Racing Engineering are looking for more podium finishes at Monza

31/08/17 Racing Engineering are looking for more podium finishes at Monza.

One of the most famous circuit’s in the world, Monza, is the venue for this weekend’s FIA F2 Championship races, round nine of the 2017 Championship and the Racing Engineering team and its two drivers, Nyck De Vries and Gustav Malja, are looking forward to the challenges of the Italian circuit where Racing Engineering won the Feature Race in 2015 and the Sprint Race in 2016. For Nyck the last round at Spa Francorchamps, in his first race for the Spanish team, was a great success as he finished 5^th in Saturday’s race and 2^nd on Sunday. For Gustav, it was a mixed weekend, after finishing 4^th on Saturday a tyre problem, out of the team or driver’s control, meant that he finished just out of the points on Sunday.

The Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy is an 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.

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 01 Sep 2017, 10:55 (GMT+1)
Qualifying Session: Fri 01 Sep 2017, 15:20 (GMT+1)
Race 1: Sat 02 Sep 2017, 15:00 (GMT+1)
Race 2: Sun 03 Sep 2017, 09:15 (GMT+1)

©FIA F2 Championship

©Racing Engineering

©Nyck De Vries

Length of lap:	5.793 km

2016 best Racing Engineering:	P6 in Qualifying - P5 in R1- P1 in R2

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) 2016:	228.490 km/h

Average Speed (Race) 2016:	214.998 km/h

Pole Position Time 2016:	1:31.199

1. The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is located in the Parco Reale in the city of Monza, approximately 20 km north-northeast of Milan.

2. The Autodromo Nazionale was built in 1922 and is the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit after those of Brooklands and Indianapolis.

3. In terms of average speed, Monza is the fastest circuit on the FIA Formula 2 Championship calendar.

4. Last year, Racing Engineering’s Norman Nato won the Sprint race in Monza.

5. Variante Ascari is a very tricky sequence of corners and is key to the lap time.

6. Corners 4 and 5 make up Curve di Lesmo (Lesmo 1 and Lesmo 2). They are both long, 90 degree right hand corners and can be driven at very high speeds.

7. The famous Parabolica corner is a long right-hander and probably the trickiest corner of the circuit.

8. Serraglio is very fast and, although a corner, almost straight. Faster cars will have a good opportunity for overtaking here.

9. Since 2009 in Monza, Racing Engineering drivers have finished on the podium every year.

10. There are only six braking points around the track, and all come from high speed sections.

1. F1 top speed peaking at over 349 km/h down the pit straight just before the first chicane, whereas in F2 the top speed goes up to 330 km/h.

2. Pole position in F1 was set in 2016 at 1:21.135 – Pole position in GP2 was set in 2016 at 1:31.199.

3. F1 throttle usage is 75% vs 78% of the lap that the engine spends at full throttle in F2.

4. F1 drivers will change gear 46 times per lap against 30 times that a F2 driver will have to do.

5. Race distance is no so different: F1 go around the circuit for 53 laps and F2 do a total of 51 laps in two days - 30 laps in Feature Race and 21 in the Sprint Race.

©Nyck De Vries