Italian Grand Prix 2015 Preview: Start Time, TV Times, Weather, Schedule, Odds
Formula One touches down in Monza this weekend for the 2015 Italian Grand Prix. The race will be the 93rd world championship event held in Italy and the 12th round of the current season.
Lewis Hamilton takes a 28-point championship lead into the race. He won here last season after Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg's error—a mistake that swung the momentum Hamilton's way and proved pivotal in the 2014 title fight.
This year, Rosberg is the man needing to turn the tide as the teams arrive at one of the oldest and most revered racing facilities in the world.
As long as there has been world championship F1, there has always been an Italian Grand Prix—and no circuit has hosted more races than Monza. A part of the very first modern-era season back in 1950, the track has been absent from the calendar only once, in 1980.
Michael Schumacher is the most successful driver in Monza's history with six victories, all of them coming in the red of Ferrari. Of the current crop, it's his apparent successor Sebastian Vettel leading the way with three Italian wins.
Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have two wins apiece; they are the only other drivers in the current field to have won here.
The coming weekend will almost certainly see a duel between the Mercedes drivers for the 2015 winner's trophy. But Malaysia and Hungary proved the Silver Arrows are not invincible—and a few drops of rain could change everything.
Read on for a full preview of the weekend ahead, including a circuit map and detailed guide, TV times, session times, tyre and DRS information, current standings, weather and odds.
Current Formula 1 Standings
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Lewis Hamilton's victory at Spa saw his lead over team-mate Nico Rosberg grow to 28 points. Sebastian Vettel is now 67 points in arrears—whatever slim hopes he had of mounting a late title challenge are surely over now.
Further down the order, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are tied for fourth, Daniil Kvyat is the top Red Bull driver for the first time and Max Verstappen has broken into the top 10.
The current top 10 drivers are:
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | 227 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | 199 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | 160 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | 82 |
| 5 | Felipe Massa | 82 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | 79 |
| 7 | Daniil Kvyat | 57 |
| 8 | Daniel Ricciardo | 51 |
| 9 | Romain Grosjean | 38 |
| 10 | Max Verstappen | 26 |
Mercedes smashed through the 400-point barrier in Belgium and lead second-placed Ferrari by 184 points. One-twos for the Silver Arrows at the next three grands prix will secure the title with five races to spare.
Red Bull and Lotus also reached milestones at the last race, scoring their 100th and 50th points, respectively.
The teams with at least one point are:
| 1 | Mercedes | 426 |
| 2 | Ferrari | 242 |
| 3 | Williams | 161 |
| 4 | Red Bull | 108 |
| 5 | Lotus | 50 |
| 6 | Force India | 49 |
| 7 | Toro Rosso | 35 |
| 8 | Sauber | 23 |
| 9 | McLaren | 17 |
Data sourced from the official F1 website.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza
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The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is the oldest and fastest circuit on the current F1 calendar. It started life as a 10-kilometre track made up of a banked oval and a simple, fast road course.
Over the years the oval fell into disuse, but aside from a few small modifications, the road course first laid down in 1922 has stood the test of time. Chicanes added in the interest of safety over the decades now disrupt the flat-out flow, but the basic layout has not significantly altered in almost 100 years.
Well, if it ain't broke...
Though the modern circuit is punctuated by those chicanes, low-downforce setups and long straights see speeds in excess of 330 kilometres an hour reached at four locations around the circuit.
Some Mercedes-powered cars hit 350 kilometres an hour—without the aid of a slipstream—during qualifying last season. With the engines kicking out more power this year, speeds in 2015's race should be higher still.
Turns 1 and 2
A lap begins on the pit straight with a quite lengthy run down to the first corner. This is where the fastest speeds of the year will be attained in Sunday's race.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff expects these could be up to 365 kilometres an hour.
From these huge velocities, the drivers slam on the brakes and drop down to less than 70 kilometres an hour to attack the kerbs of the slow, right-left chicane (Variante del Rettifilo or Prima Variante), which comprises Turns 1 and 2.
Many overtaking moves will be completed or attempted here, but caution is needed because the chicane is quite narrow and the kerbs are high. Contact, especially on the opening lap, is an ever-present danger.
The drivers take a bit of the kerb on the outside as they get back on the throttle as quickly as they can.
Turns 3, 4 and 5
After a few seconds back on the power, the track sweeps right through the long, flat-out Turn 3. The official name of his corner—which is treated like a curved straight—is Curva Biassono.
But you'll more commonly hear it referred to as Curva Grande—a name it (officially) dropped in 1927.
The cars exit the curve and build up to speeds in excess of 330 kilometres an hour before braking hard for the left-right Variante della Roggia chicane. The drivers tend to be slower through the left (Turn 4) in order to give themselves the best line through—and exit from—the right-hander (Turn 5).
There's a handy kerb on the outside at the exit, and all the drivers will make use of it as they head out onto a short straight. Overtaking is possible here only if the defending driver got a very poor exit from the chicane.
Turns 6 and 7
Next up is the medium-speed right-hander of Turn 6—the first of the two Lesmo corners. The corner is slightly banked and the drivers can carry significantly more speed through here than they'd be able to were it flat.
The track levels out at the exit, and after a couple of seconds on the power, it's back on the brakes again for Turn 7. A good exit from this medium-speed right-hander is essential because it leads out onto yet another straight.
Turns 8, 9 and 10
The drivers speed through a left-hand kink and downhill into a shallow valley. The straight passes below the old banking—some TV camera angles will show it—before heading back uphill for the braking zone of the Variante Ascari chicane.
