Monza, Italy

September 12th-14th, 2003

The whole reason we were heading to Monza was for the Formula One Grand Prix car races. The time qualifying were on Friday and Saturday with the race to follow on Sunday. Of course, the Formula One was not the only action, they have different practice sessions for a Porsche race and Masarati race. Due to the train station mix-up we missed the warm-up session for that day, but arrived in plenty of time for the first qualifying. This is where they race around the track one car at a time to see who gets the fastest time. This then sets the order of the cars for the time qualifying on Saturday. The cars are then placed in order of fastest times for the race on Sunday.

In between the car races, they have plenty of booths and shops to entertain you until the next show.

This was a picture from the Formula 3000 race on Saturday. Seats aren't assigned until Sunday, so it's neat to be able to go to the other grand stands for a different perspective.

In the evening after the races, we walked around the town of Monza. We found an ice cream place with huge cones and window shopped. Since the race was all weekend, there were plenty of festivities. One evening they had an antique car show in one of the piazza's. Dave drooled on all the antique cars, while I drooled over my ice cream!

Monza also has an old cathedral and a couple of neat statues.

Sunday, the day of the big race!

Before the race starts there is a big trailer that carries all the drivers around the race track to see the fans.

The race was really intense. The cars are extremely loud and go by in a flash. There was a tv screen directly in front of us so we could see on screen the whole way around the track. Of course, most of the commentary was in Italian so we had to wait a while for the English part. The stands were absolutely packed and everyone was wearing red for the Ferrari team.

In the end the winner was Michael Schumacher and the crowds flooded the track to walk back towards the pit. We both took our pictures with the winner :)