Monza first hosted the Italian Grand Prix in 1922, and its history is full of stories that are hard to believe.
1. It missed its own race only once
The Italian Grand Prix has been part of every World Championship season since 1950. Every one of those races has been at Monza except 1980, when the Grand Prix moved to Imola.
2. Five cars covered by 0.61 seconds
At the 1971 Italian Grand Prix, BRM's Peter Gethin beat Ronnie Peterson by 0.01 seconds. The top five crossed the line within 0.61 seconds of each other.
It was Gethin's only Grand Prix win. His average speed of 242.615 km/h made it the fastest F1 race for 32 years.
3. The British teams stayed at home
For four seasons, 1955, 1956, 1960 and 1961, the Italian Grand Prix used Monza's steep banked oval as well as the road course.
In 1960 the British teams boycotted the race, saying the rough concrete banking was unsafe. That left Ferrari with no real opposition, and Phil Hill won.
4. McLaren's only defeat of 1988
McLaren won the first 11 races of 1988. At Monza, Ayrton Senna was leading with two laps left when he tried to lap Jean-Louis Schlesser's Williams at the first chicane.
Schlesser was only in the car because Nigel Mansell had chicken pox. The two collided, Senna retired, and Gerhard Berger led a Ferrari one-two in the first Italian Grand Prix after Enzo Ferrari's death. It was the only race McLaren did not win all year.
5. A first win for a team that was once Minardi
In 2008, a 21-year-old Sebastian Vettel took pole and won in the rain for Toro Rosso, the team that had been Minardi. It was the team's first F1 win.
At 21 years and 73 days, Vettel became the youngest winner in F1 history. Max Verstappen took that record in 2016.
6. The fastest race ever run
Max Verstappen won the 2025 Italian Grand Prix for Red Bull at an average of 250.706 km/h. That made it the fastest race in F1 history, beating Michael Schumacher's 2003 Monza win.
The day before, his pole lap of 1:18.792 was the fastest pole lap the sport had ever seen.
Race it on Late Brake
Monza is one of the six real circuits in Late Brake, the free browser game. Use the braking boards to hit the first chicane as late as you dare, then race your own ghost lap after lap until you reach the gold medal time.
Sources: Wikipedia: Italian Grand Prix, Wikipedia: 1971 Italian Grand Prix, Wikipedia: 1988 Italian Grand Prix, Wikipedia: 2008 Italian Grand Prix, Wikipedia: 2025 Italian Grand Prix