Kevin Magnussen Q&A: Italian Grand Prix

Round 16 of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship brings us to Monza, for the Italian Grand Prix. It’s another track founded on high-speed straights, a circuit characteristic which hasn’t always played to the strengths of the VF-22. Knowing that before going into the weekend, how do you adjust your approach and targets?

“We won’t be taking a different approach into the weekend – Monza is a great race, one of the favorites, certainly in my book. The atmosphere, the track, the history of the place, it just is a special feeling racing there. It’s also a super racing friendly track, there’s lots of slipstreaming and always a very unique form of racing in Monza.” 

Having raced at Spa, Zandvoort and now coming to the ‘Temple of Speed’, for you as a driver how do those circuits compare knowing their historical importance as opposed to newer venues?

“I think it’s ok to have a mix with old and new, but I do tend to prefer the old ones because they were built differently. Nowadays, tracks are built very efficiently, smooth, flat and wide. When you get to a track like Zandvoort, Mugello, Monza or Suzuka, you really feel the difference and it tends to be more exciting and more exhilarating.

"You let your mind think about what it must’ve been like back in the day and also the old tracks that we race on now have been updated. It was just different back then and the tracks that still exist from back then still have some of that character in them.”

 

It’s the final stop on this triple-header, and final race in Europe before the F1 paddock moves to flyaway events. What will you do in the two weeks before we gear up for Singapore and how do you prepare for the change in time zone?

“I’ll be training and trying to get the most of out the two-week break. There’s a lot of travelling in these three weeks we’re in now and the training you do in the gym is very limited so I’m going to get back to the gym and have some time with family.”