Talking points ahead of the Italian Grand Prix
Thursday, 31 August 2023
One of the oldest tracks on the calendar plays host to what could be an all-time statistical feat, while making sense of the upper midfield seems harder than ever ahead of Monza this weekend.
The final European round of the Formula 1® season takes place this weekend with the Italian Grand Prix (September 1-3), with the final eight events of the season after Monza taking the series to Asia, the Americas and the Middle East before the chequered flag falls in Abu Dhabi in November.
The magica pista ('the magic track') in the Royal Villa of Monza Park outside of Milan is as Ferrari territory as Ferrari territory gets, and the return of F1® this weekend will be felt even more keenly than usual after rain washed out the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix earlier this season. And while Monza was one of four current circuits (along with Silverstone, Spa and Monaco) to be part of the world championship in the very first season in 1950, it's another historical landmark that will take centre-stage.
Max Verstappen arrives in Italy with a 138-point lead in the standings with a maximum of 270 points remaining across nine races and three Sprints, meaning a third world title is a case of 'when', not 'if'. Monza, though, provides extra significance.
In 74 years of the world championship, no driver has won 10 races in a row, which Verstappen can achieve if he backs up his maiden Monza success last year over 53 laps this Sunday.
That's THE talking point this weekend, but there are others if you know where to look…
The chase for the perfect 10
As Verstappen drives for double figures, here's a historical crash course.
The last time a team came to Monza having not lost a race in the entire season that preceded their visit? That'd be 1988, when McLaren's Alain Prost or Ayrton Senna had won every race before both retiring from the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari's Gerhard Berger taking an emotional victory.
Red Bull is a perfect 13-for-13 so far this season, usurping McLaren's record of 11 straight wins in Hungary, and has won the past 14 races (and three Sprints) since Brazil late last season. Monza '88 was the only race McLaren didn't win that season – expect to hear that stat often this weekend.
Verstappen's ninth straight win in the Dutch GP last Sunday saw him draw level for the longest winning streak ever with his reference in Red Bull dominance, Sebastian Vettel; the German won the final nine races of 2013 before his run ended in retirement from the 2014 Australian season-opener. He never won for Red Bull again …
The Dutchman's so-so record at Monza – last year's win is his only podium in nine visits – reflects that of his team, which has won at the track just three times.
Ferrari in the firing line
The 'home' team for Sunday's race hasn't had a lot of recent success to shout about at Monza either; just two wins since 2010 is in stark contrast to the period that preceded that span, where Michael Schumacher regularly sent the tifosi into raptures.
Ferrari's 2023 has been strange, its SF-23 machine being inconsistent weekend to weekend, and occasionally anonymous in the packed F1® midfield. Charles Leclerc has scrounged just 99 points – the only man to beat him last year, Verstappen, has 339 – and comes to the track where he won so memorably in 2019 off a horror weekend at Zandvoort, where he crashed in qualifying and retired from the race after spending just nine of the 72 laps in the points.
"At the moment, I'm getting into the corner and I have zero idea whether I'm going to have huge understeer or huge oversteer," the Monegasque lamented.
"It's just very, very difficult to be on the limits ... As soon as you get close to the limit, you just really don't know what's going to happen."
While teammate Carlos Sainz has out-scored him so far (102-99), Leclerc seems the most likely to drag a headline-grabbing performance out of the car, particularly in qualifying. Ferrari hasn't won a race in 13 months, so a Saturday cameo might be as good as it gets.
You're excused for being confused
Oscar Piastri is scratching his head, so you're justified in being as baffled as the Australian as to which midfield team will step up to be best of the rest this weekend.
Just 54 points cover Mercedes in second to Ferrari in fourth in the constructors' standings, while McLaren (90 points adrift of Ferrari in fifth) has arguably been the second-quickest team since the MCL60 underwent a significant upgrade ahead of the British Grand Prix.
"The fight we're in with Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston (Martin) is still so tight," Piastri said after finishing ninth at Zandvoort.
"We could be just at the front of that, we could be just at the back. Monza's always a fun atmosphere and a cool track, so hopefully it's a good weekend for us."
Good weekends for Australian McLaren drivers at Monza have happened fairly recently, let's not forget … and the flat-out blasts punctuated by chicanes that make this layout unique should play to the strengths of a car Lewis Hamilton described as being akin to a "rocket-ship" after Silverstone.
The Formula 1® Italian Grand Prix 2023 will be available to watch live on Foxtel and Kayo. See our What time does the 2023 Italian Grand Prix start in Australia article for timings.
