Autodromo Nazionale Monza

Monza is the fastest permanent circuit in Formula 1 and has been part of the World Championship since its first season, missing only 1980. Cars spend roughly three-quarters of the lap at full throttle, and teams arrive with a bespoke low-downforce package they use nowhere else — wings trimmed almost flat, everything traded for straight-line speed.

The lap is defined by heavy braking rather than cornering. The Rettifilo chicane at the end of the main straight is one of the biggest stops of the year, taking cars from well over 340 km/h down to second gear. Then come the Curva Grande, the Lesmos, the plunge through Ascari and finally the long, loaded right of the Parabolica — the corner that decides the exit onto the pit straight and, with it, the slipstream battle into turn one.

That slipstream is what makes Monza's racing distinctive. Because the tow is worth so much, drivers spend qualifying jockeying not to lead the queue, and races here regularly produce lead changes in places other tracks never do. It is also Ferrari's home race, and the tifosi filling the banking make it the loudest weekend of the season.