After the Temple of Max, it's time for the Temple of Speed. F1 swaps the sandy shores of Zandvoort for the fearsome forests of Monza, as the latest whirlwind of races concludes with the fifth Italian event in just over a year.
From banked corners to smooth straights, a complete contrast to last week, and a unique one-off for the teams.
We've not reached the run-in just yet, but it's getting to that time of the season where every pole, podium, point and overtake starts to mean that much more ... a classic track for a classic season, will we see a classic race?
It's Round 14 of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship, featuring F1 SPRINT for the second time.
Musings for Monza
Mercedes start the weekend as favourites and is seemingly in a bullish mood in spite of their Holland Humbling. If any circuit is going to favour them over Red Bull, it has to be this one, as the trend has been for the W12 to hold a comfortable straight-line-speed advantage over the RB16B when running similar downforce levels. They could probably do without the sprint format shaking up the schedule, but the reward for maximising their assumed advantage could be a full complement of 29 priceless points for Hamilton's championship charge. Bottas' now-confirmed final stint as a Mercedes driver starts here, will it be friend or foe to season end?
Verstappen needn't fear Italian circuits anymore after breaking the curse d'italia with victory at Imola, but will be plenty worried at the task ahead of him. It has been a wretched run at Monza with a best result of 5th after six attempts. Will it be a rare weekend of damage-limitation, or can Honda overcome the inherent weakness of the high-rake philosophy to extinguish the Mercedes hubris? The sprint may favour Verstappen's relentless race pace and allow him to vault up the grid for Sunday's start, but similarly may consign him to an all-too-familiar DRS train. Perez's mid-season slide shows no signs of stopping, but a brand new PU may help him recover at the most sensitive of power circuits.
Ferrari's fifth home race in a year is likely their most promising. A year on from an ignominious no-score, they can race at Monza with pride. The much-vaunted engine upgrade won't arrive for a few more races, but they can still set their sights on solid points in front of the home crowd. Leclerc, as usual, will be the driving force, but Sainz will have memories of a lost victory lost year, and will be pushing equally as hard. The threat from Woking will be real and strong at this track, so maximising every point will be crucial.
McLaren will share Sainz's painful memory of a bittersweet second place in 2020. Nine years without a win, could it be this weekend? A chassis and engine combination that's been lightning quick on the straights all year. Dark horses at the home of the old enemy? Norris will be glad to race so soon after a puzzling off-weekend. Ricciardo cannot afford another regression if he's to influence the fight for P3 WCC, but confidence on the brakes is paramount and has evaded him all season.
Alpine will look to their 4-5 in 2019 and 6-8 in 2020 as evidence they can spring another surprise this weekend. A team that has always excelled at low-downforce tracks in recent years, in spite of their middling engine. A double points score last time helped to fend off the one-man challenge from Alpha Tauri, and it will likely need more of the same if they are to retain P5 in the constructors. Alonso has well and truly hit his stride now, and Ocon is not far behind at all.
Alpha Tauri triumphantly returns to the scene of their magical victory with a strong package and last year's race winner on top form. Similar to McLaren, they've been particularly quick in a straight line, and their car philosophy is far more benign than the big-brother team. A great opportunity to leapfrog Alpine in the yo-yo battle for P5 WCC. Curiously, the lack of practice and quirky parc ferme rules from the Silverstone Sprint seemed to hurt them the most, worth keeping an eye on. Both Gasly and Tsunoda are fresh from their confirmed renewal, with Yuki desperate to repay the faith shown in him. The circuit characteristics are reasonably close to Bahrain and Baku, the two circuits where he's shone this year. Can Italy's second team upstage numero uno?
Aston Martin's mid-season flourish has come to a juddering halt, mired in a paltry 7th place in the constructors', almost closer to Williams in 8th than AT in 6th. Vettel's frustrating inconsistency continues, a strong quali performance at Spa followed by an anonymous weekend and customary spin at Zandvoort, only for his pace to suddenly appear with 20 laps to go. Stroll is similarly anonymous, but don't forget his podium from 12 months ago. They've likely got the engine of choice at this track, and have fared reasonably well in low-downforce trim so far, but it will take a big turnaround to make something of their season.
Williams will be counting down the days until George's departure, but know they've still got him under lock and key for the rest of 2021. They seem to be improving race-by-race, and Monza should again suit them like a glove in comparison to their nearest rivals. The NissanyWingâ„¢ didn't appear at Spa, but surely will this weekend. Another outside shot at Q3 seems possible, but the sprint format may play to their disadvantage in terms of retaining track position come Sunday. Latifi must temper his improved pace with keeping it out of the barriers.
Alfa Romeo enter the weekend in much better shape than last year, but still a ways away from challenging for points. Giovinazzi's brief spell battling the Ferraris in Zandvoort didn't last long, but he'll be buoyed by a rare Q3 appearance. He'll need more of the same as he battles for his future. Home race klaxon. Super-sub-Kub replaces Kimi again for what will likely be his fond farewell to F1, and where better to wave goodbye than at the same track where he scored his maiden podium in 2006? Go well, Robert.
Haas' monopoly on the back row is almost certain to continue, but an emotional weekend for Mick as he makes his F1 debut at a track that means so much to the family name. A reminder that his first F2 feature race win came here last year. Mazepin blotted his copybook again last week, and in spite of taking a very small step in pace, the high-stakes high-jinks has to stop at F1's fastest circuit.
Sprint Qualifying refresh
- Q2 rule scrapped
- Softs only for qualifying
- Start both the sprint race and main race on whatever tyre you want
The 100km grid-setter will be 18 laps.
Weather, Tyres
(.gif)
Fri - Dry, sunny, 28c
Sat - Dry, sunny, 29c
Sun - Dry, sunny, 28c
I often forget that this counts as a home race for Pirelli, too.
Just like Silverstone, there's a tweak in tyre allocation. Each driver will have twelve (rather than thirteen) sets of tyres, 6 soft, 4 med, 2 hard. In conjunction with the new format, I found the new tyre allocation/rules gave the teams much more freedom throughout the weekend at Silverstone.
Tyre pressures: 24.0 psi (front) | 21.5 psi (rear)
Fronts -2.0 psi versus last year, rears the same.
Schedule (it's slightly tweaked from Silverstone because of the time zone)
BST (UK) | CEST (Most of Europe)
FP1 1330 1430
Q 1700 1800
FP2 1100 1200
SQ 1530 1630
R 1400 1500
Time zone conversion here.
A welcome return for the small, oft-forgotten, inconsequential /s Formula 2 championship, as well as Supercup and the mysterious Sports Prototype Cup. Full schedule.
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Thoughts, predictions, wing level analysis, speed trap pondering and iconic corner re-naming suggestions all welcome below 
Edited by TomNokoe, 09 September 2021 - 00:17.
