"Will Max Verstappen enter the history books with victory at the Italian Grand Prix – a record-breaking 10th consecutive win taking the Red Bull driver to a rarified plane of success never achieved by any driver in Formula One since the championship began in 1950?"
First we bought a shirt and a hat for Anna and Harry. Harry's favourite team is Aston Martin. I wore the shirt because I did not want to carry it.
Then we went for a walk in front of the Ferrari stand.
A sea of red. And the massive sound system was booming out fast music, loud, so it was all very hyped up - cool!
Further on there was an empty swimming pool, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. This structure, which was described as "an oasis of blue surrounded by greenery, a meeting and leisure point that, thanks to a series of innovations and initiatives, was able to make moments of relaxation even more pleasant, giving everyone the opportunity to interpret sports practice in their own way."
That was up until 2021. It now looks very closed.
Advice to anyone going to Monza. Queues for loos are long and when you get there the loos are the worst you have ever seen. I had to hold off vomiting after I went. Queues for food are also so long that we didn't even try. I had packed a couple of sandwiches from breakfast and two plums, which was the Mum in me. We also had drink bottles, which were enough for the time that we were there. I was pleased I did.
'This from a website https://wtf1.com/post/monza-release-statement-on-terrible-fan-conditions-at-italian-gp/ . "The Italian GP at Monza drew 336,000 for the three-day weekend and the experience for race fans was not the best. More than 350000 people and only 5 water stations where it took more than 2 hours to refill a bottle."
In this picture, most people are in queues.
Monza is known as the Temple of Speed. This is where we were seated for the two days.
There was a parade of vintage sports cars.
I can't help thinking of climate change at this event. No-one seems to be counting or protesting and carbon emissions from cars, planes and helicopters are huge!
The ceremony before the start is pretty amazing though.
And then it's to the race.
[From Formula1 dictionary.net]: "Preparation for the race start begins with the warm-up lap, with the driver being instructed to heat up the tires with a number of burn-outs, and this brings the tires and clutch up to operating temperature. The temperature of the tires and clutch needs to be optimum with tires at 100°C and clutch around 200°C. During the start itself, rear tires need to be travelling 8 - 10% faster than the fronts and pre-start revs need to be just right to use engine inertia to jolt the rear wheels, although not so great as to cause excessive wheelspin. Towards the end of the warm-up lap the driver will conduct a process called Bite Point Find, initiated from a button on the steering wheel, where the clutch is released and the electronics detect the drop in revs and the clutch position is recorded in the software.
The precision and monitoring of the start of Formula 1 races have reached a level that far exceeds that of any other race-starting process. So much is at stake during the first few hundred meters of a Formula 1 race nowadays that some of the most sophisticated and secret engineering on the cars is devoted to helping the driver during those first couple of seconds, during which he attempts to get his car off the line and up to speed quicker than those around him on the grid. "
That was for Harry who knows a lot about cars and to show I am learning. (Ed: Or that I know how to copy and paste from the web.)
Our NZ starter Liam Lawson was racing for AlphaTauri, replacing Daniel Ricciardo after he broke his hand in a crash in practice for the Dutch Grand Prix last week. Today the other AlphaTauri car with Yuki Tsunoda, #22, broke down in the warm-up lap and was not able to start. That delayed the start by 20mins too. But eventually, it came.
Carlos Sainz from Ferrari kept the lead through the first turn and then for the first laps. The Italian crowd applauded him wildly every time he came past in the lead. But Verstappen passed him on lap 15 after Sainz locked up into Turn 1. (Get that Harry?) The photo below is from formula1.com.
And Verstappen never looked like losing after that. "Max Verstappen secured a tenth consecutive victory in Monza, despite the efforts of Ferrari. Red Bull secured a 1-2 finish with the Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc fighting for the podium. The battle between Sainz and Leclerc for third was intense, as the teammates battled in the closing stages. Ferrari instructed Leclerc to take “no risks”, although there were several uncomfortable moments for the Italian garage. Carlos Sainz took the podium for 3rd after defending for most of his afternoon."
The photo below is from formula1.com.
The crowd invaded the track after the race. It was fun to watch.
After a slow bus trip back to the hotel, with Ferrari fans in every bar and cafe along the way it seemed, we have another early night. An incredible event to attend for the experience of it all.