Trip to Monza race- any advice ?

[Inspectorclueso]

As per title, I'm looking to take my two lads 13 and 15 to Monza, we did Silverstone 2 years ago and loved it. I'd appreciate any travel tips, we're looking to get out there on Friday night via a flight and back on either Sunday night or on Monday.

I've heard it's pretty good in general admission at Monza, we did Grandstand at Silverstone.

Is Monza town the best place to stay, any recommendations ? Thanks.

[paulguitar]

Inspectorclueso said:

As per title, I'm looking to take my two lads 13 and 15 to Monza, we did Silverstone 2 years ago and loved it. I'd appreciate any travel tips, we're looking to get out there on Friday night via a flight and back on either Sunday night or on Monday.

I've heard it's pretty good in general admission at Monza, we did Grandstand at Silverstone.

Is Monza town the best place to stay, any recommendations ? Thanks.

I stayed in Milan and took the train to the circuit and back each day.

Some great spots with GA, try the Ascari chicane. We had a grandstand for Sunday which is well worth the extra to save having to stake out a spot and wait for hours.

Enjoy!

[HardtopManual]

I would stay in Milan, plenty going on and lots to see & do. Dead easy train to Monza for the race, then either a shuttle bus or a 40 minute walk to the track. On race day, you can get a train to the north end of the circuit, to Biassono-Lesmo station, which makes for an easier time getting to the track.

Fly into Linate if you can. The other airport options are much further away from the city.

GA is pretty good at Monza, but it's flat as a pancake so you'll only see the bit of the circuit right in front of you. The bleachers on the start/finish straight are probably the best value seats in the F1 calendar, something like £150 for the weekend and you've got a guaranteed seat somewhere between pole position and the pit exit, and can wander around GA if you like.

Food at the circuit is surprisingly crap, given that it's Italy.

If you can stretch the trip at all, hire a car and head down to some of the factories in the week after the race. Ferrari, Pagani, Lamborghini, Ducati are all pretty close to eachother, about 2 hours' drive south.

[Killer2005]

Also watching TV with interest. Its my 40th next year and had planned on doing the Miami Gp however the date is different to what I expected so going to Monza for the F1 then down to Rome.

Weekend tickets at the Parabolica are reasonable so potentially looking there, although I'd prefer Ascari.

[rdjohn]

We sat in Ascari and while it had a great atmosphere, there was not much action. In hindsight, i felt that the 1st chicane would have been better.

The bleachers are dammed hard after a few hours, so i would recommend taking some foam.

[parabolica]

HardtopManual said:

I would stay in Milan, plenty going on and lots to see & do. Dead easy train to Monza for the race, then either a shuttle bus or a 40 minute walk to the track. On race day, you can get a train to the north end of the circuit, to Biassono-Lesmo station, which makes for an easier time getting to the track.

Agree with this, and it's what we did when we went in 2012. Not sure it's improved in the 10 years since, but signage for the GP - especially at Monza train station - was non existent and resulted in about 100 of us fans following the leader out of the station, completely missing the circuit coaches that were waiting for us on the other side of the station and cramming on to a local commuter bus to get to the circuit on the first day.

Agree with staying in Milan, but be sure to book somewhere decent early. We stayed pretty close to the main station in Monza and whilst it was fine for me and my dad, the place (i.e. neighbourhood) was littered with garbage, litter and ladies of the night plying their trade after 7pm.

[ellroy]

rdjohn said:

We sat in Ascari and while it had a great atmosphere, there was not much action. In hindsight, i felt that the 1st chicane would have been better.

The bleachers are dammed hard after a few hours, so i would recommend taking some foam.

We sat in the first chicane when we went, absolutely everything happened right in front of us. Great place to watch.

[Reclusive]

Alfa Romeo museum also local on outskirts of Milan at Arese .

In my opinion a better museum than all the exotic marques and better than the national motor museum in Turin .

[paulguitar]

ellroy said:

rdjohn said:

We sat in Ascari and while it had a great atmosphere, there was not much action. In hindsight, i felt that the 1st chicane would have been better.

The bleachers are dammed hard after a few hours, so i would recommend taking some foam.

We sat in the first chicane when we went, absolutely everything happened right in front of us. Great place to watch.

I sat there in 2003 and absolutely nothing happened.

That's the luck of the draw!

[parabolica]

paulguitar said:

ellroy said:

rdjohn said:

We sat in Ascari and while it had a great atmosphere, there was not much action. In hindsight, i felt that the 1st chicane would have been better.

The bleachers are dammed hard after a few hours, so i would recommend taking some foam.

We sat in the first chicane when we went, absolutely everything happened right in front of us. Great place to watch.

I sat there in 2003 and absolutely nothing happened.

That's the luck of the draw!

In fairness there aren't really any 'guaranteed action' seats at Monza; there are only a handful of grandstands to begin with:

• down the start/finish straight where you'll just see cars going past;
• first chicane where you might see an overtake, someone going straight through the polystyrene barriers ala Vettel, or one car on top of the other
• The two chicanes
• The outside of the entry to Parabolica
• The inside of the exit from Parabolica

Still one of the best races to go to though, IME.

[Reclusive]

After that detailed reply from Parabolica ,what does he know with a name like that ?........I'd consider going to Imola instead .

I went to Monza in 2008 ,it rained ! ....

[Jim H]

I did it 1999.

Train all the way from Cumbria, then coach all the way from London - I wouldn’t recommend to anyone!

It was a Page & Moy trip and I was pretty skint at the time. Stayed on the side of Como in a hotel and was coached in each day.

I didn’t have a ticket for Saturday, but went anyway and bought from a tout outside the circuit.
GA was great just to walk around and soak up the atmosphere .

Race day I was seated at the first chicane and memorably saw Mika completely lose it!
Poor fella.

Then, after the race, coach all the way home.

The journey down through Switzerland was very memorable though.

[generationx]

Reclusive said:

After that detailed reply from Parabolica ,what does he know with a name like that ?........I'd consider going to Imola instead .

I went to Monza in 2008 ,it rained ! ....

I was there that year too! First wet Italian GP for 31 years... It was quite scary during qualifying in the grandstand at the first chicane when the lightning started. God it was wet that weekend, I was fortunate enough to have some limited access to hospitality but I still got an ear infection due to the weather. Bloody sun came out on Monday!

Abiding memory was seeing (eventual race winner and the first one of many) Seb Vettel walking through the paddock on Sunday morning. He looked like a child he was so young and little.