Adam’s Travel Report: 2025 Italian Grand Prix at Monza

Adam Rosales finally ticked Monza off his F1 bucket list in 2025, and his visit to the Italian Grand Prix did not disappoint.

Photos & videos kindly supplied by Adam. Additional photos supplied by GPDestinations.

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Monza is one of those races I’ve always wanted to visit, but was a bit hesitant to do so. The massive crowd that rushes the podium every year looks both exhilarating AND anxiety inducing. The Italian Grand Prix is also notorious for poor organization and long queues, though things have improved since 2022. Luckily, thanks to plenty of planning and a rental car, my experience was largely positive. This was the first time I was able to attend a double header in Europe. My weekend at Monza followed my annual trip to the Dutch Grand Prix (read my travel report from the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix here), with a couple of days exploring Switzerland with my partner in between.

Visiting Switzerland

Between the Dutch and Italian races, we wanted to spend a few days in Switzerland. Our initial plan had been to drive from Amsterdam to Como (our base for the Italian Grand Prix) via Switzerland. The entire journey is only around 1,000km (620 miles), but the substantially higher cost of returning a rental car in a different country put paid to this idea. Instead, we flew from Amsterdam Schiphol to Milan Malpensa and rented a car to visit Switzerland for a few days. We kept the car for our weekend at the Italian Grand Prix and returned it to Milan Malpensa before flying home after the race.

Our trip didn’t get off to the best start on Monday, when our flight from Amsterdam to Milan was cancelled. We were eventually put on a later flight, but ended up arriving just before midnight rather than at midday. Rather than tackle the four-hour drive to our hotel in Switzerland during the middle of the night, we booked a hotel at Malpensa Airport and headed off in the morning.

The drive was pretty straight forward, offering some stunning views and lots of switchbacks as we navigated through the Alps. We stayed at Hotel Silberhorn in Lauterbrunnen, and our room had a view of the iconic Staubbach Falls. Lauterbrunnen was one of the most surreal places I’ve ever been. It felt like being in a movie, with stunning mountain views all around. Switzerland is not cheap, and to top it off, we were in a popular tourist town. One day, we took the train to Murren, which has views of Jungfrau, one of the highest peaks in Europe. Murren has some shops and a few restaurants to enjoy some food and drinks with a backdrop of stunning mountain views.

On Thursday, before heading to Como, we drove across Switzerland to Tannenboden, to ride the Flumserberg toboggan run. It’s a ride on a rail mounted sled that zooms down the mountain, and it’s one of the longest and fastest in Switzerland. You take a ski lift to the top and the ride down lasts a few minutes. After the toboggan run, we wanted to tick off a new country, so we popped over to Lichtenstein and had lunch at a mountain top restaurant called Berggasthaus Masescha, which also had an incredible view. After lunch, it took us about three hours to drive to Como.

Staying on Lake Como

Over the past few years, I’ve made a group of friends that attend races together. About ten of us were attending both the Dutch and Italian races, and we decided to stay in the town of Como instead of Milan, where most fans stay. We wanted to avoid the crowds traveling each day from Milan, and rented two cars to get to and from the track. We’d meet up trackside and then also back in Como for dinner and drinks at the end of each day. Como is about a 40 minute drive from Monza (trains take about the same amount of time) and it was a great base for race weekend. Having a car provided us with ease of travel and flexibility.

A few of us skipped the track on Friday and instead explored the sights of Lake Como, such as Bellagio. Having a car allowed us to visit some areas off the beaten track, and was much quicker and easier than taking the ferry or local buses to get around. Driving in Italy can be a bit stressful if you aren’t used to the narrow winding roads and local driving customs, but if you’re adventurous and enjoy some spirited driving, I definitely recommend it.

Buying Italian Grand Prix Tickets

Tickets for the Italian Grand Prix typically go on sale almost a year in advance. I knew that Monza tickets were in high demand, so I set an alarm for 5am on the first day of sales in September 2024, and was able to get a ticket in the Ascari 3 (12) grandstand for Saturday and Laterale Destra C (26C) grandstand opposite the podium and pit lane for Sunday. The good thing about Monza is you’re able to buy tickets for individual days for only a small premium, instead of committing to the same section for all three days.

Getting to Monza

I purchased parking passes via Monza Mobilita after they went on sale in July, paying €45 for a two-day parking pass (Saturday and Sunday) near the Turn 4 chicane. It took about 15 minutes to walk from the parking lot to the circuit entrance gate near Turn 3. The drive from Lake Como to the parking lot took around 40 minutes, but on arrival at around 10am on Saturday we had an additional 30-minute delay to get parked up. On race day, we arrived at 9am and there were no delays at the lot. Departing the circuit on Saturday and Sunday, it took around 30-40 minutes to exit the immediate vicinity of the parking lot due to congestion, with the entire trip back to Lake Como taking around 90 minutes. Despite the traffic, we were happy to be sitting in an airconditioned car, knowing that most other fans were having to battle the crowds to take shuttle buses and trains back to Milan.

