The image of the Monza podium was shared and seen around the entire world. An exceptional view, which marked the end of an Italian Grand Prix weekend that saw a record number of fans attend the three-day event.
After two years in which due to Covid, access to the circuit was limited, Monza has regained its historical setting, which it has coincided with the tradition of one of the most beloved Grands Prix of the entire Formula 1 calendar. On Sunday alone, one hundred thirty-two thousand spectators arrived at the racetrack, confirming the sold-out announced for some time.
All very nice, but in the aftermath of the Grand Prix, other aspects also emerged. The great boom in interest that Formula 1 is experiencing has led to a sold-out in almost all the Grand Prix events on the calendar, with an audience growing from thirty to fifty percent.
To cope with a growing demand, the promoters have increased, where possible, the number of stands, which were promptly sold out as expected. Not all of them, however, and Monza is one of these systems, have aligned the services appropriately with respect to the growing number of people present on the circuit, and this has created some inconvenience.
Stefano Domenicali punctually insists on one point: today those who go to a circuit to attend a Grand Prix must be assisted with services at the highest level, from entertainment to spaces dedicated to families, and obviously (needless to say) by auxiliary services for first necessities: refreshments, toilets and an organized road system which should not represent an obstacle. It is obviously unthinkable to manage an event attended by over one hundred thousand people without some period of waiting, but there must be a limit.
In the aftermath of Monza, several stories emerged of spectators who were unable to buy a bottle of water or a sandwich, which were sold out in several points of the track, with the further issue of finding themselves at the hands of tokens (tokens that had to be purchased before the event to be able to buy food and drinks) which of course were not converted back into euros.
Many spectators also clashed with the new Friday format, which did not allow access to different stands (in the past it was possible) to those in possession of a ticket valid for 3 days.
“After an hour of queuing at the entrance to the Biassono campsite – explained an older spectator – they sent us back because the grandstand we had to go to was not close to that entrance. We had no idea what the ‘right’ entrance was, but a little common sense would have been enough solve the problem”.
There were also complaints about fans being denied admission with different objects or materials at the entrance: “They seized my power bank to recharge my phone – said a boy who arrived from Rome – by mid-afternoon I was in fact out of battery. But what struck me most were the shortcomings of some staff, not all, of the control service. They were unable to provide the most basic information”.
But what was most striking was the lack of water and food in some areas of the track, and the access system to the track that created kilometric queues at the entrance on Sunday. On social media, videos of long lines immediately appeared with thousands of people who had to wait up to two hours to access the circuit.
In some cases, the time needed to be able to purchase drinks was slightly shorter (and its worth pointing out that bottles were seized at the entrance) and this is not acceptable for such an important event.
These are issue that of course cannot be resolved in view of next year, but the complaints of those who have paid significant amounts to attend the Italian Grand Prix and had to endure inconveniences should be solved.
On the ‘shortcomings’ list of the Italian Grand Prix there is also the almost total absence of special events dedicated to the celebration of the centenary. We are talking about activities on the track, something that should have celebrated a milestone of great prestige such as the hundred years of an Autodrome that has written legendary pages in the history of motorsport.
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There was a world of ideas to draw from, and instead the program of the weekend was practically the same as for a Bahrain or Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Too bad, but in the future, what is most worrying is the lack of sporting culture from those who are at the helm of the racetrack today. It is funny to think that Monza wants to keep its place on the Formula 1 calendar claiming its ‘historic’ racing status when it comes to the renewal with Formula 1, and then it is Monza itself (the management) that is not celebrating its history.
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