Autodromo di Monza – a lap in 93 years

1922 Milan Automobile Club commits to build a permanent circuit, to commemorate its 25th anniversary. It selects the Villa Reale Park, Monza. Felice Nazzaro and Vincenzo Lancia lay the first stone in February, but environmental opposition delays further work until May. Featuring a 2.79-mile banked circuit and a 3.41-mile road course, which could be run in combination, the autodromo is then built in just 110 days. On July 28, Pietro Bordino and Nazzaro complete the first test laps. On September 3 the circuit opens and Bordino (Fiat 501) wins the feature race. One week later, in a Fiat 804, he wins Monza’s first Italian GP (but the nation’s second, after Brescia 1921)

1924 Monza’s high-speed nature underlined when Alfa Romeo’s P2s are clocked at more than 220kph (137mph) as Antonio Ascari wins the Italian GP

1928 Louis Chiron scores a sombre Italian GP victory for Bugatti: Talbot driver Emilio Materassi and 27 spectators are killed when he crashes on the main straight. The event is subsequently suspended

1929 Reduced-status Monza GP takes place using only the high-speed loop

1931 Italian GP reinstated at Monza

1933 Giuseppe Campari, Stanislaus Czaykowski and Baconin Borzacchini die on the same afternoon during the Monza GP

1934 Italian GP takes place on shorter, slower 4.14-mile Florio version of the circuit, which combines the road course and the southern banking with temporary chicanes. Luigi Fagioli and Rudi Caracciola share the winning Mercedes

1938 Major renovations. Road course resurfaced, original banked curves demolished, straights relocated and new pit buildings installed. Tazio Nuvolari (Auto Union) wins final pre-war Italian GP, on Florio circuit

1939 Racing suspended during the war years and their immediate aftermath. During that time, the site is used to house the Public Automotive Registry archive… and also animals rescued from Milan Zoo. The Allies eventually use it as a military storage facility

1948 Milan Automobile Club commences a full restoration of the circuit, which re-opens in October

1949 Italian GP returns: Alberto Ascari wins for Ferrari

1950 Monza hosts seventh and final round of the new world championship for drivers. Nino Farina takes the third victory of his title-winning campaign

1955 New high-speed banking constructed to accommodate theoretical top speeds approaching 180mph. The Italian GP takes place on the full 6.2-mile circuit, incorporating road course and the new banked turns. Juan Manuel Fangio wins for Mercedes. Team-mate Stirling Moss sets fastest lap, averaging 134.029mph. Earlier in the season Alberto Ascari dies while testing a sports car… just a few days after surviving his harbour plunge during the Monaco GP

1957-58 America’s leading Indycar racers invited over to participate in the Race of Two Worlds against the cream of a generally indifferent Europe. The Americans win 2-0

1960 Banked circuit used for Italian GP for the first time since 1956. Several UK teams stay away, citing the potential dangers imposed by the high loads and speeds. Phil Hill wins in a Ferrari 246, the final world championship victory for a front-engined car

1961 Fourth – and final – Italian GP on the banked track. On the second lap, Wolfgang von Trips and Jim Clark collide, the German’s car somersaulting off the course. He and 11 spectators perish in the accident, which happens approaching the Parabolica

1965 Monza 1000Kms takes place on the full track

1966 Chicanes installed at the entrance to each banked turn

1969 Monza 1000Kms takes place on the banked circuit for the final time, before aligning with F1 on the road course

1970 Jochen Rindt killed during practice for the Italian GP

1971 Peter Gethin beats Ronnie Peterson by 0.01sec to win the Italian GP at an average speed of 150.755mph – which would remain the fastest F1 race average for 32 years

1972 Two chicanes added – one at Rettifilo, the other at Variante Ascari – to counter the increasing speeds generated by cars with wings and wider tyres. Motorbikes continue to race without chicanes, but in 1973 a string of fatal accidents leads major events to move elsewhere. Monza continued to host minor bike races on its short circuit, but the GP would stay away until 1981

1974 Variante Ascari chicanes modified

1976 Rettifilo chicane revised, della Roggia chicanes added

1979 A major safety overhaul begins, triggered in part by Ronnie Peterson’s fatal accident at the start of the 1978 Italian GP and partly by demands from motorcycle racers. Wider run-off areas, sand traps and tyre walls are introduced

1980 The Italian GP moves to Imola – the only time in world championship history that Monza has not appeared on the schedule

1981 Monza returns to the fold… and Imola stays on, too, as host of the San Marino GP

1988 McLaren suffers its only defeat of the season after Ayrton Senna trips while lapping Jean-Louis Schlesser’s Williams. Shortly after Enzo Ferrari’s death, Gerhard Berger comes through to win one of Ferrari’s home races

1989 New pit complex constructed

1995 Curva Grande reprofiled

2000 First chicane significantly altered, from a double right-left-right-left to a single right-left with tighter entry

2003 Michael Schumacher wins the Italian GP at 153.842mph, finally beating Peter Gethin’s 1971 average

2004 Rubens Barrichello qualifies his Ferrari on pole for the Italian GP at 161.802mph, a record lap speed

2010 Second part of first chicane slightly eased

2015 Monza hosts its 65th world championship race. Monaco (62) and Silverstone (49) run it closest… but will the Italian GP’s contract be renewed?