Monza is one of my favourite tracks. It’s probably not typical for my style as I love street circuits with walls and the close shaves. But Monza is high-speed and a lot of fun, especially with the low downforce as the car skates around. I really like the setting in the park and I certainly get a buzz there. It’s also home to the best pizza in the world, which is my weekend fuel. Although there won’t be fans there, you can feel the awesome energy about the place. My background is Italian, so I do love it there.
After the result last year what can we expect this weekend?
We had a very good result last year with fourth and fifth as a team there in the race. Let’s try and go one better this year! I’m feeling confident going into it especially after our performance in Spa. We showed what we can do at a low downforce track in both qualifying and the race. The result was great in Spa, so we’re determined to do it again this weekend.
Close to home – Q&A with Esteban Ocon
Monza is a really fun track. I have good memories from there back in 2017, when I started the race from third after qualifying fifth in the rain. I had a good race fighting with the Ferraris, which was nice. In 2018, I qualified quite well in eighth and ended up sixth in the race, which was also a great result. My years in Monza have been decent and I’m going there with the aim of replicating Spa. That’s the target. Our performance in Spa shows we’re capable of some good things and the similar track characteristics means we should be in a good position to get strong points. I have quite close links to Italy. I lived there in my Formula 3 days with Prema Racing and most of my karting was also in Italy. I speak Italian, so I reckon 40% of my life is Italy!
What are the challenges of the circuit?
The main challenges of Monza are straight line speed and braking. You need good brakes after coming into corners from high-speed. The engine is going to play a big part as always at power sensitive circuits. There are some legendary corners there: Parabolica, Ascari, the Lesmos and Curva Grande. They are all quite unique in the way you take them.
How do you look back on last weekend’s race?
We can certainly go to Monza feeling ready and determined for a good result. We showed at a track like Spa what we’re capable of achieving, and I think we can do the same this weekend if we execute our plan. I was happy with the race in Spa, especially the last lap overtake for fifth, which put us behind Daniel for a good team result. Thanks to everyone for their hard work and I’m sure we’ll continue to push across these next two Italian races.