The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza was completed in 1922 and was just the third permanent autodrome in the world at that time; Brooklands in England and Indianapolis in the United States were the two others.

Materassi lost control of the car, swerved left, cleared a 15-foot wide and 10-foot deep ditch and ploughed into the unprotected grandstand opposite the pits, killing himself and 27 spectators, and injuring another 26.

[3] During the second heat, there was a reported patch of oil on the south banking that had come from a Duesenberg, driven by Count Carlo Felice Trossi, and Giuseppe Campari in a Ferrari-entered Alfa Romeo and his protege Baconin Borzacchini in a Maserati were already battling ferociously; and Borzacchini and Campari went through the south banking on the first lap, wheel to wheel.

On the eighth lap, Polish aristocrat Count Stanislas Czaykowski was on the south banking when his Bugatti's engine blew up, and a fuel line then broke.

What was particularly tragic about the 41-year old Campari's death was that he had announced his retirement at the French Grand Prix two months earlier, to focus on his opera singing exploits.

1951 saw Ascari win again, after the competitive Alfas of Farina and Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio ran into engine problems.

This course was combined with the road course for the 1955 event, which was won by Fangio and was the last race contested by a full-fledged Mercedes factory effort in Formula One until 2010.

1956 saw an exciting race, with championship contenders Fangio, Briton Peter Collins (both in Ferraris) and Frenchman Jean Behra in a Maserati fight over the win.

1957 saw the organizers choose to use the road circuit only, as the rough, poorly constructed banking had caused problems for the Ferrari and Maserati cars the year before.

Seeing an opportunity, the Italian organizers decided to re-include the banking with the road circuit, making Monza even faster and more in favour to the powerful Ferraris.

The British teams were unhappy as they cited the fragility of the banking, which was extremely rough, had a concrete surface instead of asphalt, was of very poor quality and was supported by stilts rather than solid bedrock; the argument being that it was too dangerous for Formula One cars.

Fighting for fourth place while Hill was leading and while von Trips approached the Parabolica, the Briton Jim Clark slightly moved over into the path of the German and the two collided.

1963 saw an attempted use of the extremely fast full circuit again, and the drivers ran the course during Friday practice but the concrete banking was so rough and bumpy that cars were being mechanically torn apart.

Briton Bob Anderson's Lola crashed after losing a wheel on the banking, although he was not injured); the drivers then threatened to walk off unless they raced on the road circuit only, which is what happened.

Surtees, now driving for Honda, battled with Australian Jack Brabham, and Surtees won the race by two-tenths of a second; and Clark, who had problems at the beginning of the race and lost a whole lap, stormed around the circuit, equalled his pole position time and unlapped himself to take the lead- but his fuel pump broke and he coasted over the line to finish third.

1969 saw four drivers; Stewart, Austrian Jochen Rindt, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Beltoise and New Zealander Bruce McLaren battle right down to the line.

With this win, Stewart won his first of three championships.1970 saw Rindt's fatal crash during qualifying at the wheel of his rear wing-less Lotus; his car suffered brake shaft failure, veered off the track, hit and went under the improperly-secured guardrail on the left and spun multiple times.

It was really just a bunch of straights and fast corners and F1 cars had become increasingly advanced and much faster, and the drivers were constantly slipstreaming each other around the circuit.

A small chicane was put at the end of the pit straight and another one at the Vialone curve; Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi won that race and his first Drivers' Championship at only 25 years of age.

Lauda, who had come back to racing only six weeks after his horrendous crash at the Nürburgring; finished fourth while Peterson won.

Instead of the ill-equipped marshals, Briton James Hunt, with the help of Frenchman Patrick Depailler and Regazzoni ran towards Peterson's aid and pulled him out of the burning Lotus.

The race itself was an interesting one; during the parade lap South African Jody Scheckter lost a wheel from his Wolf at the second Lesmo curve and hit an Armco barrier right next to the track.

In 1979, it was announced that the Autodromo Dino Ferrari, also known as Imola, would host the Italian Grand Prix for 1980 while Monza underwent a major upgrade, including building a new pit complex.

Imola's one-time running of the Italian GP was won by Brazilian Nelson Piquet after the two turbo Renaults of Jean-Pierre Jabouille and René Arnoux retired.

In response to the Imola tragedies in 1994, the second Lesmo curve was slowed down but the race risked being canceled due to the bureaucratic and environmental difficulties of modifying the track.

Other changes were made in 1995 at Curva Grande, Variante della Roggia and both Lesmo Corners, which were anticipated for to create wider runoff areas.

1996 saw Michael Schumacher win for Ferrari, and 1999 saw championship leader Mika Hakkinen crash and the Finn, false to temperament, went behind a few bushes in the circuit and broke down crying.

After winning the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher announced his retirement from Formula 1 racing at the end of the 2006 season.

Vettel led for the majority of the Grand Prix and crossed the finish line 12.5 seconds ahead of McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen.

[5] The 2020 Italian Grand Prix saw the fastest ever qualifying lap, set by Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes car in a time of 1:18.887 at an average speed of 264.362 km/h (164.267 mph).