Monza – Temple of Speed
Posted on September 4, 2025 Tags: Formula One
Where Angels Fear to Tread
WITH NINE RACES STILL TO COME in this extraordinary F1 season , including Monza – anything can happen – and most probably will. But Oscar Piastri’s performance at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix was more than just a win – it was a profound statement.
The victory around the steeped banks of Zandvoort marked Oscar’s seventh win in 2025, solidifying his status as the most dominant driver of the season so far.
With this triumph, Oscar reached an extraordinary nine career Grand Prix victories, drawing level with his manager and fellow Aussie, Mark Webber.
And that’s a symbolic passing of the torch in Australian motorsport.
Pole-to-flag control
Oscar extended his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 34 points, the largest margin of the season to date – and a crucial buffer heading into the final nine rounds.
The 24-year-old led from pole and managed multiple Safety Car restarts with composure, showcasing his maturity and race-craft under pressure.
It was a stunning performance by his side of the garage
McLaren ‘s flawless double-stack
The McLaren Pit Crew executed a flawless double-stack pit stop under the first Safety Car, keeping both Oscar and Lando Norris in contention.
And despite Lando’s unfortunate late retirement, Oscar held off Max Verstappen and clever young rookie Isack Hadjar to seal the win.
Strategic Brilliance
Oscar’s total race time: 1:38:29.849 over 72 laps was a testament to consistency and pace on a circuit notorious for its narrow margins and unpredictable weather.
Zandvoort didn’t just witness another McLaren win – it saw Oscar step into a legacy with his ninth career victory, matching his mentor and manager Mark Webber’s tally.
As someone once said: the apprentice has become the benchmark!
Historical Echoes
The Dutch Grand Prix was Oscar’s seventh win of the season, executed with clinical precision, amid Safety Cars, strategic gambits, and Max Verstappen’s home-crowd pressure.
And despite Oscar’s undenied dominance, the Dutch Grand Prix was unpredictable right to the end!
But he perfectly managed all those crucial moments, especially the three restarts after the Safety Car periods.
Additional Records Broken by Oscar at Zandvoort
| Fastest-ever lap at Zandvoort. Oscar’s pole time of 1:08.662 broke the all-time circuit record, previously held by Max Verstappen.
| McLaren’s fourth front-row lockout of 2025, reinforcing the team’s dominance and strategic cohesion.
| Most wins by an Australian in a single F1 season. With seven wins, Oscar surpasses any previous Australian driver’s seasonal tally – including Jack Brabham 5 in 1960, Alan Jones 5 in 1980 and Mark Webber 4 in 2010.
| First McLaren driver to win at Zandvoort since its return to the calendar. A symbolic breakthrough at a venue where McLaren had struggled in recent years.
A Rookie’s Arrival
And let us not forget French-Algerian rookie Isack Hadjar’s Zandvoort podium, whose performance for Racing Bulls at the Dutch Grand Prix was described on Instagram by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton as “legend”.
Isack didn’t inherit third place; he earned it with a weekend of quiet brilliance and composure that belied his age and experience.
Starting P4 after a blistering lap just 0.283s off Verstappen’s time, Isack showed he could deliver under pressure on one of the calendar’s most technical circuits.
He held position throughout the race, absorbing pressure from George Russell and Charles Leclerc, and capitalized cleanly when Lando retired late with an oil leak.
Despite missing most of Friday’s running due to engine issues, Isack told his team, “I have the speed, I will qualify in the top five” – and did exactly that.
Isack earned a perfect 10/10 in the official F1 Power Rankings for the weekend, a rare feat even among seasoned drivers.
Isack Hadjar:
“It feels a bit unreal … I maximised what I had, made no mistakes and brought home the podium. So I’m so happy for my guys. This is my first step, my first podium, and hopefully much more to come”
Helmut Marko:
“He had to fight pretty hard for it… Russell and Leclerc really tried, but he stayed calm. He didn’t do anything wrong. So yeah, there’s a good one coming.”
Remember Helmut Marko is the heavy hitter at Red Bull Racing. And has more sway than most! He’s a wiley old boy and – I hope – is too smart to promote Isack too soon!
The Track
The magnificent Monza circuit, venue for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, still holds the record for the highest average F1 ace speed, courtesy of Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari with a figure of 247.586 km/h way back in 2003.
Monza also holds the fastest average speed of 264.362 km/h for a qualifying lap, set by Lewis Hamilton at the wheel of a Mercedes in 2020.
But don’t be surprised if either of those records falls this weekend!
Last year, pole went to Lando Norris with an average speed of 263 km/h. Easy to understand why the venue is universally known as the Temple of Speed.
Monza is another of these extraordinary F1 circuits with the 5.793km featuring 11 corners and drivers spending 80% of the lap at full throttle!
The cars are running the lowest aero downforce level of the season with the aim of reducing drag to a minimum.
So stability under braking and traction out of the corners is key, especially at the chicanes such as the Prima Variante and the Variante Ascari, where the drivers need to scrub off speed very rapidly.
Lateral forces come into play at the fastest corners, such as Biassono and the legendary Parabolica, now renamed in honour of Michele Alboreto.
After the track was completely resurfaced in 2024, Monza has concentrated on vast improvements to the public areas, with an additional 4000 seats added to general viewing.
Monza – Pirelli’s Home Grand Prix
“This weekend we move on to Pirelli’s home Grand Prix where we celebrate with all the fans the milestone reached at Zandvoort last weekend, namely 500 Formula 1 Grand Prix participations,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Director of Motorsport.
