Formula 1 and Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI) have reached an agreement that will keep the Italian Grand Prix at Monza until the end of 2024. The announcement was made yesterday evening during a public event in Milan.
Monza has been home to the Italian Grand Prix since 1950 and has since hosted 68 F1 World Championship races, with the Drivers title being decided there on twelve occasions – the last time being back in 1979 when Ferrari’s Jody Scheckter came out on top.
The South African driver will actually take to the track this upcoming weekend onboard his Ferrari 312 T4 with which he won the race four decades ago.
“We are really pleased to have reached an agreement with the ACI which ensures the Italian Grand Prix will remain on the FIA Formula 1 World Championship calendar until at least 2024. This is one of four Grands Prix that were part of the 1950 championship and still features in the calendar and along with the British Grand Prix, it is the only one to have been held every year since then. History, speed and passion are words that motorsport fans associate with Monza,” stated F1 chairman and CEO, Chase Carey.
He went on to add that we can all “look forward to what is bound to be another great race this weekend,” which might be true since Ferrari have all of a sudden found their form, winning last week’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa – and like Spa, Monza is also a high-speed track.
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The highest average speed was established at Monza back in 2003 when Michael Schumacher won with an average of 247.585 km/h (153.842 mph). Meanwhile, last year it was Kimi Raikkonen who put in the fastest lap ever recorded at an average of 263.587 km/h (163.785 mph).
While this year’s title fight is nearly decided (with Lewis Hamilton already running away with it), the fight for places 2nd through 20 is still ongoing.
