA Formula 2 Championship.
