Italian Grand Prix Origins

Monza has an enormous history that dates back to 1922, and it was only the third permanent racetrack built in the world. The layout consisted of the road course that remains in use today, as well as an oval that added four kilometres to the circuit length. The Italian Grand Prix was run at Monza shortly after construction was finished and used different configurations that incorporated the road and oval tracks over the next thirty years. The track was upgraded and altered on various occasions but the biggest overhaul came in 1955 when the oval was rebuilt with steep banked corners. This allowed the oval and road course to be combined into one long ten kilometre circuit. In order to celebrate the new layout Monza held the ‘Race of Two Worlds’ in 1957 and 1958. These races put the Formula One cars up against the Indy racing teams from the USA. The American cars dominated, although not many of their European counterparts took part in the events. The high speed banking was used in the Italian Grand Prix until 1961 when it was deemed too dangerous, and from then on the race has been held on the road course only. The banking was used for Sportscar racing for several years after the F1 cars abandoned it, but has since fallen into disrepair. The next big change to Monza came in 1972 when chicanes were added to slow the cars. These were altered in 1976 as they had not been effective. Many of the corners have been reprofiled slightly since in the name of safety, especially since the death of Ayrton Senna, but much of the layout remains the same as it was in 1922

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More Monza Info

• Monza's Location
• Monza's Origin
• Monza Circuit
• Monza's History
• Monza's Driving Challenge
• What happened last year?
• Why watch the Italian Grand Prix?
• Memorable Monza Moments

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