Introduction and History
The work began in February 1922 when racing stars Vincenzo Lancia and Felice Nazzaro laid the first stone. Two days later local conservationists stopped the work and it was not until May that the 3500 workmen were able to go back into action. The 6.25-mile track was finished by the end of July. It was an amazing feat. At the time it was only the third permanent racing circuit in the world, after Brooklands and Indianapolis. The first race was in September with Pietro Bordino winning in a Fiat. A week later Monza held its first Italian Grand Prix and 150,000 turned out to see it. Bordino won again. Ever since then the second weekend in September has been the Monza weekend.

The track has been rebuilt on several occasions but the basic design is much as it was. The original flat banking was replaced by the fearsome high banking that can still be seen today, built in 1955 but used for only a few years before drivers began to boycott the event on the grounds of safety. Stand on that banking and you will know why the bravest of the brave lost their nerve. Monza was always a high-speed track and while chicanes have come along to slow the cars and the old days of Monza slip-streaming battles are a thing of the past, the essential element of speed is still there. And when there is such speed there are always accidents. It was at Monza that Niki Lauda returned to racing in 1976 just a few weeks after his fiery accident at the Nurburgring. The frightened, bloodied figure, disfigured by his burns overcame his fears and created a legend.

If you read through the record books you will find that Monza is still - and probably always will be - the venue of the fastest ever Grand Prix and the one with the closest finish - the Italian GP of 1971 when Peter Gethin popped out from behind Ronnie Peterson to cross the line just 0.01sec ahead of Ronnie Peterson after averaging 150.754mph from start to finish. It was the last of the great Monza slipstreamers before the chicanes arrived. It was at Monza in 1988, a few weeks after Enzo Ferrari's death, that McLaren was beaten for the first and only time that year when Ayrton Senna misjudged a maneuver as he tried to lap the Williams of Jean-Louis Schlesser with only a few laps to go and ended up in the sandtrap, allowing Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto to score an amazing 1-2 finish for Ferrari. That was magic. There is no other explanation.

Monza's fame lies more than anything with Grand Prix racing but the track has long been the venue of other great races, including the famous Monza Lotteria, when the young drivers were able to grab a moment of glory and, perhaps, a Grand Prix drive. The Monza 1000 sportscar race was another classic with stories which could only have happened at Monza. In 1985 the racing had to stop after 800km when the frontrunners arrived to find that a very large tree had been blown down across the track and Hans Stuck tried to convince his fellow drivers that they could lift the tree out of the way and get on with the racing. Monza was the venue in 1957 and 1958 for a pair of curious Europe versus America races known as The Races of the Two Worlds in which Indycar roadsters battled with Formula 1 cars.

Everywhere you go at Monza there are stories - even in the camp sites. It was in one of these that Frank Williams used to have his head office when he was wheeling and dealing in his early days and where a Ferrari sportscar came over the wall while it was being tested and landed next to his tent. The track is gradually being upgraded as F1 demands more and more but thankfully the great Monza grandstand remains where it has been since 1938, witnessing the amazing events in the park. In 1945 it was filled with Allied soldiers who watched tanks parade down the main straight. One can only hope that they will never tear it town, nor the curious Pirelli "scoreboard" towers which stand on either side of it.

Stand on the top of one of these - if you can convince someone to let you in - and on a clear day you will be able to see down to the Curva Grande with the Italian Alps visible away to the north and the old Monza banking curling away into the trees and you will get as near as heaven as you can at a motor racing circuit.

Circuit details
Circuit: Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Venue: Monza, Italy
Race day: 10th - 12th September 2004
Circuit length: 5.793 km
Laps: 53
Race distance: 306.720 km
Direction: Clockwise
2003 Winner: Michael Schumacher, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
2004 Winner: Rubens Barrichello, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Lap record: 1"21.046 Rubens Barrichello, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza
Parco Monza
20052 Monza
Italy

Tel: (+39) 039.24821
Fax: (+39) 039.320324
Email: infoautodromo@monzanet.it

2004 Program