Lehdistötiedotteet - The Italian Grand prix 2013 - Monza- a brief story

The Italian Grand prix 2013 - Monza- a brief story

The Italian Grand Prix has been run 63 times previously, all but once at Monza. The only exception was the 1980 race which was held at Imola, a track more commonly associated with the San Marino Grand Prix.

• Monza was one of seven tracks on the original world championship calendar in 1950. Three others are still on the calendar: Silverstone, Monaco and Spa-Francorchamps.

• The first world championship race at Monza, in 1950, was run on a circuit that was broadly similar in shape to today’s, minus the chicanes. However, on four occasions (1955, 1956, 1960, 1961) a 10-kilometre track incorporating both the road circuit and the banked oval track was used. Since 1962, the Grand Prix has been held exclusively on the road course. Chicanes were introduced in 1972 to slow the cars and have remained ever since, albeit with several revisions.

• Michael Schumacher holds the record for the most Italian Grand Prix wins - five. The German is just one ahead of Nelson Piquet who won the race twice for Brabham and twice for Williams.

• Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel have the best records of any current driver on Italian soil, having both won at Monza twice. Vettel’s 2008 victory was the first victory of his Formula One career and saw him surpass Alonso as the youngest winner in F1 history at 21 years, 2 months and 11 days old. The day before he’d surpassed another Alonso record by becoming the youngest polesitter ever.