A host of drivers have been left unimpressed by the changes to one of Formula 1’s “old-school” tracks, Monza.
While the resurfacing of the circuit will be the most eye-catching feature over the course of the weekend, there have also been changes made to kerbs, with the profile of some being altered and others being installed from scratch.
Even though no F1 cars have run on the altered layout as of yet, Daniel Ricciardo cast his eye over the new-look Monza after arriving at the track on Thursday morning.
“They’ve changed the kerbs. I went around the track this morning. I can’t say I’m that impressed because I think some elements have lost some of the character of the circuit,” said Ricciardo.
“Obviously, a lot of you have been following F1 even longer than me and maybe it’s just as a driver, because we drive it and experience it, so maybe it makes sense to us, I don’t know if it makes sense to the outside.
“But kerbs and things like this…they make a circuit unique, and when you just kind of put some flat kerbs and stuff, like second chicane, so turn five, you get over the kerb and then there was like a thin concrete strip and then gravel.
“[In the past] you’d always just try and run your wheels on that little bit of concrete and use all the track, but not too much.
The Ascari chicane after being updated
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“It’s quite bumpy as well. I think it was kind of old-school and now that’s gone. We haven’t driven it yet but the resurfacing looks great. The asphalt looks really nice, but the kerbs, I’m a bit disappointed in.”
Changes made to the kerbs include Variante Ascari and, while Ricciardo – who revealed the drivers had not been consulted on the new look – feels the races could potentially improve as a result, he remains unhappy with the tinkering with the fabled chicane.
“It’s very flat now, so ultimately, because we can use so much more kerb probably, it’s going to be wider and easier to be flat than through nine and ten,” he explained.
“I don’t want to be all negative – maybe that means we can follow closer because it’s easier flat and you get a bigger slipstream, but I don’t know. I think they still underrate the kerbs and what it does to a circuit, how it changes the feeling, the character, the approach.
“We’ll see. Obviously, I am going to enjoy driving here but it feels like it’s lost a little bit of that ‘old-schoolness’ that it had.
“We go to a lot of modern circuits now, which are fun, they’re great, but if we’re going to keep the old-school ones, then let’s keep them old-school – that’s a little bit of my concern.
“We don’t need an overriding say, but at least just let us give some feedback. Maybe we save them money. They don’t have to change the kerbs.
“Maybe we have a more cost-efficient solution. We’re still sometimes a little bit left in the dark. At the end of the day, we’re driving. OK, again, we don’t maybe make a final decision, but at least hear us out and let us try and give the in-car point of view.”
Ricciardo’s team-mate, Yuki Tsunoda, echoed his sentiments but was on the fence on whether the changes would be beneficial to racing.
“It’s a smoother, flatter track, flatter kerbs. So it feels like it lost a bit of character of Monza, which maybe might be in a positive or a negative way,” said Tsunoda.
“I think that Ascari, the first part of a kerb you can use aggressively but some cars cannot because you don’t have much load as much as the other cars and you have to kind of compromise lines… but I don’t know how it will be on this track, but let’s see.”
Speaking last week after the Dutch Grand Prix, Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu said the changes and the resurfacing would be “the biggest challenge” at Monza as all the cars enter a slight unknown when running begins on Friday.
His driver Kevin Magnussen added his voice to the concern: “I love this track. This is one of those races where you really feel like it’s a Formula 1 race, some of the new ones are great too but they feel like new, almost like the new Formula 1 and you feel like you’re coming back in time a little bit and I enjoy that.
“So it is a very enjoyable track and very enjoyable race and I just hope the track still feels like Monza. I think it will but sometimes subtle changes are made to tracks and they lose their characteristics.”
The new-look Variante della Roggia
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, was reserving judgement until taking to the track in his Mercedes in FP1: “I don’t want to judge it before I’ve driven it, maybe we will get in and it will be the greatest thing and the greatest changes ever so I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot with that.
“Ultimately, we loved it before. For years it has been super bumpy in so many places and that has been a huge part of the character of what this track is, the kerbs as well have been pretty much the same for definitely over 20 years, so it is a big, big change, but ultimately it is the same track.
“We won’t know until tomorrow, it is going to be a lot smoother it looks like, and quite a bit quicker.”
Friday’s two practice sessions will allow the field to determine whether the changes have made a profound difference, as Williams’ Alex Albon explained.
“I’ve seen it, I feel it has maybe lost a bit of its character. I feel some of the kerbs that have been put in are a little more generic and I think generally, Monza had a specific style of track.
“It was always bumpy but that was not a bad thing and the kerbs were quite unique. Let’s see how it goes, I think there is going to be a lot of exploring in FP1 and FP2 with these kerbs, whether you can use them or not and how much you can use them will be a big question mark, but let’s see.”
The need to understand the changes cannot be overestimated, as proven by the fact Aston Martin reversed their decision to run reserve driver Felipe Drugovich in FP1.
Since discovering the extent of the revisions, the team will now allow Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll to take part in the session to get an early feel of the updates.
“Originally, I was giving my FP1 to Felipe here in Monza,” said Alonso.
“Then we understood that the resurface was a little bit bigger than we thought. The kerbs were different than we thought, so the team changed the plan, and I think it’s going to happen in Mexico now.”
