The classic Monza circuit is great for league and offline racing, with full throttle for two thirds plus of the lap, insane top speeds and two long DRS zones for overtaking.

 

No surprises round this track for the required downforce level, you need very low or even minimum wing levels for any race setup here. Some players are even literally using the minimum possible setting of 0/0 wings.

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

• Wings – 0/3 or 5/8
• Diff – 10/50
• Camber/Toe – -2.50/-2.00/0.00/0.13 (LLL/0.13)
• Suspension – 41-3-14-10-22-49
• Brakes – 100% Pressure/55% Bias
• Tyre Pressures – Maximum all tyres

More Setup Info & Analysis

Here’s some more ideas and explanations for the setup used, plus possible tweaks.

Wing levels/spacing – You need absolute minimum downforce levels here to ward off the AI on the straights. But you also need stability on a pad, so I’ve settled on 0/3 to provide good traction out of corners, and ultimately better lap times over a long run for me. If you want more turn in, you could try 0/2 or 0/0 or even set the front wing higher and try 2/0. But the wings need to be at or very near minimum to work at Monza.

If you want something that will pull you round the corners a bit better, you can raise the wings to something like 5/8, but it will leave you more vulnerable on the straights, especially against people running 0/0 wings.

Geometry – I’ve added a few clicks of rear toe because I like how it makes the rear a bit more planted and stable, which makes traction easier over longer stints. But if you want maximum potential performance at the cost of a little less stability, move the rear toe back to the left so it’s the standard LLLL configuration you’ll see in a lot of setups.

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. But it doesn’t really make any difference I found, and setting all of them to max works fine as the right hand side tyres still manage to get up to temperature. If you want to get more precise, you could maybe drop the right front and right rear 0.5-1.5 PSI versus the corresponding left hand side tyre.

Intermediate Conditions – I’d add more spacing to the wings to control traction on corner exit, and maybe add a small amount of wing level. Something like 3/7 or 4/8. Also raise the Off Throttle Diff to 60. And modulate your inputs on throttle and steering more carefully.

Full Wet Conditions – Full wet conditions are hard on this game, so I’d add a bunch more wing and even further wing spacing. Something between 8/13 and 10/15 might be what to start with. And again raise the Off Throttle Diff to 60 or 65, and also raise ride height 3-5 clicks. You’re basically having to dial out as much rotation as you need to, until corner exits become manageable again. In heavy rain, I’d also turn ERS down to None for all slower corner exit, and be careful on the throttle until you reach at least 5th gear.

Update – wet weather AI difficulty seems to be bugged so far on the game, so consider dropping the AI level 10-15 clicks for any wet sessions to make it playable, otherwise many players are finding it impossible to compete.

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% worn 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 a decent chunk of Overtake ERS mode to use on Quali laps here, so you can deploy basically on all longer straights here. There is a little bit of managing needed though, as you don’t want to drain your yellow ERS meter to zero too early as it hurts straight line speed. Deploy even chunks of Overtake mode along the main straights, aiming for your meter to get to 10% or below just as you cross the finish line.

Turn 1 and 4/5 Chicane (First Lap) – This is the left-right chicane going under the bridge at the enId 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 – Overtake mode is super scarce in races round here as your ERS meter depletes just driving down the straights at all, and therefore it’s hard to recoup. In races, maybe deploy just a short burst in each of the two DRS zones as needed. Sometimes in a less upgraded car, you might just have to give up places and follow in the DRS of others for a while because you can’t recover your ERS enough to keep defending lap after lap on the pit straight especially. And more generally this race is one of those ones that emphasizes the importance of upgrading your Energy Recovery System in your R&D engine department.

Tyre Wear and Strategy – It seems to be higher than previous games here:

• Soft – 8% per lap
• Medium – 5.75 – 6% per lap
• Hard – 3.75% per lap
• Front left tyre wears the most, with the final Parabolica corner doing the most damage to this tyre (can wear a couple of percent each time you pass through this corner if you really lean on the tyre).

(update – in online lobbies especially, tyre wear can be seriously high – like 6-7% for the medium and 5% for the hard – and it’s a definite 2 stop, but it seems to vary as well, it’s a bit weird. Basically, I’d recommend checking the tyre wear tab on your MFD and adjusting your strategy on the fly if you see the wear rates for the front left are high).

The soft tyre can be used for 25% races if you have a fresh set, but for 50% races it’s a close call between a 1 and a 2 stop probably using the medium and hard tyres. 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.