Italian GP 2022
Monza stands out on the racing calendar. On no other racetrack do the Formula 1 cars reach such high speeds in laps. This course requires small skeleton wings. On Thursday we spotted the first specimens.
It's the classic on the Formula 1 racing calendar. No other circuit in the world has seen more Grand Prix in its history. This year, the Formula 1 home of high-speed racing is celebrating an anniversary. The Autodromo has now been in existence for 100 years.
Nothing has changed in character since then. Monza is fast. Faster than any other track on which the ten teams and 20 pilots fight to win races. Here, high speed leads to special adrenaline rushes for the drivers. Three chicanes, three medium-speed corners, a total of eleven corners and four long straights: For this occasion, skeletal rear wings are needed in order to be able to get involved at the front.
The best podium of the year
That's why we paid special attention to the rear wing during our foray through the pit lane. There, for example, we noticed the example on the Red Bull by Sergio Perez. Here the engineers cut out the flap on top to reduce drag.
Red Bull will apparently do comparison tests in training. Because the car of the world championship leader Max Verstappen has a slightly larger wing strapped on, which should help in the corners, but is stronger in the wind on the straights. The days of the very extreme Monza kits are probably over. The teams lack the money for this in times of budget caps at this late point in the season.
As usual, the drivers used Thursday to take a closer look at the track. 5.793 kilometers had to be covered on foot, by scooter or by bike. They took a closer look at the chicanes. The route operator laid fresh asphalt here.
In the second chicane, the variant della Roggia, they removed the yellow humped curbs in the run-off zones. In Ascari and the Parabolica target curve, the asphalt strip next to the track was reduced and the gravel beds moved closer to the ideal line.
The Royal Park has been sprucing itself up over the past few months, but was not quite finished as it should be on the Thursday before the GP weekend. The podium – probably the best of the season – is at least prepared. The Ferrari drivers would love to celebrate with their Tifosi on the start-finish straight on Sunday. The dominators of the year, Red Bull and Max Verstappen, have something against it. And Mercedes wants to annoy both the cops and the reds.
