Original Monza Circuit
The Monza circuit, officially named the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, was built in 1922 by 3,500 Italian workers. They started building in May 1922 and had most of it completed a couple of months later. It became the third purpose-built motor racing circuit in the world, after Brooklands and Indianapolis.
The original circuit was made up of two distinct parts:
- 4.49km Oval
- 5.51km Road course
Those two circuits shared the same front straight, so could be combined to run as a single 10km circuit.
The circuit was officially opened in September 1922 when it held its first race, the second ever Italian Grand Prix which ran on the full circuit.
- Monza original circuit: 10.00km
Monza Junor circuit
As well as the main circuit, a Junior course was built at Monza when the track was first constructed. This was a much shorter circuit that included only four corners and was based solely on the road course.
This circuit was built in 1922 and is still present to this day, although it is rarely used.
- Monza Junior course: 2.405km
Modern Monza circuit
Over the years the Monza circuit layout has undergone numerous modifications. Its original layout with long straights and fast banked corners led to some incredibly high-speed racing, leading to its nickname The Temple of Speed. Whilst that gave some fantastic slip-stream battles during the races, it was also very dangerous.
As cars and bikes got faster over the years, crashes and deaths became fairly commonplace. In fact, over 50 drivers and 35 spectators were killed in the earlier years of racing at the Monza circuit.
So race organisers took measures to slow the vehicles down and improve safety by redesigning the track. This included adding a number of chicanes, adding larger run-off areas and gravel traps, and no longer using the fast banked oval.
The current Monza Grand Prix circuit layout can be seen below. It consists of 11 corners and a number of chicanes designed to slow the racers down.
Monza Grand Prix layout (present day): 5.793km
Longest straight
The longest straight on the current Monza Grand Prix circuit is the start / finish straight. Preceeding that straight is the incredibl fast Parabolica corner, so Formula 1 cars will hit their highest speed during a lap of Monza at the end of the straight.
From exiting the last corner to the apex of the first corner, the longest straight at Monza is 1.20km:
Monza corner names
The corners at Monza are given the following names:
- Turns 1 & 2: Prima Variante (previously Curva Retifilio)
- Turn 3: Curva Biassono (previously Curva Grande)
- Turns 4 & 5: Seconda Variante or Variante della Roggia
- Turn 6: Lesmo 1
- Turn 7: Lesmo 2
- Between turns 7 & 8: Serraglio
- Turns 8, 9 & 10: Variante Ascari
- Turn 11: Curva Parabolica
Top speeds
Monza is the fastest circuit on the Formula 1 calendar with the highest average lap speed. And its flat-out nature leads to the highest speeds you’ll ever see F1 cars achieve.
The highest recorded speed at the Monza circuit for a Formula 1 car was 372.6kph / 231.5mph achieved by Juan Pablo Montoya in a McLaren-Mercedes during the Grand Prix.
In fact, that still stands as the fastest ever speed recorded by a Formula 1 car during a race.
