September 8, 2022
It is time for the last leg of this triple header, and the last race of this season’s European tour: Monza! The Italian Grand Prix’s track, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, celebrated its 100th birthday on September 3, 2022, so they will be celebrating this weekend. It is also one of Ferrari’s home races and the Tifosi will be in full swing, regardless of if Ferrari performs well. Here is everything you need to know for the 2022 Italian Grand Prix:
Weekend Schedule (in EST):
Practice 1: Friday 9/9, 8:00-9:00 AM
Practice 2: Friday 9/9, 11:00-12:00 AM-PM
Practice 3: Saturday 9/10, 7:00-8:00 AM
Qualifying: Saturday 9/10, 10:00-11:00 AM
Race: Sunday 9/11, 9:00 AM
Monza, also known as The Temple of Speed, requires the lowest downforce set up of the year. Since it is such a significant and iconic track, many teams introduce special packages made specifically for the track. Cars will most likely have skinnier wings to reduce drag and increase straight line speed, while keeping cars fast in low-speed corners at the same time. The track has eleven corners and two DRS zones, with straights in between. We should see many tows and slipstreams during the race, and the closer racing of this season should make the race more exciting, not that Monza isn’t exciting. The unique nature of the track makes it possible for the race to have unexpected winners; McLaren won with a 1-2 last year after having one of their longest winning droughts in McLaren history, and Pierre Gasly had a shock first win in an AlphaTauri in 2020 when many frontrunners crashed out of the race. We should expect to be surprised at Monza because for all we know, Latifi will somehow put his Williams in P1.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Nyck De Vries will be driving Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin during FP1 on Friday. This is the third team he has driven for this season, having already driven for Williams during FP1 of the Spanish Grand Prix and Mercedes for a practice session at the French Grand Prix. De Vries has had his sights set on F1 for a while, but it seems like he could finally get the drive for next season. With Nicholas Latifi’s performance this season, or lack thereof, Williams might ask their sister team Mercedes to give them De Vries for a season or two.
Mick Schumacher’s qualifying result in Zandvoort got him into Q3. While Haas didn’t get points in the race and dropped down to P13, the team were still happy with Schumacher’s performance because it showed that the car is improving. A team’s performance in Monza is typically very similar to their performance in Spa. If we go by this, Haas will probably perform very poorly this weekend since low-downforce tracks don’t typically suit their car. Schumacher will also be playing a game of catch-up this weekend as former F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi will be driving his car in FP1.
McLaren is currently twenty-four points behind Alpine in the championship, so they are excited to try and recreate their magic movie moment from last year’s Italian Grand Prix. This time last year, Daniel Ricciardo was doing shoeys on the top step of the podium and Lando Norris was gagging as he got pressured into joining his teammate. Alpine has an advantage since it already has a low drag car that is quite fast on straights, but the low-downforce package McLaren has lined up could potentially outshine the French team. I’m hoping it does and my papaya team gets another good result.
Not pictured: Lando Norris gagging because he drank sparkling wine out of DannyRic's shoe
Max Verstappen’s lead in the Driver’s Championship – 109 points – is ridiculous. He has won the last four races in a row and a total of ten this season. If Verstappen wins at Monza, he will be set to win the championship in the next double header – granted he wins one of those races. The fight in the Championship now seems like it will be for second place. Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez are currently in second, level on points, with George Russell just thirteen points behind in third. Carlos Sainz is in fourth and twenty-six points behind second place. Sainz is just one race win and a fastest lap away from taking second in the Championship. While it is mathematically possible for someone other than Verstappen to win the championship, it seems like Red Bull would have to try really hard to lose.
Alpine still hasn’t filled the vacancy in its 2023 driver lineup. Rumors about Pierre Gasly leaving AlphaTauri to join Alpine have been floating around and this week, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko confirmed the team’s plans to get IndyCar driver Colton Herta for AlphaTauri’s 2023 driver lineup. This would mean that Gasly would be let go from the team, and most likely go to Alpine. Now, Marko is known for saying things to the press when he doesn’t actually know anything, so it is entirely possible that this is all false. However, if this is true, Red Bull is facing a minor (probably major) hiccup: Herta can’t get his FIA Super License, which he needs to drive in F1, because he doesn’t have enough points as a driver. The team might be able to argue that the pandemic affected Herta’s opportunity to get these points, but I don’t know if the FIA would grant Herta the license. I’ll keep you guys updated as this situation unfolds.
Honorable Mentions:
In honor of Monza’s 100th anniversary and Ferrari’s 75th anniversary, Ferrari will be in special yellow livery this weekend instead of their classic red. It seems that they are going bananas for the celebration. Literally. Poor Leclerc and Sainz look like two rotten bananas in these race suits! I get that it is special and yellow is part of the logo, but this just doesn’t sit right with me. The only way the team can make it up to me is by not making stupid mistakes and maybe even winning in front of the Tifosi.
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The banana picture |
Let’s leave Europe for the year with a bang! Monza is always an interesting race filled with racing and the rise of the underdogs. Hopefully we can get another crazy story from this year’s race!
Happy Race Weekend!
- Divya