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Ferrari Looks To Impress Home Fans At Monza For The Italian Grand Prix

Andrew Regan
September 15, 2006

Following on from a great win by Felipe Massa in Istanbul and a third position for Michael Schumacher, formula one is now set to travel to Monza for Ferrari’s home race, the only race being held this September.

The drivers’ championship currently stands with Fernando Alonso on 108 points with Michael Schumacher only 12 behind on 96 points and with four races to go, this situation could easily change. After the Turkish result where Ferrari gained 16 valuable points, the constructors’ championship is poised even closer with Renault on 160 pts and Ferrari only 2 points behind on 158. This means that both Schumacher and Massa are both looking to show the fanatical Ferrari home crowd how strong their Maranello based cars really are to the home crowd, and make some significant points gains in the process.

The track at Monza is known as "La Pista Magica," the magic track, by the locals, and it seems to have a heart and soul of its own. Built in 1922, Monza was only the third permanent race track ever to be built, following in the footsteps of Brooklands and Indianapolis, and was originally 10km in length with a banked oval track incorporated into the design of the road racing circuit. The current track has now been reduced to 5.793 km in length, making the 53 lap race distance for the Grand Prix nearly 307 km.

The quickest circuit on the calendar to drive, the Monza track requires a combination of both speed and great talent, as the list of past classic races and terrifying accidents will testify. Racers on this circuit use low amounts of downforce to help maximize their speed, but this means that grip levels are correspondingly low, especially into the turn one chicane where the cars all need to slow down from 350km/h to just 60km/h, which can make for an ‘interesting’ first lap.

As talk of what Michael Schumacher’s future plans are going to be crop up in the media, the drive to succeed over the next few races are liable to demonstrate some of his best driving for years, and the atmosphere whenever Ferrari appears in front of the Tifose home crowd is always an electric event.

The small town of Monza is located a short distance from the charming Lake Como and just 16km to the north-east of Milan, with the circuit in easy reach from the city by using the A1 and A4 motorways, and then the local S36.

International travelers can get to the circuit by taking a flight to Milan Linate airport, just to the east of Milan, which handles domestic and European flights, or use Malpensa airport in the north-west which also handles international traffic. From there a quick train ride from Milan to the track is easy.

After a simple rail journey from Milan through to Monza Station, it's then a short ride on the free shuttle bus service which is normally laid on over the race weekend to transport fans to the circuit, which will have any race fan loving the smell of the fumes on what is set to be a fantastic race day.

About the author:
Andrew Regan is an online journalist who enjoys socialising at his local Edinburgh cricket club.

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