Formula One Italian Grand Prix: Facts

The teams are preparing for the 82nd Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo di Monza in Italy. It is the final European leg of the 2011 Formula 1 Championship before F1 heads for the remaining Asian and South American legs. Here are some facts about the Grand Prix.

• The venue sees 61st Grand Prix since 1950, only once has the event been held at Imola in 1980.
• Monza is the fastest circuit on the calendar with a lap of 5.793 km and an average lap speed of 255 kph and four long straights making the top speeds to reach to 340 kph.
• The 2011 season’s average lap speed is 211 kph. The teams will have a very low downforce settings to be able to maximize their top speeds as the top speed is the key for the race-day making it important to look after the brakes at the legendary Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.
• The Italians call Monza -La Pista Magica or – the magical track, a name as evocative as the circuit itself.
• The Italian Grand Prix has been won 18 times starting from pole positions in 61 races, and 7 times in the last ten years. Michael Schumacher is the most successful F1 driver at Monza with 5 wins. Nelson Piquet got 4 victories, Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Ronnie Peterson and Alain Prost, all got 3 wins at Monza.
• The FIA has declared two DRS zones with separate detection points will cover up to 74% of the lap, the highest percentage of the season.
• The Italian GP has seen some the worst accidents. In 1960 Ferrari‘s Wolfgang Von Trips and more than a dozen spectators dead after he collided with Lotus of Jim Clark. In 1955 double world champion Alberto Ascari died in an accident at Monza.