Monza has hosted the Italian Grand Prix in every World Championship season except 1980. Here are all the facts and statistics you need to know about Monza ahead of the Italian Grand Prix!
Track length: 5.793km
Race length: 306.720km
Laps: 53
Turns: 11
Circuit opened: 1922
F1 first visited: 1950
Races held: 74
Track Record: 1:18.887, Lewis Hamilton, 2020
Lap Record: 1:21.046, Rubens Barrichello, 2004
MONZA RACE WINNERS
Monza has hosted more Formula 1 races than any other circuit. There have been 74 F1 races at Monza, with the 1980 season the only one in which the Italian Grand Prix wasn’t held at the track. During that time, 40 different drivers have won a race at the circuit.
Schumacher and Hamilton share the Italian Grand Prix win record
Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton share the record of most wins at the track, with five apiece.
Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and Max Verstappen are the five drivers on the current grid who’ve previously won the Italian Grand Prix. While Hamilton has five wins, Alonso, Verstappen and Leclerc have won twice. Gasly joined the list of Italian Grand Prix winners in 2020.
Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Phil Hill, Ronnie Peterson, Nelson Piquet, Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are the eight drivers who’ve taken back-to-back wins at the circuit.
Fangio is the only driver to have won a race at this track in three consecutive seasons. He did so between 1953 and 1955.
British drivers have won more races here than drivers from any other nation, with a Brit standing on the top step of the podium 21 times.
The longest streak of different winners at Monza is eight, which has happened twice. Eight different drivers won in consecutive seasons between 1966 and 1973, and then again between 1975 and 1983. Over the entire period from 1966 to 1983, Ronnie Peterson and Clay Regazzoni were the only repeat winners at the track.
Two Grand Slams have been achieved at Monza
Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton are the only drivers to record Grand Slams at the Italian Grand Prix. Senna took pole, led every lap and set the fastest lap of the race on his way to victory at the 1990 Italian Grand Prix, while Hamilton achieved the same feat at the 2015 Italian Grand Prix.
Notably, Hamilton also set the fastest lap time in all three Free Practice sessions in 2015, as well as the fastest lap in all three qualifying sessions. It remains the most recent ‘perfect weekend’ in Formula 1.
Ferrari have more wins than any other teams at the Italian Grand Prix
Ferrari are the team with the most Monza wins, having won on home soil 20 times.
Ferrari are also the engine manufacturer with the most wins at the Italian Grand Prix, with Ferrari-powered cars taking 21 wins in total at Monza. Sebastian Vettel’s 2008 victory with Toro Rosso is the only car powered by Ferrari other than a Ferrari car to take victory at the Italian Grand Prix.
Mercedes hold the record for the most consecutive team wins at the Italian Grand Prix, having taken five consecutive wins at Monza between 2014 and 2018.
Five different teams won the Italian Grand Prix in the five seasons between 2018 and 2022. The record for the longest streak of different teams winning the event is six. Six different teams won in six consecutive seasons between 1967 and 1972.
The closest ever finish to an F1 race happened at the 1971 Italian Grand Prix
The smallest win margin at the circuit came in 1971 when Peter Gethin won by just 0.01 seconds – the smallest win margin in any F1 Grand Prix in the sport’s history. Coincidentally, Gethin’s win was also the only win at Monza to come from outside the top ten on the grid.
On the other end of the scale, Juan Manuel Fangio is the only driver to have won by over a lap at Monza, having done so in 1954. Phil Hill’s 1960 Italian Grand Prix victory was also impressive – he won by over two minutes!
The Italian Grand Prix at Monza has been won by less than ten seconds on 44 occasions, by less than five seconds on 30 occasions and by less than a second 11 times. The Monza race was won by less than a second in both 2019 and 2020.
From the last ten Italian Grands Prix, the average win margin is 6.746 seconds.
ON THE PODIUM
In its 74-race history, 98 different drivers have finished on the podium at Monza.
Schumacher and Hamilton share the record for most Monza podiums
Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton boast the most podium finishes at the track with eight each.
From the current grid, there are 12 drivers who’ve previously finished on the Italian Grand Prix podium. While Lewis Hamilton leads the way with eight top three appearances, Fernando Alonso is just behind him on six. Valtteri Bottas has finished on the podium at Monza four times, while Charles Leclerc has had three podiums here. Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris have each taken two top three finishes at the Italian Grand Prix. Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris, George Russell and Oscar Piastri have each finished on the podium here once.
British drivers have taken more podium finishes at the track than drivers from any other nation. Brits have stood on the podium 46 times.
There have been 20 occasions on which an Italian driver has finished in the top three at Monza. Giancarlo Fisichella was the last Italian driver to finish on the podium at Monza, doing so with a third place finish for Renault in 2005.
