Everything seems to be ready for the Italian Grand Prix, which will run over 53 laps of the 5.793 kilometre race. Autodromo Nazionale is already meeting with our drivers to begin the celebration of speed on Monza F1. Since we finished the Dutch GP at Zandvoort, a lot of news has been thundering through the headlines. Sprint qualifying format, 2022 driver line-up, Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen and Alex Albon’s back. Let’s reload our racing matrix to get the hot Formula 1 news everyone’s talking about!
Top F1 news before Monza F1 race starts
Robert Kubica gets a second chance in Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo
While the team has special feelings for the Italian Grand Prix and has prepared special colors for the race weekend, the Finnish hero will miss the race. Kimi Raikkonen tested positive before the Dutch GP and Robert Kubica replaces him. The 41-year-old driver feels good but his test is still positive. Kubica will get a second chance as main Alfa Romeo driver. It is very sad, because it is Kimi’s last season in Formula 1, week ago Raikkonen had announced his retirement after 2021.
Haas fell into a trap
What can stop Haas from resting a bit in the battle? Gunther Steiner mastered the intricacies with the drivers, development of the Haas car was halted and the team. Even Nikita Mazepin is keeping a low profile off the track! One says that the worst spoke in a cart breaks first and something does not work again. Nikita made a robust defense against Schumacher on the pit straight and the slight contact that damaged the German’s front wing could have been much worse.
Gunther Steiner tries to calm everyone down, but the situation is heating up, which increases the tensions within the team. Helmut Marko is probably laughing somewhere on the sidelines. Right, what if Haas were to be added the ability to work with drivers like Red Bull has!
The line-ups fever of 2022
Immediately after the Dutch Grand Prix, the real surprise came from Formula 1 for drivers and fans! The real Finnish hero Kimi Raikkonen will retire after 2021. Valtteri Bottas, who defended the honor of the Mercedes team for five long years and now received a multi-year Alpha Romeo contract. There is another hot F1 news that even non-fans are talking about is that George Russell signs Mercedes. The young Briton finally gets a winning car and the coolest teammate – seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, hurrah! Only Alex Albon can be happier than George Russell. Albon left Formula One after an unsuccessful season with Red Bull. Alex returns and will sit next to Nicholas Latifi at Williams. By the way, Albon had to break off all partnerships with Red Bull but it seems that he was not sad about it at all.
F1 Sprint is back!
The new Formula 1 qualifying format started as an experiment at Silverstone at the British Grand Prix and made a lot of noise! Formula 1 fans from all over the world stared at it for 25 minutes full throttle. Formula 1 sprint qualifying experiment was a success. Monza F1 Grand Prix comes the second stage with a novelty. Taking into account the Italian Autodromo Nazionale features, it promises unpredictable results. In terms of the shortest time for the race here – 18 minutes, 30 laps – every team has a chance to finish in the top ten. If the British Grand Prix is anything to go by, all three days will be full of dramatic action.
F1 Monza Italian Grand Prix 2021 Schedule (local time)
| FRIDAY 10th SEPTEMBER | ||
| FIA Formula 2 | Practice Session | 11:20 – 12:05 |
| Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup | Practice Session | 12:30 – 13:15 |
| Formula 1 | Formula 1 Pirelli Hot Laps (High Speed) | 13:25 – 13:55 |
| Formula 1 | First Practice Session | 11:30 – 12:30 |
| Formula 1 | Press Conference | 16:00 – 17:00 |
| FIA Formula 2 | Qualifying Session | 16:50 – 17:20 |
| Formula 1 | Qualifying | 18:00 – 19:00 |
| FIA Formula 2 | Press Conference | 19:05 – 19:35 |
| SATURDAY 11th SEPTEMBER | ||
| Formula 2 | First Race (21 Laps or 45 Mins) | 08:50 – 09:40 |
| FIA Formula 2 | Press Conference | 10:00 – 10:30 |
| Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup | Qualifying Session | 10:25 – 10:55 |
| Formula 1 | Team Pit Stop Practice | 11:05 – 11:25 |
| Formula 1 | Formula 1 Pirelli Hot Laps (High Speed) | 11:05 – 11:25 |
| FIA Formula 2 | Second Race (21 Laps or 45 Mins) | 14:45 – 15:35 |
| FIA Formula 2 | Press Conference | 15:55 – 16:25 |
| Formula 1 | Sprint (18 Laps or 30 Mins) | 16:30 – 17:00 |
| Formula 1 | Sprint Victory Lap | 17:00 – 17:30 |
| FIA Formula 2 | Press Conference | 17:30 – 18:00 |
| Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup | First Race (15 Laps or 30 mins) | 18:20 – 18:55 |
| SUNDAY 12th SEPTEMBER | ||
| FIA Formula 2 | Third Race (30 Laps or 60 Mins) | 10:25 – 11.30 |
| Formula 1 | Formula 1 Pirelli Hot Laps (High Speed) | 11:40 – 12:00 |
| FIA Formula 2 | Press Conference | 11:55 – 12:25 |
| Formula 1 | Drivers’ Parade | 13:20 – 13:50 |
| Formula 1 | ‘We Race As One’ Gesture | 14:43 – 14:44 |
| Formula 1 | National Anthem | 14:44 – 14:46 |
| Formula 1 | Grand Prix (53 Laps or 120 Mins) | 15:00 – 17:00 |
The authorities have increased the number of participants for this weekend’s race to 50%.
