Adil Jal Darukhanawala/ZEEGNITION
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza, aka La Pista Magica for those of a romantic disposition, hosts the final European round of the F1 season. For most of Monza’s deafening, raucous history, arriving here for the Italian Grand Prix marked, if not the end of the season, then certainly the beginning of the end.
The date hasn't moved around much since 1950 – Monza was and is an early September race – but F1 has moved on a bit, and now the best that can be said is that Monza marks the end of the middle, the last race on home turf before F1 reacquaints itself with long haul travel in the final third of the season.
Monza is adept at reminding you what you're going to be missing. With the greatest of respect to the razzmatazz and technical excellence of the new circuits, they don't have that patina of history etched into the tarmac. The circuit in the Royal Park, with the Alps in the background and Milan on the doorstep does – arguably more so than anywhere else. Here's a few numbers to get started with...
0.01s - The gap between first and second at the 1971 Italian Grand Prix. Possibly a record – but due to changes in the way times are calculated, possibly not. Certainly the closest finish with the cars trying to beat each other rather than arrange a formation finish, however. Peter Gethin won, with Ronnie Peterson second. François Cervert trailed home a distance third – 0.09 seconds behind, with Mike Hailwood miles back, 0.18 seconds behind, and Howden Ganley practically out of sight a full 0.61 seconds behind the leader... (Watch it on YouTube, it's absolutely awesome.)
1m19.525s - Not an official record but memorable nonetheless as probably the fastest lap ever in an F1 car. Juan Pablo Montoya in the Williams FW26B lapped Monza in practice at an average speed of 262.242km/h. Quick...
2 - wins for Red Bull Renault at Monza courtesy Sebastian Vettel in 2011 and 2013, both from pole position but Seb also has a third – in a Red Bull sponsored Toro Rosso, his first career GP victory in 2008.
3 - chicanes (variante rettifilo, variante della Roggia, variante Ascari) and three corners (curva di Lesmo 1 & 2 and Curva Parabolica) are the only braking points on the 5.793km circuit.
5 - wins for Michael Schumacher – all for Ferrari. He's the most successful driver at the Italian Grand Prix.
10 - Minor tweaks aside, we're on the tenth variation of the famous old track. When the track opened in 1922 it combined the current road course with the famous banked oval. The Grand Prix has mostly been run on the road course – but the combined track hosted the Italian Grands Prix of 1955, 1956, 1960 and 1961. The fearsome old banking is still out there, lurking in the woods to surprise the unwary...
11 - times the Drivers' Championship has been clinched at Monza – though not since Jody Scheckter in 1979.
18 - wins for Ferrari. Comfortably ahead of any competition.
41 - changes of lead in the 1965 Italian Grand Prix. With slipstreaming very much the vogue, the lead changed hands on nearly every lap, with Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, Jim Clark and John Surtees all having a go at the front. Stewart won – his first F1 victory (but very definitely not his last).
53 - laps on Sunday. Will it be Lewis or Nico for Mercedes-AMG or will Sebastian Vettel give the Tifosi something to cheer with his Ferrari?
65 - Italian Grands Prix. Only Italy and Great Britain have been ever-present on the F1 World Championship calendar. Monza is F1's most-raced circuit. 64 of the 65 races have been held here. The odd one out is 1980, when the race moved to Imola while Monza had the builders in.
74m19.838 seconds - Michael Schumacher's race time at the 2003 Italian Grand Prix. It's the shortest duration grand prix in history (at least, the shortest that's gone the full distance).
362.1kmh – the top speed recorded through the speed trap at last year's Italian Grand Prix, and therefore the top speed recorded at any race in 2014. Daniel Ricciardo and the RB10 took the honours. Incidentally, for people who think the hybrid cars are slower than the V8s they replaced – that's over 20kph faster than the equivalent speed clocked in 2013...
372.6km/h - The fastest speed ever achieved by an F1 car during a race. Juan Pablo Montoya (again) achieved that at Monza in 2005 while driving for McLaren with a screaming Mercedes-Benz V10 in the back.
