Monza has been on my radar for a very long time (I mean, I’m an F1 fan for abour a year, but about 10 month of that year, I have been wanting to go to Monza). Good thing is that it is quite accessible, it’s near Milan, there is great public transport there and there are pretty frequent and cheap flights to Milan from Budapest.
From Milan, I took the train (it was 10 minutes) then the bus (15 minutes) then a walk (20 minutes) that Google predicted to take 45 minutes, but overestimated it a bit. Anyway, I think I maxed out the Monza experience and I did everything that was possible on a random Wednesday (or any random day that is not a raceday). So here is my list for you:
Monza Track Experience (25 EUR): I’ve bought the tickets in advance, because I wasn’t sure if they would sell out or not, and I recommend to do the same, because we had quite a large group. The tour guide picked us up at the meeting point, and we walked around the hospitality/pit building.
His accent was pretty strong, so I really had to closely listen what he was saying. It was especially hard, because whenever we looked out of the windows, we saw the preparations for the upcoming race weekend (GT World Challenge Europe), and it was VERY distracting. Especially that I accidentally managed to watch the unboxing of Valentino Rossi’s car!
We went to the VIP viewer area, and the place of the old podium, both of which have a pretty amazing view. Then onwards to the Media Center, that I have seen on pictures, but still, it was crazy to be there. A lot of working stations, a place for the press conferences, and honestly it just made me think that it isn’t called the racing circus by accident. So many people are interested in what is happening at a weekend that justifies the size of such a big place that only works on keeping the world informed.
We walked a lot of corridors and also visited the current podium. Standing there as a regular person made me feel things, so I don’t have words for what it could be like to be a Ferrari driver and be on the top step of that podium with the sea of tifosi right in front of you on the track… Must be life altering!
We finished the tour at the race control – which was one of the most interesting for me. There were a lot of screens with a lot of different angles of the track (and they go in order, but from left to right then next row from right to left, etc), I’ve never seen such a thing.
We ended back to the original meeting point, and the next point on the agenda took place. (The meeting point was the Fangio statue – the exact same thing that I’ve already seen in Monaco, but also can be found in many other places.
Track tour with a minivan (5 EUR): For some reason, I couldn’t book this online, even though it is possible, but given that it is 7 person minivan, you can just show up and say that you want to take a tour on the spot.
It was fun (I sat on the right next to a window), though we went so slow that I think we were desecrating the temple of speed. I have done Monza a lot of times on simulators, and it was amazing to actually drive through those chicanes that give me so much headache on the sim (they are fun, but it is hard to drive a lap where I’m not cutting corners).
Walk the oval of Monza: This was my favorite part – we got instructions about how to get there, and it was a 10 minute walk to reach it. I got so excited that when I first saw the tilted road, I might have squeaked a little bit. It is a lot steeper than I imagined, at the steepest part, I couldn’t even climb to the top (it was also raining, so I didn’t feel the safest).
Nature is trying to conquer this part, small weeds are growing in the cracks of the pavement and trees are taking back on the upper parts of it, yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was walking on living motorsport history. Nobody was there but us, which I think made it even more special.
We walked all the way until the fence, where the oval is meeting the current track, and there was a footpath up, then some gates open, and I felt adventurous, so I found myself on the grandstand at the first chicane. It took my breath away – it is not an everyday occuring that you are alone on a grandstand and you are looking at a beautiful part of the Monza track. I think I was a bit high on adrenaline and dopamine. (Aka carhappy.)
+1. Go to the F1 Monza store: With the Track Experience, you receive a “passport” that gives you 15% off at this store – and it is on the way back to the bus stop, so might as well check it out. It has all teams’ merch (Ferrari is overrepresented, of course), and quite a wide selection.
So this was my Monza trip, I loved every single minute of it – if you are a tifosi, it is a must to visit, but I can honestly recommend it to everyone. From Europe it is a relatively budget trip (I did a one day from from Budapest), with Wizzair and Ryanair both flying to Milan, and public transport there would cost about 10 EUR (return), then the ticket prices I listed above.
Have you ever been to Monza? What did you think of it?
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