SEPTEMBER 9, 2006

Drivers want work at Monza

Sebastian Vettel, Italian GP 2006 

 © The Cahier Archive

Formula 1 drivers want work done at Monza to improve safety at the Autodromo Nazionale. This creates a number of problems as, although the autodrome is located in a huge park, the circuit runs very close to the outer wall of the park and increasing run-off would involve going outside the parkland area. The only alternative to this would be to move the track further into the park and that would involve the cutting down of large numbers of trees, which would create major problems with Italian environmentalists.

The same problem occurred back in 1994 when work was necessary which called for 146 trees to be chopped down but the Italians had big problems with environmentalists. On that occasion the Italian GP had to be cancelled before the Italians agreed to do the work. The problem was only solved when the then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stepped in. The drivers are also keen on the replacement of gravel traps with the high-friction tarmac that is used elsewhere.