Daniel Ricciardo’s fond memories of Monza include a win, and pizza

Formula 1 returns to the house that power built, for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at historic Monza circuit.

A major storyline for the second half of the 2024 F1 season is the fight for sixth place between Haas and Visa Cash App RB F1 Team. VCARB got out to a big lead in that battle, holding a 28-7 lead over Haas following the Spanish Grand Prix. But back-to-back sixth-place finishes from Nico Hülkenberg saw Haas close the gap, which now sits at a 34-27 advantage for VCARB.

While both teams were shut out of the points in Zandvoort, VCARB is looking to add to their total at a modified Monza this weekend.

“Monza is a popular circuit on the F1 calendar among teams and drivers. Constructed in the 1920s, you can feel the history of the place and still see the original banking in places,” said Alan Permane, the team’s Sporting Director, in their media preview. “Modern Monza is a low downforce and high-speed circuit with the cars regularly exceeding 350kph. With high speed comes high braking demands, from 350kph the cars drop to around 70kph for the Turn 1/2 chicane and the brake cooling must be optimized to allow good performance but also to prevent overheating and excessive material wear.

“For 2024 the track has been completely resurfaced, traditionally it’s been a low tire wear and degradation race, but a new surface may change this, and parts of Friday’s practice sessions will be devoted to checking the tire behavior for Sunday’s race to help prepare for the optimum race strategy.”

Driver Yuki Tsunoda hailed the thrill of tackling the high-speed circuit, one of the fastest on the F1 calendar.

“Monza is always a special weekend, not just because it’s another home race for the team where we can expect plenty of support from our fans, but because it is really unique, as the last true high-speed circuit on the calendar,” said Tsunoda. “Driving a car with very little downforce is always exciting. The whole track has been completely resurfaced so none of the teams really know what to expect, although it could offer more grip than in the past, which will have a knock-on effect on tire performance. Finding the right set-up will be tricky as the track will evolve very quickly from one session to the next.”

As for Daniel Ricciardo, who won here in 2021, Monza brings back great memories as well as offering up something equally important.

Great pizza.

“Pumped to be on track again this week, especially at Monza. Although we didn’t score points in Zandvoort, we executed a great race and definitely got the most out of the car and strategy, I know we can build on that this week,” said Ricciardo. “I’ve always got great memories of Monza, the fans are amazing, the win in 2021, but most importantly the pizza is something special.”