Monza has “lost its character” with changes to track

Alexander Albon is concerned changes to Monza for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix have spoiled the character of the championship’s oldest venue.

The 5.7-kilometre track has been resurfaced ahead of this year’s race. The kerbs in several of its chicanes have been altered and gravel traps added at the Rettifilo and Roggia chicanes.

Albon wasn’t impressed with what he saw of the alterations when he examined the track on Thursday.

“I feel like it’s maybe lost a bit of its character,” said the Williams driver. “I feel like some of the kerbs they’ve put in are a little bit more generic.

“Monza had quite a specific style of track. It was quite bumpy, but that’s not a bad thing, and the kerbs were quite unique.

“Let’s see how it goes. I think there’s going to be a lot of exploring in FP1 and FP2, with these kerbs, if you can use them or not, and how much you can use them, will be a big question mark.”

However Lewis Hamilton said drivers won’t know if the changes have been a success until after practice tomorrow. “I don’t want to judge it before I’ve driven it,” he said.

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“Maybe we’ll get in and it’ll be the greatest thing and greatest changes ever. So I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot with that.

“Ultimately, we loved it before. For years, it’s been super-bumpy in so many places and that’s been a huge part of the character of what this track is. The kerbs as well have been pretty much the same for definitely over 20 years, I would imagine.

“So it is a big, big change. But ultimately, it’s still the same track. But we won’t know until tomorrow. It’s going to be a lot smoother, it looks, and probably quite a bit quicker.”

Charles Leclerc agreed the track’s surface needed to be refreshed. “It’s difficult to judge for now,” he said. “The Tarmac, ultimately, you get at one point where you’ve got to renew the Tarmac.

“It’s not like there’s the choice of just keeping the same Tarmac for years and years and years because at one point, you just get too bumpy. And especially with our Formula 1 cars and the way they are run so low, the tracks have to renew that. So on that, I’m fine.

“On the kerbs, it’s true that some tracks have the historic kerbs. And even if they renew it, I think in Canada it was done this year where they keep exactly the same shape, which is nice. But I haven’t tried yet the new kerbs, maybe they feel…