Chloe Grant heads to the “Temple of Speed” in Italy this weekend (8-9 Jul) fully aware that the two 15mins qualifying sessions hold the key to her positing career best F1 Academy race results at Monza.
Following recent testing in Spain and the last event staged in the Netherlands, the 17-year-old from Perth believes she has made massive strides heading into the final two European events prior to the season finale at Austin in Texas where the F1 Academy is on the same billing as F1 itself.
The historic 3.48-mile Monza track north of Milan is currently the fastest track on the F1 calendar with an average speed of 164mph and top speed of 225mph. While Grant’s Tatuus single-seater will only hit a top speed of around 160mph, Chloe has learned she must be patient, not push too hard and ideally find a “tow” from another car around the ultra-fast track.
Chloe said: “We made massive progress in testing at MotorLand Aragón and then at Zandvoort and I now need to translate what I’ve learned into positions at the sharp end of the grid at Monza.
“I was overconfident at Zandvoort, pushed too hard, and had an off resulting in poor quali positions. I was very annoyed with myself and I’m not going to let that happen again. I’d been in the top-six in both practice sessions so it was hugely disappointing.
“I know where my limit is now with this car. I need to learn the Monza track having never been there before but qualifying well is absolutely critical so that I can be in contention for top race results.
“Vital lap time at Monza can be saved by closely following another car in its slipstream. Whether that’s part of a strategy with my ART Grand Prix team-mates or I use the tow from another car, we’ll see. But clearly those two 15mins sessions are likely to determine whether I’ll have good races.”
