Williams Martini Racing’s Chief Technical Officer Paddy Lowe believes the Autodromo Nazionale Monza is one of Formula 1’s great circuits, citing its history, its fans and its location as reasons it’s an “iconic track”.
Monza is Formula 1’s longest-standing track, having held a race every year but one since 1950, with only the 1980 season seeing the track absent from the calendar while it went through some upgrading.
“Straight out of Spa we come to Monza, which is another of the great circuits in Formula 1,” said Lowe.
“It is also one of my favourite tracks due to the passion you feel from the crowd (the “Tifosi”, and the history of the iconic track, which still has preserved sections of the old high banking.
“It is incredible that a circuit like this should exist inside a park in a city centre, but that is a demonstration of the enthusiasm of our Italian hosts for this great sport of Formula 1.”
Turning to Williams’ chances this weekend, Lowe says that the mixture of incredibly high speed and major breaking zones makes it a tricky one to set up for.
“The circuit is extremely fast, the fastest of the year, requiring a special aerodynamic configuration with lower drag and lower downforce. Despite that, there remain a lot of challenging corners and big braking events to negotiate.”
The Williams car has already proven itself good on fast circuits, having taken a third place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix earlier this year. Lowe, and all the Williams team, will be hoping they can recreate that success this weekend.