Significantly quicker than the previous two chicanes, the drivers attack the first left (Turn 8) at around 170 kilometres an hour, make limited use of the kerbs in the right-hander (Turn 9) and feather the throttle through the final left (Turn 10).
As soon as they clear Turn 10, the accelerator is slammed to the floor. The car drifts as far over the exit kerbs as the driver dares let it, then it's out onto another long straight.
Turn 11
Now approaching the end of the lap, the drivers brake late from 330 kilometres an hour and turn in hard to the final corner, Parabolica (Turn 11).
After hitting the very early apex, the drivers let their cars slide wide, balancing the throttle for a couple of seconds before flooring it midway through the corner.
The exit seems to go on forever as the cars rapidly build up speed, heading out onto the pit straight and the start of another lap.
Pit Lane
The pit-lane entry is on the inside just after the exit of Parabolica, and the exit is on the right just before Turn 1.
Tyres and DRS
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Monza features four high-speed straights, two massive braking zones and just four "normal" corners—of which only three require any serious driver input. Over the course of the race, the tyres experience fewer turning events than at any circuit on the calendar.
The rears take most of their punishment in the acceleration zones out of the slow chicanes and around Parabolica and Curva Grande—where the car is accelerating and turning at the same time.
The fronts are worked through those corners too—especially Parabolica, where the front of the car is sliding across the track—and have a lot of longitudinal energy put through them in the huge braking zones to the Rettifilo and Roggia chicanes.
Pirelli is supplying the yellow-marked soft and white-marked medium compound tyres—a step down from last season when we saw the medium and hard compounds used.
In its race preview, the tyre company says it expects "a fair degree of wear and degradation," which we'd normally assume would mean a two-stop race.
But most of the teams seem fairly on top of tyre management; if a one-stopper on the same compounds was (almost) achievable at a relatively warm Spa, it should be possible for at least some drivers at Monza.
Perhaps we'll see a mix of strategies between one-stopping tortoises and two-stopping hares.
DRS Zones
There will be two DRS zones at the Italian Grand Prix.
The first will have its detection point just before the braking point of Turn 11 (Parabolica). The activation point will be on the pit straight shortly after the finish line (the start line is in a different place, further up the track) and the zone will end with braking for Turn 1.
The second zone's detection point will be between the two Lesmos (Turns 6 and 7). The activation point will be around 200 metres after the exit of Turn 7, with the zone finishing at Turn 8.
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Weather Forecast
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Monza lies in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, close to the city of Milan, and it has a humid subtropical climate. Early September typically sees temperatures in the mid-20s degrees Celsius, and rain falls, on average, one day in every five.
The weekend ahead looks set to be mostly fine with temperatures close to the long-term average, but there's a chance of heavy rain showers on Friday and Saturday. Qualifying looks especially vulnerable based on early forecasts.
Sunday should be dry and bright, but as always, things could change.
BBC Weather will have the latest (forecast is for Milan; Monza is around 20 kilometres away).
Odds
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Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg occupy their usual spots at the top of the favourites chart. The bookies rate Ferrari as the Silver Arrows' main competition, but their odds are longer than they were at Spa.
Lotus are surprisingly unfancied, while Renault-powered Red Bull's odds are rather shorter than we might expect.
The top 10 favourites are:
| Lewis Hamilton | 1-2 |
| Nico Rosberg | 9-4 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 16-1 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 40-1 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 40-1 |
| Felipe Massa | 66-1 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 80-1 |
| Romain Grosjean | 80-1 |
| Daniil Kvyat | 100-1 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 125-1 |
Selected Others
Monza is a high-speed circuit, and some sections of the course have very little run-off—but we haven't seen the safety car in action here since 2011. It's 4-6 to make an appearance this coming Sunday (5-4 it isn't needed).
Romain Grosjean scored his first podium of the season at Spa, and his Lotus should go well in Italy too—perhaps even better. He's 8-1 seventh-favourite to finish in the top three, while team-mate Pastor Maldonado is 16-1.
And McLaren's weak Honda power unit is expected to be an even bigger handicap than usual at Monza. Fernando Alonso is a whopping 5-1 for a points finish, with Jenson Button 11-2.
All odds sourced from Oddschecker.com and correct at the time of publication.
TV Times and Session Times
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As always, the Italian Grand Prix weekend will consist of three free practice sessions, qualifying and the race.
The session times are as follows:
| Practice 1 | Friday | 10 a.m. |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 2 p.m. |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 11 a.m. |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 2 p.m. |
| Race | Sunday | 2 p.m. |
All times given are in Monza local time (CEST, UTC+1). The official Formula One website has a useful tool on its homepage to convert them to your own time zone.
TV Times
In the United Kingdom, live coverage of all sessions will be provided by Sky Sports F1. The programming times are as follows (all times BST):
| Practice 1 | Friday | 9 a.m. | 8:45 a.m. |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 1 p.m. | 12:45 p.m. |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 10 a.m. | 9:45 a.m. |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 1 p.m. | 12 p.m. |
| Race | Sunday | 1 p.m. | 12 p.m. |
Free-to-air highlights of qualifying and the race will be shown on the BBC.
In the United States, live coverage is provided by NBC network across NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra (SLE). The times are as follows (all times EDT):
| Practice 1 | Friday | 4 a.m. | 4 a.m. (SLE) |
| Practice 2 | Friday | 8 a.m. | 8 a.m. (NBCSN) |
| Practice 3 | Saturday | 5 a.m. | 5 a.m. (SLE) |
| Qualifying | Saturday | 8 a.m. | 8 a.m. (NBCSN) |
| Race | Sunday | 8 a.m. | 7:30 am (NBCSN) |
Enjoy the weekend!
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