Monza, Italy

The Italian Grand Prix (Gran Premio d’Italia) is one of the longest running events on the motor racing calendar. The first Italian Grand Prix motor racing championship took place on September 4, 1921 at Brescia. However, the race is more closely associated with the course at Monza, which was built in 1922 in time for that year’s race, and has been the location for most of the races over the years.

The 1923 race included one of Harry A. Miller’s rare European appearances with his single seat “American Miller 122″ driven by Count Louis Zborowski of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fame. The Italian Grand Prix counted toward the European Championship from 1935 to 1938. The Italian Grand Prix was one of the inaugural Formula One championship races in 1950, and has been held every year since then. The only other championship race for which this is true is the British Grand Prix. After winning the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher announced his retirement from Formula 1 racing at the end of the 2006 season.

Kimi Räikkönen replaced him at Ferrari from the start of the 2007 season. At the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver in history to win a Formula One Grand Prix. Aged 21 years and 74 days, Vettel broke the record set by Fernando Alonso at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix by 317 days as he won in wet conditions at Monza. Vettel led for the majority of the Grand Prix and crossed the finish line 12.5 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen. Earlier in the weekend, he had already become the youngest polesitter, after setting the fastest times in both Q2 and Q3 qualifying stages. His win also gave him the record of youngest podium-finisher.

Race information:

Laps				53
Circuit length			5.793 kilometre (3.600 mi)
Race length			306.720 km (190.596 mi)
First held			1921
Last held			2008
Most wins (drivers)	 	Michael Schumacher (5)
Most wins (constructors)	Ferrari (18)

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