Monza to continue on the F1 roster until 2024 as organisers reach agreement

Pop open the champagne, open the curtains, lie down on the couch, no jump on it, get your mates together and roar loudly; Monza is here to stay. In part of an agreement (or understanding) that the organizers reached with the classic F1 race track, it’s been decided that one of the most sought-after venues of Formula 1 is going to be on the roster until 2024.

If that’s not impressive, then one wonders, what is?

After all, it is the home of perhaps the most famous marquee in Formula 1. It’s unfurled some titanic races in the past. Legends like Fangio, Prost, Schumacher, Alonso, and others have driven here, having raised the stature of many a contest. It’s called the home of the Tifosi. But it is a universal destination for every Formula 1 fan who finds a bit of himself when he meets Grand Prix racing here. Monza isn’t just a race-track; it’s F1 in pure gold.

Is it not? If anyone ever wished to see the kind of reception that Monza finds, then perhaps visiting the 2018 Italian Grand Prix may serve an example, rather, an exasperating one at that.

In what turned out to be a belter of a contest, Sky’s David ‘Crofty’ Croft dubbing it a wild race, familiar on-track opponents Kimi Raikkonen, then in a Ferrari, and Lewis Hamilton, in that unputdownable Mercedes locked horns in a contest that spanned a little over 2 hours and may surely last over a whole lifetime.

But hours before, it was during the 2018 Italian GP qualifying that the Iceman would clinch the pole-position, delivering a 1:19:119 during the dying stages of a keenly-followed Saturday as Monza went crazy having witnessed the fastest-ever lap in the history of Formula 1. The commentary box seemed a live-wire of a rock concert as those in attendance found themselves amid an outpour of Ferrari euphoria.

The Iceman had cometh, keeping his cool in the heat of the moment. And on race-day, Monza exceeded expectations- if it might be said- as Hamilton first reclaimed the lead from Kimi, only to lose it again to the Finn before he’d reclaim it to finish right on top.

At all this while, the famous address at Via Vedano held closely to its heart, part of it panting, part of it racing with the two sensational drivers embroiled in a slugfest whose duration was 53-laps.

Raikkonen claimed his 100th podium, no lame feat for a 39-year-old who captured the fastest lap driven ever by anyone on the grid. Finally, a Ferrari was on the podium in its home race even as Monza coronated Lewis Hamilton as the race-winner, the Briton having made winning Ferrari’s home GP a habit where past records show.

Now against that narrative, it can be said that the 2019 Italian GP would only serve another befitting exhibition of just why the track is so highly rated. So who will it be this year; another Mercedes 1-2 as per the usual norm nowadays or will Charles Leclerc bring home Ferrari’s first win at a track since Fernando Alonso’s triumph in 2010?

But before we allow conjecture to take the better of us, here’s what’s worth mentioning about the decision made on Monza:

The president of the AIC, Angelo Sticchi Damiani posted on Twitter, ‘we will continue negotiations with (at) F1 to quickly reach the signing of the contract.’