Why Is Monza Special For Ferrari?
- Ferrari’s own history at Monza starts later than most retellings suggest: Scuderia Ferrari raced Alfa Romeos there from 1929, and a Ferrari-badged car didn’t win at Monza until 1949.
- Michael Schumacher’s five Monza wins for Ferrari, from a tearful 1996 breakthrough to his 2006 farewell, remain more than any other driver has managed at the team’s home race.
- Charles Leclerc has won at Monza twice, in 2019 and 2024, but Max Verstappen denied Ferrari a third straight home win in 2025, leaving 2024 as Ferrari’s most recent Monza victory.
What Makes Monza Ferrari’s Spiritual Home
Monza sits less than 200 kilometres from Ferrari’s factory in Maranello, and every September it turns red. The Italian Grand Prix is the closest thing Formula 1 has to a designated home race for a single team, and Ferrari has been part of the sport there for longer than any other constructor on the current grid. That history is also messier and later-starting than it usually gets credit for, since the team spent its first two decades racing someone else’s cars.
When Did Ferrari’s History At Monza Actually Begin?
Enzo Ferrari founded Scuderia Ferrari on 16 November 1929 in Modena, but not to build cars. The Scuderia entered Alfa Romeo machinery for its drivers, an arrangement that continued for the following decade; Ferrari didn’t construct its own car, the Tipo 815, until 1939-40, and a Ferrari-badged car didn’t appear on a Grand Prix grid at all until 1947.
That gap is why Ferrari’s own Monza record starts later than Scuderia Ferrari’s founding suggests. The team’s first win at the circuit under its own name came in the 1949 Italian Grand Prix, a non-championship race held the year before the Formula 1 World Championship existed, with Alberto Ascari leading a Ferrari 1-2 finish. Ferrari’s first Monza win inside the world championship followed in 1951, Ascari again, and it was his win at Monza the following year, 1952, that delivered Ferrari’s first drivers’ title.
Who Are Ferrari’s Biggest Monza Winners?
No Ferrari driver has matched Michael Schumacher’s five Monza wins for the team: 1996, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2006. The first of those mattered most. It was Schumacher’s maiden season at Ferrari, and it ended a Ferrari drought at Monza stretching back to 1988. His last, in 2006, came in the season he announced his retirement from the sport.
Charles Leclerc has since won at Monza twice, in 2019 and 2024. His first ended a nine-year wait for Ferrari at its own race, the previous Ferrari Monza win having come from Fernando Alonso in 2010. His second, in 2024, came off the back of a one-stop tyre strategy that held off a chasing McLaren. “Seeing our Tifosi celebrating with us is just amazing,” Leclerc said afterwards, “and I am so glad that we could share this victory for a second time.”
Why Does Monza’s Circuit Suit Ferrari So Well?
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza opened in 1922, seven years before Scuderia Ferrari existed. Motor Sport Magazine describes it as the oldest purpose-built circuit in Europe still in active use, with only the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, opened in 1909, older among tracks still hosting racing today. Britain’s Brooklands predates both but stopped functioning as a circuit in the 1940s.
The current Monza layout runs 5.793 kilometres, with the Italian Grand Prix run over 53 laps for a total race distance of 306.720 kilometres. Long straights and a handful of chicanes make it the lowest-downforce circuit on the calendar, which has earned it the nickname the Temple of Speed.
Monza’s original 1922 layout also included a steeply banked oval, used alongside the road circuit on and off through the 1950s and into 1961. It was retired from Formula 1 use after that year’s race, when Wolfgang von Trips’ Ferrari collided with Jim Clark’s Lotus, was launched into the crowd, and killed von Trips and fifteen spectators, the deadliest single accident in the sport’s history. The banking is still visible at Monza today, unused since.
Why Is Monza Special For Ferrari In 2026?
Ferrari’s most recent Monza win remains Leclerc’s in 2024. The team’s bid for a third consecutive home victory ended in 2025, when Max Verstappen won for Red Bull by more than 19 seconds over Lando Norris; Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton sixth. The 2026 Italian Grand Prix is scheduled for the first weekend of September, and Ferrari heads into it still chasing a result to match 2024 rather than repeat one.
What Do The Tifosi Add To Ferrari’s Monza Weekend?
Attendance at Monza has climbed each of the past few years, with organisers reporting roughly 370,000 fans across the 2025 race weekend, a sell-out and a record for the venue. Most of that crowd is there for one team. The scale of support, and the pressure that comes with it, is part of why a Monza win carries different weight for Ferrari drivers than victories anywhere else on the calendar, win or lose, the Tifosi turn out in red.
Does Ferrari Make Monza-Named Cars Too?
Ferrari’s connection to the track runs into its road car lineup as well. The 750 Monza and 860 Monza, sports racers built in the 1950s, helped Ferrari win five of the seven World Sportscar Championship titles contested that decade. In 2018, Ferrari revived the name for the Monza SP1 and SP2, limited-run roadsters built as tributes to those earlier cars, part of the manufacturer’s Icona series of heritage-inspired models.
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Monza FAQs
When did Ferrari first win at Monza?
Under its own name, in the non-championship 1949 Italian Grand Prix, with Alberto Ascari leading a 1-2 finish. Its first win at Monza inside the Formula 1 World Championship came in 1951, also Ascari.
How many times has Michael Schumacher won at Monza for Ferrari?
Five times: 1996, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2006, more than any other Ferrari driver at the team’s home race.
When did Ferrari most recently win at Monza?
2024, when Charles Leclerc won for the second time, having also won in 2019. Ferrari’s bid for a third straight win was ended by Max Verstappen in 2025.
Why is Monza called the Temple of Speed?
Its long straights and few corners mean teams run the lowest downforce levels of the season there, producing some of the highest average lap speeds on the Formula 1 calendar.
Sources
- 16 November 1929: the foundation of Scuderia Ferrari – Ferrari
- Magical Monza – Ferrari
- Charles on fire! Monza goes Ferrari red once again – Ferrari
- How Gerhard Berger’s 1988 Italian Grand Prix victory saw Ferrari deny McLaren a perfect F1 season – The Sport Review
- Dominant Max Verstappen wins Italian GP ahead of Lando Norris – ESPN
- Leclerc delivers home Formula One win for Ferrari at Italian Grand Prix – Al Jazeera
- Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2 Limited-Edition Roadsters Revealed – Robb Report
- Nostrabet
Article reviewed and updated by Jack Renn, August 2026.
Read this article in: Nederlands
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