Motorsport TechnologyFollowing directly on the heels of one of the most famous and challenging of circuits on the Formula One calendar comes another that holds a similarly iconic status.
Universally known as the ‘Temple of Speed’, the Monza circuit plays host to the Italian Grand Prix, as it has done since 1921, hosting a record 68 grands prix, ahead of Monaco’s 66 and Silverstone’s 53.
What also makes Monza such an iconic and important circuit is the fact that it is one of the fastest on the calendar, with speeds at last year’s qualifying exceeding 263 km/h (163 mph). And because Monza is a circuit with long straights and only six braking points, official brake supplier Brembo ranks the circuit as 4/5 on the difficulty index.
According to Brembo, although ‘the amount of time spent braking is just 11% of the entire race, the brakes are applied for 10.6 seconds per lap, a number that surpasses only that of the Spielberg track, which is almost a whole kilometer and half (0.9 miles) shorter.’
Brembo adds that due to the violence of the deceleration into those corners, including the first corner, ‘cars will arrive going 349 km/h (217 mph) and they take it down to 87 km/h (54 mph) in just 137 meters (449 feet). The average peak deceleration per lap is 4.1 G.’
It all adds up to make it one of the toughest test of a car’s brakes on the F1 calendar and similar to that experienced at Spa-Francorchamps, the 165 kWh of energy dissipated providing a stern test of both man and machine.
Craig Scarborough
Fraser Masefield