September 6, 14.02.
Cars are going to line-up in the Rettifilo straight.
1194,40 meters of sheer speed, carrying the maximum momentum from the iconic Parabolica's corner. Records have been broken down there; in the pursuit of the maximum speed cars are set to extremely low downforce levels.
Hamilton's words: "It' like go rallying in the first Variante, the cars has no downforce at all and you have to slide it through the corner".
The key to go fast in Monza, is to find the perfect balance between speed and handling.
In the past, the search for the maximum speed proved to be fatal to Jochen Ridnt, who was running with an extremely low downforce package, and lost the car under braking before the Parabolica.
Each year we're guessing, we're arguing on how much those modern cars can push the limit forward on the Rettifilo.
The limit, how far is that?
The all time record belongs to Juan Pablo Montoya's McLaren-Mercedes, 372,2 km/h in the summer break testing in Monza. The race record belongs to Kimi Raikkonen, 371,1 km/h in 2005's Monza Grand Prix.
Here it is a brief history of the top speed in Monza
After long years of dullness in terms of sheer speed, with the V6 Hybrid Power Units we're back to outstanding levels.
Last year, Daniel Ricciardo clocked a stunning 361 km/h top speed during the Grand Prix.
Yes, it was with 2 slipstreams and yes, he had DRS open, but still impressive for a 2014 Renault Engine.
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And now?
Less than one week to Monza and there are already betting games on Monza's top speed.
Romain Grosjean clocked 350 km/h in Spa, behind Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari in the closing laps of the Belgian Grand Prix.
Today:
So, "speed freaks", do you think that we'll finally reach Juan Pablo Montoya's record this year?
We can use this thread along the weekend to update the Top Speed situations.