The Monza circuit just outside of Milan is along with Silverstone and Monaco one of those classic tracks that’s been on the F1 calendar almost right through since it’s inception.

 

It is probably the easiest track to learn, but still tricky to race on in recent F1 games with the insanely over-powered ERS/DRS/Slipstream combo. And on F1 24, it’s even more this way, so you need a minimum downforce setup to go well round here in races against the AI.

Here’s a general dry race setup for Monza for a pad user:

• Wings – 0/3
• Diff – 10/50/50
• Camber/Toe – -2.50/-2.20/0.00/0.07
• Suspension – 41-5-16-9-25-55
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/53% Bias
• Tyre Pressures – Fronts 25.0, 26.0; Rears 25.5, 26.5

This setup has more customization that some of my other ones, and is very unusual in terms of wing levels and spacing. But it’s the best option I can find right now round this track, giving me the smoothest traction and best race pace.

More Setup Info & Analysis

Here’s some more ideas and explanations for the setup used.

Wing levels/spacing – You need absolute minimum downforce levels here to ward off the AI, especially for the rear wing which determines straight line speed. I don’t think there’s any other way round here. I tried 2/0 wings but I found 0/3 actually delivered optimal turn in for the sensitive pad handling, better traction out of corners, and ultimately better lap times. You need maximum top speed and clever ERS use (see further below) to ward off chasing cars and hold position. You can try higher if you want for online races, but you’ll likely be a sitting duck in the DRS zones.

Tyre Pressures – This is a weird one for this track because the left hand side tyres heat up much more than the right hand side ones. And it’s the rears in general that heat up more. So you can get quite sophisticated with how you run them, but the simpler setup is: both front pressures in the middle, both rear pressures to max. If you want to get more precise, drop the right front and right rear 0.5-1 PSI versus the corresponding left hand side tyre.

Intermediate Conditions – Again I’d keep the wings at 0/3 if it’s a wet Qualifying but a dry race, but for intermediate race conditions, you could raise the wings 1-2 clicks, soften the suspension/roll bars 1-2 clicks and raise the ride height a few clicks as well.

Full Wet Conditions – Full full wet conditions in a race, you can raise the wing a bit more with the DRS being disabled. But if it’s full wet qualifying and a dry race, you’ve a bit more of a compromise to make.

Assuming it’s a full wet race, here’s a suggested wet race setup for Monza for a pad user:

• Wings – 4/7
• Diff – 10/60/50
• Camber – -3.50/-2.20/0.00/0.07
• Suspension –  38-3-14-7-28-60
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/53 Bias
• Tyre pressures – Front tyres middle pressures: Rear tyres max pressures.

I’m just adding a little more understeer with the wing spacings for easier traction, plus the usual softening suspension/roll bars and raising ride height tweaks. The Off Throttle Diff is also raised to 60 to dampen the rotation for easier traction out of corners.

More Setup Resources For Monza

This setup is still a bit of a work in progress for me. You can go a lot more aggressive with the setups here for sure – some wheel users are using something like 8/0 or 9/0 wings. I don’t think you could make that work on a pad for longer races.

I want stability and easy traction with my setups. But if you want setups more optimized for single lap pace and TT, plus custom setups for specific cars, here are some extra resources to check out:

• If you’re wanting a super stable easy to control setup, try using my generic starter setup with the wing levels ported over from above.
• F1laps.com Monza page – Another car setup forum with pages for every track, and loads of custom setups posted, both TT and race, all cars, all conditions.
• F1gamesetup.com – An even more specialized resource with custom setups, every car and every track, wet and dry weather.
• Sim Racing Centre (Premium) – Need to buy these setups, but they’re higher end aggressive eSports style ones. Optimized for wheel users rather than pad users, so may need some modification to work on a controller. Could be an option if you’ve really mastered the handling and want something less stable but with more pace. Can buy setups for single tracks or bundle packs.

Racing Tips For Monza

Here’s some extra racing and strategy tips for getting through races here.

Engine Parts (Pre Weekend Prep) – If you’ve got fresh or nearly fresh engine parts spare, this is good race to put them in. This is not really a race to use 60% work engine parts at. Because there’s only really 7 proper corners, lap times are close together and you need every little advantage you can get (especially in qualifying). Using fresh engine parts can help with this.

ERS (Qualifying) – You’ve got some extra Overtake mode to use here on flying Qualifying laps in online races – about 8 seconds. Keep an eye on the yellow ERS bar and look to use it all up just as you finish a flying lap. But it’s not as much as some other tracks. You could use a couple of seconds each in the two DRS zones and the rest coming back onto the pit straight to finish the lap. Using Overtake together with DRS when in 8th gear really pushes up your top speed and seems to deliver the best results.

Tyres (Qualifying) – The deg on the soft tyres isn’t so severe round here, so you can actually get two good flying laps on a fresh set of tyres here, with the second one sometimes faster. So you can fuel for 5 laps for each run (outlap—-flying lap—-cool down lap—-second flying lap—in lap).

Turn 4/5 Chicane – This is the left-right chicane going under the bridge at the end of sector 1. Be careful here on the first lap especially as the cars tend to bunch up and you can crash into the car in front even giving loads of room and braking early (kind of like turn 2 at Baku). And wing damage round here totally screws your race as you have to pit on lap 1 and lose the benefit of staying in a DRS train. Try to position your car under braking so you avoid this “concertina” effect and keep your front wing intact.

Defending – With the AI constantly pestering you round here, you need to save and use your ERS widely. But because it recoups so well on F1 24, you’ve got some more leeway. You can just deploy it in 2 main places – coming out of Parabolica (the final corner) and about halfway along the pit straight, and again in the second DRS zone. And as long as you don’t use it anywhere else in the lap, it recoups fine and you can just keep using it in these two straights and ward off chasing AI. As long as you’ve got wings low enough (like in my setup above), this seems to work OK in defending and holding position.

Pit Strategy – For Career/GP modes, you don’t want to pit too early and drop out of any DRS trains, but also the AI do waste a lot of time battling. Therefore a slightly early pit stop and undercut (1-2 laps early) can work if you can see a whole bunch of cars up ahead wasting time fighting and swapping places. Tyre wear is not a problem round here so you’ve got flexibility on which lap you pit.

Mastering Monza Guide