The Observer

I wish I was heading off to Monza this week. One of the downsides of being "the chief" at Autosport is that it is the closest thing I've ever had to a proper desk job (mind-numbing temping work in an insurance office when I left university doesn't really count). And the desk job means less of the good stuff: going to races.

With my quota of Grands Prix filled for this year, I'll be watching the Italian Grand Prix on TV like the majority of motor racing fans. But at least I've got a load of great memories to draw on from my previous visits - because Monza is always one of the highlights of the season.

Not because it produces classic races, it must be said. Ever since the dawn of chicanes in the 1970s, the great circuit's reputation for thrilling slipstreamers has become a thing of history.

The place is still the fastest track in F1 and passing opportunities are in greater quantity here than at many others. But it is for classic moments, not classic races, that Monza is best known for now.

That is partly because of where the Italian GP falls in the F1 calendar every year. By September, the world championship is often heating to boiling point. Any mistake at this stage could decide your fate - as a champ or a chump.

Mika Hakkinen certainly thought he was the latter when he threw away certain victory at the 1999 race with a spin at the first chicane while cruising in the lead. His reaction - throwing gloves to the ground in rage, then crouching to hide his tears in bushes as a hovering TV helicopter revealed his pain to the world - was one of the most uncharacteristic things he ever did. And that's why we'll never forget it.

Mika Hakkinen walks away after spinning out of the lead of the 1999 Italian Grand Prix © LAT

Hakkinen was briefly a chump back then. He recovered his composure to claim the world title in style of course, but nevertheless we didn't forget that that Monza moment could have been his downfall.

Will we witness something of comparable drama on Sunday? It's very possible.

The championship is tantalisingly poised. Ferrari might have won the last race thanks to Felipe Massa's coming-of-age drive in Istanbul, but surely it was Renault that left Turkey on the biggest high. Fernando Alonso's successful defence of second place from Michael Schumacher has edged out his points lead to 12. He heads to Italy buoyed by confidence after a serious wobble of form.

He is fired up to put one over the reds in their own backyard. But if he doesn't, if Ferrari and Bridgestone have the edge over Renault and Michelin this weekend and pressure Alonso into a mistake - could he crack?

We've seen weaknesses in Ferdi's cool, polished armour already this season - most obviously in the past three events. So far his hot head has surfaced in Germany and Turkey, and cost him dear in Hungary. But the incidents all occurred in practice or qualifying, not in races.

But if that pattern was to change, Monza is the place. Not just because of the Tifosi and Ferrari fever. There is something else about the circuit in the park that gets to you, like no other.

During my previous visits to the place I've never missed an opportunity to explore. Those memories I spoke about earlier, they are some of my best from race circuits.

Joining a couple of photographers trackside for practice sessions at the first chicane and Ascari brought the sound and vision of F1 home to me like no other experience. What a privilege - I couldn't have been closer.

Then there was a sportscar meeting back in '99. I was covering the Sports Racing World Cup, which was the latest (and not last) name of the open-top prototype series that was struggling against the odds to revitalise this branch of racing, away from Le Mans.

Around this time, the series looked like it might be winning its fight - briefly. At Monza it shared the bill with the FIA GT Championship, in the first year of its recovery following the loss of manufacturer support and bereft of its impressive GT1 supercars.

Between them, the series created a double bill worthy of interest. Not that the Italians seemed to notice. My colleague Gary Watkins and I seemed to have the place to ourselves when we walked out to watch practice.

The Monza banking © LAT

The grandstands were empty as the cars circulated, but somehow Monza created its own atmosphere. It's something to do with the history, the stillness, the dense woodland, the narrow track, the full car width-wide red and white kerbing. There's nowhere quite like it.

And then of course there is the banking. If you've been to Monza, have you ever tried walking up it? It's so steep, and the years of disuse have left a patchy covering of moss that makes it more akin to a ski slope in terms of grip.

It's here, on this deathwall of concrete, that the ghosts are most resonant. No wonder there has been a strong movement to save it from destruction. This place needs to be saved, for anyone with any sense of soul.

In Britain, we built industrial estates, modern housing blocks and Tesco car parks on our greatest racing monuments. Ok, so World War Two had already brought racing at Brooklands to an end, but this was perhaps the greatest sporting venue every built in England. (I know - with my realist's head on, disused Brooklands banking could never survive on prime stockbroker belt Surrey land.)

But what remains of the world's first purpose-built race track stirs the blood just like Monza. You just can't escape it.

Just as in Italy, the banking is steep and slippery. Generations of European petrolheads have been robbed of the most dramatic motor racing sights that have ever existed.

But back to today - or to be specific Sunday. We're in for a memorable day, one way or another.

The championship battle will deliver its fair share of tension, but even if the race itself disappoints, the Monza paddock will be the scene of perhaps one of the key moments of modern F1 on Sunday evening.

If Michael Schumacher does announce his retirement, the place will explode in a frenzy. Actually, the same will be true if his announcement is to race on.

More than on any other occasion, make sure you don't miss out. Forget Songs of Praise and Lost repeats - log on to autosport.com to witness F1 history in the making. It couldn't happen in a better - or more suitable - place.