[Official] Italian Grand Prix 2022: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 16 of 22

[Born Racer]

Formula 1 arrives at the final stop of its current triple-header this weekend within the sombre shadow of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, an event which is bound to have touched many the world over. Regardless of one's feelings towards the concept of monarchy, this queen was rather universally respected and often admired or even loved by many, such was the diligent, dignified manner in which she operated, the somewhat enigmatic persona she consciously or inadvertently cultivated and the inevitable grandmotherly presence she created in her latter years, as she opened up more to a delighted audience.

Nonetheless, the intangible beauty of sport has the spirit to summon up positive sentiment in times of wider global issues, particularly in the world championship of Formula 1, and it would certainly be a poignant result this weekend were Mercedes to finally deliver a Grand Prix win and offer one of their drivers a chance to stand atop the special Italian Grand Prix podium with 'God Save the King' resonating out, an occasion which would no doubt occur with a sense of the outgoing of the former 'God Save the Queen'.

The Grand Prix at Monza celebrates its centenary this year, as the race was first run a year after Montichiari held Italy's first Grand Prix. In this country, it is generally not drivers who inspire the nation, but Ferrari, and the 'tifosi' (the Italian word for 'fans' which is also adopted by the F1 community to refer to those of the Prancing Horse) get behind any driver that drives for their beloved Scuderia. What began as a promising 2022, with Charles Leclerc well-placed to battle Max Verstappen in the title, has become more and more calamitous as the races have gone on, with the team apparently strategically crippled and scuppering their chances of winning in what is a fast car in a season littered with mystifying tactical errors, unreliability and arguably, a worrying lack of direction. Nonetheless, the tifosi will steadfastly turn out and root for the red team (with flashes of yellow this year).

The history

Monza is a high-speed blast on a pistol-shaped track through a park outside Milan, and although it is now punctuated by tight and tricky chicanes, it maintains its high average speeds due to some long straights and some key fast corners, many of which have been there since its inception. In the early days, it featured some high banking, which still stands as a relic of a bygone age. After Brooklands and Indianapolis, Monza is considered to be the third permanent racing circuit to be built.

In the Italian Grand Prix 1922, the Fiat 804s of Pietro Bordino and Felice Nazzaro came home 1st and 2nd, with the lead car completing the 80 laps in 5 hours 43 minutes and 13 seconds. Pierre de Vizcaya finished a further four laps back in a Bugatti Type 29. Nazzaro was 2nd again in 1923, this time to Carlo Salamano, both in Fiat 805s, while 3rd-placed Jimmy Murphy was the only other driver to finish on the lead lap in his Miller 122.

In 1924, Alfa Romeo P2 8C/2000s took the top four places, with Antonio Ascari winning from Louis Wagner. The next year, in a joint Grand Prix/ voiturette race, the Grand Prix Alfa Romeo P2s of Gastone Brilli-Peri and Giuseppe Campari and Giovanni Minozzi took 1st and 2nd from the Bugatti 39 voiturette of Meo Costantini.

In 1926, the Italian Grand Prix consisted of the 1.1-litre cyclecar class in addition to the 1.5-litre Grand Prix cars. The cyclecars completed 40 laps and the Grand Prix cars 60. André Morel won the cyclecar race in an Amilcar in just over 3 hours, while the only 2 Grand Prix finishers were the Bugatti 39As of Jean Sabipa and Meo Costantini in a little over 4 hours 20 minutes. Costantini had dominated up to Lap 58, but had to finish on 3 out of 8 cylinders.

Robert Benoist completed the 50 laps (500km) of 1927 in almost 3 hours 27 minutes in his Delage 15 S 8. In 1928, it was 60 laps to be conquered, and Louis Chiron was first in just over 3 hours 45 minutes in a Bugatti T37A. Achille Varzi and Giuseppe Campari were next up in an Alfa Romeo P2, while Tazio Nuvolari came 3rd in a Bugatti T35C. A terrible accident involving Emilio Materassi entering a grandstand killed over 20 spectators and the Italian Grand Prix was not held again until 1931 (although a Monza Grand Prix took place). When the national race returned, it was run in June and the Alfa Romeo team took 1st and 2nd, with Campari and Nuvolari driving the lead 8C-2300. Nuvolari won again a year later in May in the Alfa Romeo Tipo B.

Luigi Fagioli, in an Alfa Romeo B finished ahead of Nuvolari, in a Maserati 8CM in 1933, when the Monza Grand Prix was also run on the banked circuit, on which several drivers, including Baconin Borzacchini and Giuseppe Campari, lost their lives. Subsequently, a new layout was incorporated into the 1934 race, featuring two double chicanes, the southern part of the oval and the main straight going both ways, connected by a hairpin. Mercedes-Benz (Rudolf Caracciola and Luigi Fagioli) won from Auto Union (Hans Stuck and Hermann zu Leiningen).

There were five chicanes used in the 1935 edition, with the Scuderia Ferrari team 2nd with René Dreyfus and Nuvolari in an Alfa Romeo 8C-35 in an Auto Union B sandwich, Hans Stuck being the winning driver. Bernd Rosemeyer delivered another win for Auto Union in the C car 1936, with Nuvolari runner-up again in an Alfa Romeo 12C-36. In 1937, the race was run at the Livorno circuit, where Caracciola fought Daimler-Benz team-mate Hermann Lang hard to take the win in the Mercedes-Benz W125, while coming back to Monza, Nuvolari won in an Auto Union D in 1938.

The Italian Grand Prix returned after World War 2 with a street circuit in Milan and a track in a Turin park, before finding its home at Monza again in 1949, an event that Alberto Ascari won for Ferrari. Since then, the Italian Grand Prix, along with the British, has featured in every Formula 1 season.

Monza usually features the shortest race time of the season. Michael Schumacher completed the race in 2003 in a record of 1 hour 14 minutes 19.838 seconds, and he did it a record average speed of 247km/h (153mph). In 2018, Kimi Räikkönen also set the fastest ever lap for average speed here in qualifying, at 263.587km/h (163.785 mph).

Among its dramatic records, Monza also hosted the closest race finish in history; in 1971, Peter Gethin led a six-car train across the line that was covered by a 0.61 seconds. Gethin’s margin over Sweden’s Ronnie Peterson in second was a mere 0.01 seconds.

Other moments that stick out in the memory include 1988, when Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto forged a Ferrari 1-2 a month after the death of the team's founder, Enzo Ferrari. This was the only race which McLaren didn't win that year.

2001's race took place five days after the 9-11 terrorist attacks and was won by Juan Pablo Montoya in his Williams. The race's occurrence was not popular in all quarters, but stood as a resolute example of defiance in the face of devastation.


The track

It has gone through some overhauls, including the addition of the Parabolica curve and the abandonment of the banked track. The circuit now has three chicanes to avoid fumbling over. The Lesmos, two fast right-handers (Turns 6 and 7) are great fun for the drivers, and can reward the successful and punish those who fail, while the third and final chicane is a very fast one and propels the drivers and cars towards Parabolica. A long, long right-hander, apexing this just on point hangs on a fine thread of grip. The corner tempts drivers to barrel in there, later and later on the brakes, but they also have to get the start-finish straight right.




Other information

Circuit length: 5.793 km
Number of laps: 53
Race distance: 306.72 km
Dry weather tyre compounds: C2, C3 and C4

Race Lap Record: 1:21.046 (2004 - Rubens Barrichello - Ferrari)
First Italian Grand Prix: 1921
First Grand Prix at this circuit: 1922
First Grand Prix on current configuration: 2000

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