Monza memories: Italian Grand Prix through the years
The Italian Grand Prix takes place this weekend at Monza, the circuit that has staged more Formula 1 races than any other venue. The track's long history is illustrated by a gallery of images covering landmark moments and personalities from across the decades.
Monza has hosted grands prix in all but one year since the inaugural season in 1950, the only absence coming in 1980 when it was being renovated. Set inside a royal park and surrounded by woodland, it is nicknamed the 'cathedral of speed' and is described as the spiritual home of Ferrari and the tifosi who adore the Italian team. The venue was where the first world championship was decided 76 years ago and, last year, Red Bull's Max Verstappen set the fastest lap in F1 history during qualifying. Throughout its history Monza has been the scene of dramatic finishes, Ferrari celebration, controversy and fatal accidents.
Photographs from the early years include the 1950 Italian Grand Prix — the final race of Formula 1's first season — when Giuseppe Farina won the race and the inaugural drivers' title in an Alfa Romeo, making him the only driver to win the title in his home country. Images from 1953 show Ferrari's Giuseppe Farina, Maserati's Juan Manuel Fangio and Ferrari's Alberto Ascari lined up before the start; those three drivers shared the first eight world championships, and in that year Fangio won the race while Ascari took the title. The steep banking appears in shots from 1956 as Fangio is followed by Stirling Moss and Peter Collins; the banking was used up until the 1961 race and remains in place at Monza. The archive also records Maria Teresa de Filippis driving for Maserati at her home race in 1958 as the first woman to compete in F1.
The collection documents some of the circuit's worst tragedies alongside its sporting moments. Ferrari's Wolfgang von Trips collided with Jim Clark's Lotus on the second lap of the 1961 race; von Trips's car flew into a crowd of people on an embankment, killing him and 14 others. Spectators in a grandstand are captured watching through the Lesmos corners in 1962, and in 1963 Jim Clark is presented with a garland after winning the grand prix to secure his first of two drivers' championships for Lotus. A 1967 pit-lane image shows Graham Hill surrounded by family, with his son Damon Hill six years old and standing at the front in the picture.
Tight finishes and posthumous titles feature in other images. In 1969 Jackie Stewart is shown crossing the line to win just ahead of Jochen Rindt's Lotus, Jean-Pierre Beltoise and Bruce McLaren, the top four separated by less than two tenths of a second. Nina Rindt is pictured timekeeping in 1970 shortly before her husband Jochen Rindt was killed approaching the Parabolica; a few weeks later Rindt became Formula 1's only posthumous world champion. The 1971 finish is represented by BRM's Peter Gethin crossing the line ahead of Ronnie Peterson, Francois Cevert, Mike Hailwood and Howden Ganley with just six tenths of a second covering the top five.
Monza images also capture off-track moments and mid-season returns. In 1973 drivers and team members set off on a race around the circuit organised by team owner Frank Williams; James Hunt leads the field and Williams — visible behind a bare-chested runner — won the £750 prize. Niki Lauda is pictured showing the scars of his near-fatal accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring before returning to Monza six weeks later to continue his title battle with James Hunt; Lauda finished fourth in Italy to extend his lead but Hunt prevailed by a single point at the end of the season. A multi-car start-line accident in 1978 trapped Ronnie Peterson in his Lotus with serious leg injuries; after significant delays in treating him he died from an embolism the following morning. His team-mate Mario Andretti, who won the world title on the day of Peterson's accident, is quoted as saying: "Unfortunately, motor racing is also this."
Late-20th-century and modern moments are well represented. The 1988 race was the only Grand Prix that year not won by McLaren after Jean-Louis Schlesser, deputising at Williams, collided with Ayrton Senna as the Brazilian attempted to lap him with two laps to go, handing Ferrari a one-two with Gerhard Berger leading Michele Alboreto in front of the home crowd a few weeks after Enzo Ferrari had died. At the same chicane in 1993 Senna came together with Damon Hill at the start; both continued and Hill recovered to win, while another 1993 image shows Christian Fittipaldi's Minardi somersaulting after colliding with team-mate Pierluigi Martini, Fittipaldi ultimately taking eighth place a position behind Martini. Mika Hakkinen is pictured in tears after spinning off while leading in 1999, though he would eventually beat Ferrari's Eddie Irvine to the drivers' championship. The tifosi gather on the start-finish straight to celebrate Michael Schumacher's victory in 2000, a race described as a key step on the way to the first of his five consecutive drivers' titles for the team.
Photographs from the most recent decade include chaotic starts and high-speed collisions. The first chicane is shown in 2011 with multiple cars facing in unorthodox directions at the start. The 2021 season produced another flashpoint at Monza when Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton came together at the first chicane and the rear of Verstappen's Red Bull landed on Hamilton's Mercedes; the image notes the importance of the halo head protection device and that it possibly saved the Briton from serious injury. Charles Leclerc is pictured taking in acclaim from the tifosi after winning for Ferrari in 2024, his second victory at Monza after success in 2019.
The accompanying gallery compiles those images and captions, tracing moments from the 1950 race that decided the inaugural world championship through Charles Leclerc's 2024 triumph, and is presented as the Italian Grand Prix takes place this weekend at Monza.