Ferrari have the most podiums at Monza
Ferrari have by far the most podium finishes here, with 72, over double the tally of closest competitors McLaren.
There have been 21 occasions on which a team has recorded a 1-2 finish at Monza. Ferrari have had the most 1-2 finishes here, with eight. The most recent 1-2 finish at the track was for Red Bull in 2023.
A podium was recorded at Monza from 26th on the grid
The furthest back on the grid a podium finish has come from at Monza is 26th. Ron Flockhart finished third having started 26th in 1956. Valtteri Bottas recorded the furthest back podium finish since then in 2021. He finished third having started 19th on the grid.
There have been just four occasions in Monza’s history where the polesitter has not either finished on the podium or retired from the race. There have been 40 occasions on which the polesitter has finished on the podium and 30 occasions on which the polesitter has failed to finish the race.
ITALIAN GRAND PRIX POLESITTERS
During F1’s tenure at Monza, 40 different drivers have started from pole position at the circuit.
Hamilton holds the record for most poles at Monza
Lewis Hamilton has had more poles than any other driver here, with seven starts from the very front.
There are six drivers on the current grid who’ve previously taken pole position for the Italian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton has done so seven times, Fernando Alonso has started from the front twice, Charles Leclerc took pole in both 2019 & 2022, while Max Verstappen took his first Monza pole in 2021, Carlos Sainz took his first in 2023 and Lando Norris took his first in 2024.
Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Stirling Moss, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna, Juan Pablo Montoya and Lewis Hamilton are the eight drivers who have taken back-to-back poles at Monza.
Senna and Hamilton share the record of most consecutive poles at the track. Senna took four in a row at the track between 1988 and 1991, while Hamilton took four in a row between 2014 and 2017. These two occasions are also the longest streaks of pole positions for teams at the track, with Senna setting four in a row for McLaren, and Hamilton’s four in a row being with Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton’s record tally of pole positions has helped to ensure that British drivers have taken over double the number of pole positions here than drivers from any other nation.
There have been three occasions on which the fastest qualifier did not start from pole position at Monza. Teo Fabi stalled on the grid at the 1986 Italian Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen took a grid penalty in 2005, as did Valtteri Bottas in 2021.
Ferrari have taken almost double the number of poles at Monza than any other team
Ferrari are the team with the most poles, setting the fastest qualifying lap time on 24 occasions – almost double the number of McLaren, who sit second in the list with 12.
There have been 20 occasions on which a team has locked out the front row at Monza. The most recent front row lock-out was for McLaren in 2024.
The smallest pole margin at Monza is 0.002 seconds
The largest pole margin at Monza came in 1960, when Phil Hill set the pace by 1.9 seconds. The smallest pole margin was in 2006, when Kimi Raikkonen took pole for McLaren by just 0.002 seconds!
The fastest lap time in qualifying has been decided by less than a tenth of a second at Monza on 17 occasions, including in four of the last six seasons. Note that the 2021 Italian Grand Prix featured a Sprint Qualifying event, with an 18-lap race to decide the final grid.
From the last ten Italian Grands Prix, the average pole margin at Monza has been 0.249 seconds. If you exclude the wet qualifying session in 2017 – where Lewis Hamilton took pole by 1.148 seconds – the average pole margin from the last ten events drops to 0.149 seconds.
SATURDAY TO SUNDAY
25 races at Monza have been won from pole position, while 41 have been won from the front row of the grid. That means that 33 races here have been won from the second row of the grid or further back.
In the last seven races at the track, the polesitter has won only once. The polesitter last won in 2019.
The 2020 race was won from tenth on the grid, the 2022 race was won from seventh on the grid and the 2024 race was won from fourth on the grid, the other two recent races – 2021 and 2022 – were won from second on the grid.
There have been 15 occasions on which the polesitter has finished on the podium at Monza without winning the Grand Prix, including five times in the past nine seasons.
There have been ten occasions on which none of the top three qualifiers have finished on the podium in a race here. Most recently, this happened in 1995.
There have been just seven races here where all of the top three qualifiers have finished on the podium at this track, and four races (1960, 1990, 2003 and 2010) where the top three on the grid have finished in the order in which they started.
There have been 32 occasions on which the polesitter did not lead at the end of the first lap at Monza. In the last eight Monza races, Max Verstappen in 2021 and Lando Norris in 2024 are the only polesitters to have not led at the end of Lap 1.
Since 1999, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris are the only Italian Grand Prix polesitter who have not crossed the line at the end of Lap 1 in one of the top two positions. Hamilton was sixth at the end of Lap 1 in the 2016 Italian Grand Prix, while Norris ran third at the end of the first lap in 2024.
