Italian Grand Prix

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Results The Circuit View All Races

Results

Race Lewis Hamilton 1:21.512 Fastest Lap 53 Laps 5 th George Russell 1:22.036 Fastest Lap 53 Laps 7 th Qualifying George Russell 1:19.440 Fastest Lap 18 Laps 3 rd Lewis Hamilton 1:19.513 Fastest Lap 18 Laps 6 th Read Race Report

The Circuit

Much like Silverstone, Monaco and Spa-Francorchamps, Monza has been a huge part of Formula 1’s history for decades and featured on the original 1950 calendar. It’s been home to the Italian Grand Prix every year since then, apart from in 1980 when Imola hosted, and is nicknamed the 'Temple of Speed'.

It was the third purpose-built race track in the world, after Brooklands in the UK and Indianapolis in the USA, and a current lap stretches over 5.793km with 11 corners. There are plenty of straights to put your foot down, hence why we see so many incredible top speeds, and last season saw Lewis reach 359km/h (223mph) in the speed trap – the fastest of anyone in that race.

The balance of the car is incredibly important here with all the high speeds, and it needs to be perfect. You’ll also see the cars up and down the grid tweaked in order to help with the downforce and drag – such as the addition of skinnier rear wings.

Monza is a low-downforce circuit, and changes are necessary to gain more speed down the straights with less drag. It’s almost the other end of a ‘downforce spectrum’ to somewhere like Monaco, which is high downforce and therefore the rear wings are much larger than normal to help plant you to the ground.

Braking levels are also heavy here, as Lewis and George will try to slow down their cars to make the corners after recording some incredible top speeds. The biggest areas to watch out for are Variante del Rettifilo at Turns 1 and 2 – with the nearby escape road seeing plenty of action over the years – and Variante della Roggia at Turns 4 and 5. This season parts of the circuit have also been resurfaced with new asphalt, which could impact grip levels.

Away from the on-track action, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza always provides a great festival-like atmosphere and attracts some of the most passionate motor racing from around the world.

DRS Corners Speed Trap

• First GP 1950
• Circuit Length 5.793km
• Race Distance 307.029km
• Laps 53

Everything You Need To Know: Italy

This circuit is one of the oldest purpose-built racing venues in the world, and has seen its fair share of history over the years. Always home to passionate motorsport fans, it’s a unique challenge and requires plenty of adjustments to the car for the low downforce characteristics.

We’ve raced here on many occasions, including during the 1954 and 1955 seasons when we won both Italian Grands Prix with Juan Manuel Fangio behind the wheel. In this modern era, we were victorious over five consecutive years here from 2014 until 2018. As a team we’ve stood on the podium 16 times, and started from pole on seven occasions.

Monza had a place on the first official Formula 1 calendar back in 1950, is known for its long straights, quick corners and the iconic old banking that can still be seen today. Although the banked section of the track isn’t used today, we did previously race on it in 1955.

As well as Lewis and George taking to the track in their W15s, it’s also a busy schedule for junior categories with both Formula 2 and the Formula 3 finale taking place over the weekend.

Our Successes

During our time here, we’ve won seven times as a constructor and helped power 13 victories thanks to our engines. Lewis is also tied at the top of the all-time winners list, with five to his name. Three different Mercedes drivers have lifted Monza’s first-place trophy: Hamilton, Rosberg and Fangio.

Our first win in Monza was as a result of the brilliant Fangio in '54, when the Argentine placed his Silver Arrow car on pole position before going on to win the event, something he would replicate the year after too.

Monza marked the final race of the 1955 season, and saw race-winner Fangio crowned Drivers’ Champion for a third time. However, it was to be our last race for what became a 55-year break, as the team withdrew from Grand Prix racing. It was also the final time a closed-wheel car won a Formula 1 race, after the retirement of the iconic W196 Streamliner.

The next victory around the Italian circuit came in 2014 with Lewis. Despite a tricky start and dropping down to fourth, he fought his way back to the front and finished in first with team-mate Nico Rosberg just behind in second. It was the team’s first one-two at Monza since Fangio did the same with Piero Taruffi in 1955.

Lewis was back to his winning ways the following year, achieving his second-ever ‘Grand Slam’. The Brit managed to set the fastest time in each of the three practices, as well as in every qualifying session, and started from pole to win the race with the fastest lap: total domination.

Nico took his turn at the top step of the podium for the team in 2016, and continued the tally of three consecutive wins for us at the Italian Grand Prix.

The next year we witnessed Lewis break an all-time record at Monza, as he secured his 69th career pole position to get the most in F1 history. He was able to deliver more success on the Sunday, as he won again and was joined by new team-mate Valtteri Bottas in second.

Our most-recent victory in Monza was in 2018, when Lewis took our fifth back-to-back win at the circuit. Since then, we’ve visited the podium on plenty of occasions with our most recent piece of silverware coming from George Russell in 2022.

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