The Racing Engineering team is back in action after the mid-season break

01/09/16 Racing Engineering is looking forward to racing again at Monza.

One of the most famous circuit’s in the world, Monza, is the venue for this weekend’s GP2 Series races, round nine of the 2016 Championship and the Racing Engineering team and their two drivers, Norman Nato and Jordan King, are looking forward to the challenges of the Italian circuit where Racing Engineering won the Feature Race in 2015. For Norman the last round at Spa Francorchamps was a disappointment, a retirement in the Saturday race meant that he had to start 21^st and although he drove as quickly as ever he was only able to move up to 8^th and score a single point. Jordan took an excellent second place on Saturday but, although he finished 7^th on the road, a post-race penalty dropped him to 12^th. However so close is the 2016 Championship both men are still in contention for the Drivers’ Championship with Jordan lying 6^th and Norman 8^th.

The venue for this weekend is the historic circuit of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy. This exciting 5.793km track, built nearly ninety years ago, has been the location for the Italian Grand Prix for every race since 1922 (except for 1980). Famed for its long straights and legendary high speed corners such as the Curva Parabolica, Curva di Lesmo and Variante Ascari, Monza has been the site of some of the closest finishes in the history of Grand Prix racing.

Pirelli will be providing the P Zero White medium and the P Zero Yellow soft compound tyres this weekend. The cars run low downforce at Monza, in order maximise top speed on the long straights, so that mechanical rather than aerodynamic grip is key when it comes to direction changes. The Monza circuit asks a lot from the tyres with the first chicane requiring heavy braking, the Variante Ascari and its rapid changes of direction and the famous Parabolica: a long and open corner that generates high lateral forces.

Timetable:
Practice: Fri 02 Sep 2016, 12:00 (GMT+2)
Qualifying Session: Fri 02 Sep 2016, 15:55 (GMT+2)
Race 1: Sat 03 Sep 2016, 15:40 (GMT+2)
Race 2: Sun 04 Sep 2016, 10:25 (GMT+2)

©GP2

©GP2

©GP2

Length of lap:	5.793 km

2015 best Racing Engineering:	P8 in Qualifying – P1 in R1

Tyre Wear:	Low

Brake Wear:	High

Downforce:	Low

Throttle Average:	78%

Fastest turn:	Curva Grande

Hardest Braking Point:	First Chicane T1 (Rettifilo)

Gear shifts per lap:	30

Top Speed:	330 km/h

Average Speed (Qualifying) 2015:	228.490 km/h

Average Speed (Race) 2015:	210.132 km/h

Pole Position Time 2015:	1:31.272

1. The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is near the Italian city of Monza, north of Milan.

2. It is known as the “Temple of Speed”, because the straights make up three quarters of the track length. It is here where the drivers reach the highest average speeds of the entire season.

3. The track started oval-shaped with big banking on opposite sides. Nowadays, this section is considered as too dangerous and not in use anymore.

4. The start-finish straight, where the Rettifilo Tribune is, is very wide and for safety reasons a white line was drawn to the right of the grid. Cars are penalized with a black flag if they cross this line.

5. Last year, Racing Engineering’s Alexander Rossi won the GP2 feature race.

6. The track is a series of long straights, combined with traditional corners: the two Lesmo corners and the Parabolica.

7. The first Lesmo corner is very long and curved. Light is not the best due to the number of trees surrounding it.

8. The famous Parabolica is a high-speed corner. Its radius increases gradually pushing cars to the outside line. It’s a real test of accuracy and courage for the drivers.

9. In 2014, Racing Engineering’s Stefano Coletti achieved a well-deserved second position, after moving up from ninth, by overtaking with impressive maneuvers.

10. Kerbs are a typical feature of Monza. A lot of them are flat, but others are quite high.

1. F1 top speed peaking at over 349kph down the pit straight just before the first chicane, whereas in GP2 the top speed goes up to 330 km/h.

2. In Monza, although the top speed of a GP2 car is very high, the lap time of a GP2 is 7,875 seconds slower than an F1 (comparing pole position times).

3. Pole position in F1 was set in 2015 at 1:23.397 – Pole position in GP2 was set in 2015 at 1:31.272.

4. The average speed in F1 is 250km/h in F1 and 227 km/h in GP2.

5. F1 throttle usage is 74% vs 78% of the lap that the engine spends at full throttle in GP2.

6. F1 drivers will change gear 40 times per lap against 30 times that a GP2 driver will have to do so.

7. Race distance is not so different: F1 go around the circuit for 53 laps and GP2 do a total of 51 laps in two days- 30 laps in Feature Race and 21 in the Sprint Race.