The worst position that the polesitter has been in at the end of Lap 1 at the Italian Grand Prix is eighth, which is the position in which Chris Amon ran at the end of the first lap in the 1971 Italian Grand Prix.
SUNDAY STATISTICS
Since 1950, there have been 4,267 Grand Prix racing laps of Monza in F1’s history.
Fernando Alonso has raced the most laps at Monza, having toured the track 984 times on Sundays during his Formula 1 career. He overtook Kimi Raikkonen’s former record during the 2023 Italian Grand Prix.
In total, 1,816 cars have been entered into a World Championship Formula 1 race at Monza. Of those, 1,680 cars have started the race – and from those, 968 cars have reached the end of the Grand Prix. That gives an overall finish rate of 58%. In the past ten years, the average finish rate has been 86%.
The fewest number of cars to finish an Italian Grand Prix at Monza is six, which happened in 1968. Meanwhile, the highest number of cars to finish a race here is 20, which has happened four times – in 2005, 2007, 2013 and 2014.
The 2005 race is the only time that every car that started the race reached the chequered flag.
In the 74 Formula 1 races held at Monza, 57 retirements have been recorded on the first lap of the race. The most recent first lap retirement was for Brendon Hartley in 2018.
The highest number of drivers to finish all the laps of the Grand Prix at Monza is 16, which has happened twice: in 2020 and 2023.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
Hamilton has the most fastest laps at Monza
44 different drivers have set the fastest lap of an F1 race at Monza. Lewis Hamilton has taken more fastest laps at the Italian Grand Prix than any other driver. He’s set the fastest lap on a Sunday afternoon seven times at Monza.
Ferrari drivers have recorded the most fastest laps here, with 19.
Hamilton has led the most Italian Grand Prix laps
In total, 80 different drivers have led a lap of Monza during its tenure as host of the Italian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most laps led at Monza. He’s led 248 laps in total here, overtaking Alberto Ascari’s long-standing record in 2020. Hamilton broke Ascari’s former record 66 years and 1 day after the Italian last led a lap at the track.
Jean Alesi holds the record for the most laps led at Monza without ever winning at the track. Alesi led 87 laps of the Italian Grand Prix during his career.
There have been eight Monza races in which the winner has led every lap of the race. It has happened only twice since 1991 – for Juan Pablo Montoya at the 2005 Italian Grand Prix and for Lewis Hamilton in the 2015 Italian Grand Prix.
There have been 24 occasions on which the winner of the race was not the driver who led the most laps of the Grand Prix. 2024 was the first time this happened since 2018.
There have been five occasions on which the winner of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza led fewer than five laps. After penalties for those who finished ahead of him, original third place finisher Niki Lauda was given the win at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix, despite not leading a single lap.
Safety Cars and Red Flags at the Italian Grand Prix
Just nine Italian Grands Prix since the year 2000 have featured a Safety Car period. 2023 was the first Monza race to not feature any disruptions since 2017. While the 2019 Italian Grand Prix was the first at Monza to feature two Virtual Safety Car stints, the 2020 event was the first to feature multiple full Safety Car periods at the circuit.
Six races at Monza have been affected by rain. The 2008 Italian Grand Prix remains the most recent race at the track to be affected by rainfall.
Five races at Monza have been red-flagged. The 2020 Italian Grand Prix was the first race to be red-flagged here since 1995.
The 1978 Italian Grand Prix was the only F1 race at Monza which did not reach its scheduled distance until 2023. The first start at the 1978 race resulted in a fatal accident for Ronnie Peterson. Almost three hours later, the race was restarted – but the distance was shortened from the scheduled 52 laps to 40.
In 2023, there were no fewer than three formation laps at the Italian Grand Prix, with the start being delayed by over 20 minutes after Yuki Tsunoda stalled on the grid.
CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY
Monza has seen the second-most champions crowned of any track. Jody Scheckter was the last champion to be crowned here, all the way back in 1979. In total, there have been 11 Drivers’ Championship-deciding races at the circuit.
The Constructors’ Championship has been decided at Monza on ten occasions, most recently in McLaren’s favour in 1989.
11 dead rubber Formula 1 races have taken place at Monza, the most recent being in 2004.
The winner of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza has gone on to win the title in the same season 28 times. 2019 was the first time that the winner of the Italian Grand Prix did not go on to win the title since 2012.
The polesitter at Monza has gone on to win the title in the same season 26 times.
The leader of the Drivers’ Championship after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza has gone on to win that year’s title on 59 occasions. There have been just 13 instances where this hasn’t happened – including five times in the past 16 years.
2007 was the last time that the team leading the Constructors’ Championship after the Italian Grand Prix failed to go on and win the title.