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Monza is arguably the most historically important race track in F1 championship history. Having appeared on the inaugural schedule in 1950, it has remained in every year since, with the exception of 1980.
Thanks to this, it has played host to some of the most memorable moments in F1 history. For much of the fifties it was the final round, and Giuseppe Farina clinched the first ever championship with victory in 1950, leapfrogging Luigi Fagioli and Juan Manuel Fangio in the standings after a race that took the thick end of three hours.
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Ferrari 375s of Alberto Ascari and Dorino Serafini, 1950 © LAT |
Also on the podium that day was the obscure figure of Dorino Serafini, as part of a shared drive with Alberto Ascari. To this day, Serafini is the only man to have finished on the podium having made just one Grand Prix start. Indeed, he's one of only three men to even score points in a solitary appearance. The others are Eric Thompson, fifth in the 1952 British GP, and Oscar Galvez, who was also fifth at the 1953 Argentine GP, on the Buenos Aires circuit that now bears his name.
The famous banked oval section of the track was only used four times in the championship era - in 1955-56, and 1960-61, stretching the lap length to exactly 10kms (6.21 miles). In 1956 it witnessed a championship decider unlike any other, when Peter Collins gave up a winning position to hand his car over to Juan Manuel Fangio, who therefore pipped him to the crown.
