Formula 1 is set for its first all-dry weekend of track action since May’s Miami Grand Prix with the trip to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.
Each of the last eight rounds have seen at least one session in which the track was wet. The round preceding those was due to be the first of two events in Italy – but the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was cancelled due to flooding in and around the Imola circuit.It will be not only dry but quite warm this weekend at Monza, which is hosting the final round of the season which takes place in Europe. Both practice sessions on Friday will be held in the afternoon, meaning drivers will be facing air temperatures of 24C in first practice and 26C in second practice while the supporting Formula 2 and Formula 3 championships may be on track when it’s just 15C in the morning.
There is no expectation of rain during either of F1’s sessions, although there will be north-blowing winds that could be as strong as 15kph. That means drivers will have a tailwind down the pit straight, but will go up against a headwind on the back straight. It will make the slipstream effect weaker on the run to turn one, but stronger entering Curva Parabolica.
The weather will be almost identical for Saturday in terms of temperature and wind, with the F3 sprint race being held in cool 16C conditions but the rest of the day’s track action all taking place when it is 25C or higher. It will be 27C for F1 qualifying.
Sunday will be the hottest day of the weekend, seeing temperatures of 17C for the support races, rising to 29C by the time the grand prix begins at 3pm local time. There is a chance of rain, but it is less than 20%, and the winds will be blowing more in a north-easterly direction which means there will be a headwind – and a chance to set up overtakes – between the second Lesmo and the Ascari chicane.
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Jere (@jerejj)
31st August 2023, 9:20
Which is good news for a change with such a long uninterrupted streak of rain-affected events & hopefully, this event won’t be the only remaining one besides the two Middle East GPs & LV GP.
Was the 2007 GP really that warm, though?
I couldn’t find references about such a high figure as 35C by Googling, so if yes, what an abnormally warm September that year.
Asd
31st August 2023, 11:30
Jere, it might have been the coldest September ever in 2007. All we know is that the race day was hot.
I actually will miss the added entertainment value of a rainy race weekend. This GP weekend might be painfully predictable. And I’m not looking forward to the boring DRS overtakes on the long straights and finishing order being established 10 laps into the race.
Jere (@jerejj)
31st August 2023, 12:26
So, a single isolated abnormally warm day within an otherwise cool-ish month.
More up-to-date relevantly, DRS has always been relatively ineffective in Monza because of low-drag rear-wing configurations, so consequently, overtakes on those straights have never really been straightforward & if anything, the DRS train effect is the greatest in Monza or equal with Mexico City.
Asd
31st August 2023, 17:09
We dont really known if it was a cool-ish month. For all we know, it could’ve been a typical hot day in the hottest month ever.
baasbas
31st August 2023, 12:17
……..?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
31st August 2023, 20:42
It’s really strange how the gp will be completely dry, monza is only 40 km away from where I live and we’ve had rain almost every single day up until last week.
But historically there’s been very few wet races and qualis in monza, I looked up all monza races in history on wiki few weeks ago and there’s only been a handful.