“It makes us the tyre supplier with the most appearances in motor racing’s blue riband category.
“It is a source of pride and the result of the passion, expertise and commitment demonstrated by so many men and women working at Pirelli since the 1950s.
“We will start counting again from Monza!”
The Monza event is always special but this year, it is even more so. It will be the 75th time that the Autodromo Nazionale has hosted a Formula 1 World Championship race, more than any other circuit in the history of motor racing’s blue riband category.
Art, history and speed, Monza gets even more special
The FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GRAN PREMIO D’ITALIA 2025, to give the Monza race its official title, takes place around 20 kilometres from the headquarters of the sport’s Global Tyre Partner and Sunday’s podium will reflect this special link. The top three finishers will sport a unique Podium Cap, part of the 2025 collection produced by Pirelli Design, with creative input from the designer Denis Dekovic., featuring the “azzurro” blue recalling the Italian sky above the “Temple of Speed”.
The Compounds
There is no change in compounds compared to last year, when the track had just been resurfaced for the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. The C3 is the Hard, the C4 Medium and the C5 Soft.
Twelve months on, inevitably the surface will have aged, but it is unlikely to have any significant effect on the range of possible strategies at this circuit, where cars run in the lowest aerodynamic downforce configuration of the season.
It is likely that the most popular choices for the race itself will be the Hard and Medium. One can assume that the level of graining will be lower than last year as the track will now be bedded in. Time lost in the pit lane for a tyre change is among the longest of the season, so teams will try and run as long a stint as possible, keeping degradation under control, with the aim of only changing tyres once.
It is difficult to overtake at Monza, primarily because of the reduced effectiveness of the DRS, with the cars running minimum aero downforce levels. This too tends to swing the balance in favour of a one-stop strategy.
Monza Lombardy Italy
On the other hand, temperature can have the opposite effect given that September in Lombardy can sometimes still feel like the height of summer. This can speed up tyre degradation, which would make a two-stop more competitive.
Highs of 27C are expected this week.
The braking required for the first chicane at Monza is one of the most severe on the Formula 1 calendar. According to data from Brembo, the cars arrive at the braking point at around 337 km/h and are subjected to an instant deceleration of around 5g, as the cars slow to 89 km/h.
By pressing hard on the pedal, the driver operates the calipers that grip on the carbon discs. The kinetic energy this generates is rapidly turned into heat which is also transmitted to the tyres. The front axle is the one that comes under the most stress during braking as it deals with the major deceleration. The area where the tyre meets the track, known as the “contact patch” is reduced in size by the camber angle of the wheels, therefore compression occurs that can cause a temporary flattening of the tyre’s profile. This increases wear and can make it more prone to locking up.
Locking up occurs when the tyre stops turning and scrapes along the track. The creates a “flat spot” on the tread so that the tyre is no longer round. This leads to a loss of grip that causes the car to run wide through the corners. The driver turns the wheel into the corner, but the car continues to travel straight on, a phenomenon known as understeer, The occurrence of understeer increases considerably when the wheels lock up as the tyres slide across the surface and no longer generate sufficient lateral forces to turn efficiently.
Statistics corner
Two of F1’s greats, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton, share the top of the table for world championship crowns, they are also the most successful drivers at Monza with five wins apiece. They both have eight podium finishes to their name, while the Englishman also has the most pole positions on seven.
With twenty wins, Ferrari is the most successful team, almost a third of all the Italian races. It heads the fields for pole positions (23) and podium finishes (72). McLaren is second in all three of these lists with 11 wins, 12 pole positions and 31 podium finishes.
The Italian Grand Prix has decided the outcome of the Drivers’ world championship 11 times, in 1950, 1956, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1978 and 1979. For Jackie Stewart, it happened twice, the Scotsman crowned in 1969 and 1973.
Mercedes-Prema’s Doriane Pin leads the F1 Academy
Maya Weug (pictured centre) made a clean sweep of the points on offer in the second race at Zandvoort. The Dutch Scuderia Ferrari-MP driver made the most of the pole position she secured yesterday morning to lead the race from start to finish, also taking the additional point for setting the fastest race lap. The weekend thus saw the Dutch dominate as Nina Gademan won the previous day’s race. Joining Weug on the podium were second placed Alicia Palmowski (Red Bull Racing-Campos) and championship leader Doriane Pin (Mercedes-Prema), who now has 127 points. But Weug has closed significantly on the Frenchwoman, as she is just 20 points behind in second place. With two rounds remaining in Singapore and Las Vegas, Chloe Chambers (Red Bull Ford-Campos is third on 93 points having failed to score this weekend.
Allan Letcher Racing
ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL YEAR for our team in NZ, taking out both the 3 and 6 hour national endurance car Championship GT pro. With 4 rounds and over 850 laps the BMW didn’t miss a beat. A big thanks to my team mates – Bruce, Tony and John – and our crew Dad, Mal, Wayne and Gary for all your support and hard work throughout the year. Also a big thanks to the Mega Motorsport NZ team for such an amazing Championship, with over 40 cars racing this weekend. Highlands Motorsport park 9 hour is our next race meeting in November as a one off race. And we can’t wait to drive the circuit!
RACE SCHEDULE
Perth WA Times
ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
Autodromo Nazionale Monza | 05 – 07 Sept
P1 Friday 5th September
19:30
P2 Friday 5th September
23:00
P3 Saturday 6th September
18:30
Saturday 6th September
Qualifying
22:00
RACE
Sunday 7th September
21:00
NEXT EVENT
AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX
Baku City Circuit I 19 – 21 Sept
EDITED by AC
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