Saturday: Ascari 3 Grandstand

On Saturday, I wanted to see the cars attack the Ascari chicane during qualifying. The view from Ascari 3 was perfect to watch the cars taking the corner at speed and enjoy panoramic views of this iconic sector. It was really cool to see cars taking different entry lines into the corner, and how the different aero packages were working. I also enjoyed listening to the power units grumble as the drivers came off the throttle for the corner and then roar back to life as they exited the chicane and headed towards the Parabolica. The Ascari 3 grandstand is not covered, so the sun was intense during the afternoon but that didn’t stop the local fans from packing the stands. Luckily there was plenty of shade in a nearby wooded section, close to the food and drink vendors.

Pirelli Hot Lap

About two weeks before the race, I was on the Mastercard site checking if they had any race tickets available for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, when I noticed some Monza Hot Laps packages for sale. Only three packages were available, each for two people on either Thursday, Friday or Sunday. I shared the link in the r/grandprixtravel community discord, and the packages were quickly snapped up by members for €1,200 per session. One community member, a friend of mine, was going by himself and offered to share his Hot Lap on Sunday with me. A few days in advance, we were sent an email by Pirelli asking us to sign a waiver, and provide more information about when and where to meet, and what to expect.

On Sunday morning, we went to the meetup location and got invited into the F1 Paddock. We were given a 20-minute guided tour, which was quite special on Sunday morning before the race. We got to see plenty of drivers, celebrities and camera crews filming their pre-race content. After exploring the Paddock, we arrived at the Pirelli Garage, which is situated opposite the podium. We had access to the pitlane, where a Paddock Club pit lane walk was taking place. Soon after, the drivers appeared for the parade. They walked out of the FIA garage, right next to where we were, so we got to see all the drivers up close. It was pretty surreal to be in the heart of the action, rather than watching from a distance or on TV, and to see everyone from Kym Illman’s Instagram posts 🙂. I also caught up with my friend Brandon, who runs the Full Time Formula social media account and was at Monza as a guest of Formula 1.

After the drivers parade finished, the Pirelli Hot lap cars went on to the track. I was escorted to my coordinated staging area and after my friend completed his lap, it was my turn to climb into the Mclaren 720S and get the passenger experience of a hot lap around Monza. I’ve done trackdays on motorcycles and driven a BMW track car on tourist days at the Nordschleife (Nürburgring) but this was another level of speed. The driver, a retired McLaren GT race driver, smoked up the tires as we left the grid.

The thing that surprised me the most was the braking force, it was immediately intense going into Turn 1. I can’t even imagine the forces in a Formula 1 car. It felt like I was doing a squat, with my feet stamped down into the footwell of the car and the three-point seatbelt digging into my stomach and shoulder. The driver did not hold back and was hard on the throttle out of the corners and hard on the brakes, feeling the limit of traction breaking and tires screaming. It was incredibly fun and exhilarating, I’m very grateful to have been able to experience that. Thanks to McLaren, Mastercard and my friend Jorge for the invite!

Race Day: Laterale Destra C (26C) Grandstand

My goal for race day was to soak up as much of the pre-race and post-race atmosphere, and the Laterale Destra C (26C) grandstand had the perfect location, right opposite the grid, pits and podium. I’d chosen a seat in the top row, near the middle of the grandstand. The seats are pretty tightly arranged in this grandstand. Getting in and out required some good balance to avoid stepping on people’s feet or their bags under the seats. I wish I’d been able to see the cars braking into Turn 1, but you can’t have everything. I had a great view of a screen opposite, and was able to follow the race action quite easily.

Watching the pre-race buildup was a cool experience. Seeing all the stuff I’ve seen on TV over the years, like the giant flags draped down over the crowd and seeing the drivers and teams prepare the cars before the race made it very exciting. The only downside was that the roof of the grandstand blocked the Frecce Tricolori flyover by the Italian airforce before the race. After the race, fans were very eager to get onto the track. Some were climbing the 20-foot high trackside fencing, others were squeezing through the small openings for marshals. The majority used the dedicated entrance points, of course! It wasn’t chaos, but not far from it! I was happy to have a great view from my grandstand.

The fans at Monza were friendly and lively. It was easy to spark up conversations with fans sitting nearby. I got to speak my broken Italian and they got to practice their English. You can really feel the history at Monza. Yes, the facilities are often old and basic, but this is all part of the charm. Some parts of the circuit can become quite overcrowded at times, especially going to and from the fan zone. But it wasn’t terrible as long as you were patient.

Monza: Food & Drinks

There are plenty of well-priced food and drink vendors located around the circuit, and most of them have a digital ordering system to help reduce wait times. Ordering without this meant that you had to queue up twice; first to order and pay, and second to collect. Ordering online cut out the first queue and meant you just had to line up to collect your order. A wide variety of stadium-style food were available, along with some Italian-style options like piadina (flatbread) and even a Barilla pasta booth selling tasty lasagne. Beer vendors are plentiful throughout the circuit and a pint costs around €7. Free water refill stations are also available around the circuit.

Closing Thoughts

I’ve been to Italy a few times and have always loved it. The chaotic organization can sometimes feel a little overwhelming, but it works most of the time! The food is great, people are friendly and relaxed. I’ve been to a few different parts of the country for both MotoGP and F1 events and wouldn’t hesitate to return to any of them. My partner isn’t too keen on attending the whole race weekend, but she’s more than happy staying in a walkable city while I’m at the track. She’ll enjoy discovering art, history and culture by day before we meet up in the evening for dinner and drinks. I definitely recommend adding some time before or after race weekend to explore this incredible country further.