Vrooom is an onomatopoeic word that captures the sound of a powerful engine under acceleration, or running high revs, typically associated with any form of motorised vehicle such as a car or motorcycle, evoking the idea of speed, energy and movement.

The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is known as the Temple of Speed, an appropriate moniker given that, at the 2003 Italian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari set a record for the highest ever average speed over a race distance of 247.585 km/h. What better way then to recognise this fact than to name the trophies that will be presented to the three drivers and the representative of the winning team on the podium on Sunday 1st September, "VROOOM."

Ever since 2021, the trophy for the Italian Grand Prix, of which Pirelli is the title sponsor, has been designed by an artist through a collaboration with Pirelli HangarBicocca. This year, the task was entrusted to Andrea Sala, a highly respected artist in the contemporary art world, whose work is found in important museums and private collections and who has always explored the relationship between art and the history of Italian design and industrial manufacturing. The work of art he designed, entitled VROOOM represents, in abstract form, the long history of Pirelli tyres, combined with impressions of speed and acceleration. The main part of the trophy, four of which have been produced for the three drivers and the winning team representative, is made from Valchromat with a chromed aluminium base.

"The ideation and concept for the trophy resulted from a series of site visits to many areas of the Pirelli world, from R&D departments, to the production process to discover more about the world of tyres, from the natural rubber to the materials used in their construction, as well as looking through the Pirelli Foundation archive," explained Sala. "The name VROOOM captures what I wanted to represent, namely the image of Formula 1 I have always had since I was a child: the start, the cars lined up on the grid, the lights going out and the sprint down to the first corner. The trophy transforms this moment - the starting point for everything, the sprint, the speed - into a sculpture."

The VROOOM trophies will be on display at the Pirelli Tyres Talk event for press only, on Friday 30 August in the Pirelli Hot Laps garage (pit boxes 7 and 8) just prior to the first free practice session. Attending the event, along with the artist, will be Nikolas Tombazis, FIA Single-Seater Director and Mario Isola, Motorsport Director of Pirelli.

Another new element for the Pirelli Gran Premio d'Italia, will be a special edition of the Podium Cap, which as was the case this year in Miami, Montreal and Silverstone, will feature the Italian national flag.

The third and, from a purely technical point of view, most important change for this year's Italian Grand Prix concerns the asphalt. The circuit has embarked on a process of renovation and modernisation of its facility, aimed at ensuring its future and part of the first phase of this work has been the complete resurfacing of the entire track. In addition, some of the underpasses have been changed: the one at Santa Maria delle Selve and the two on the straight between the Ascari chicane and the Parabolica, along with building a brand new one linking the Vedano entrance to the Parabolica, aimed at keeping pedestrians and vehicles apart. In addition, the circuit's water collection and drainage systems have been refurbished.

The work involved a crew of 240 and 92 vehicles. Once it was completed, in early August a team of Pirelli engineers carried out an inspection of the new surface, sharing the data with the FIA and the teams, in preparation for the final European round of the Formula 1 season. As is usually the case with newly-laid asphalt, the surface is smoother than its predecessor and darker in colour. This latter factor will have an impact on track temperature, which if the sun is shining could see it get hotter than in the past, even reaching significant highs of over 50 °C. In theory, the new surface should offer more grip, which will impact tyre performance and their operating temperature range. It is highly likely that track evolution will be very high over the course of the weekend, as the various categories racing at this event rack up the laps.

At Monza, cars usually run in the lowest aerodynamic configuration of the season to reduce drag, in order to favour top speed. Stability under braking and traction coming out of the two chicanes are the factors that most test the tyres and, in addition, the lateral loads in the fast corners, such as the Parabolica, now named in honour of Michele Alboreto and the Curva Grande, should not be underestimated. For this year's event, the three dry compounds selected are the same as in 2023: C3 as Hard, C4 as Medium and C5 as Soft.

This is a track where the time needed for a pit stop is one of the longest of the year so, on paper, a one-stop strategy is quickest. In free practice, it will be important to evaluate what effect the new surface might have on tyre behaviour over a long run, both in terms of performance and of degradation. Last year, the race was very linear, with the two hardest compounds being the clear choice. 17 of the 20 drivers chose to start on the C4, while only three - Hamilton, Bottas and Magnussen - preferred the C3. 14 drivers pitted just the once, six pitted twice, although in Piastri's case that was down to the need to change the front wing after a collision with Hamilton. The remaining five - Gasly, Zhou, Lawson, Hulkenberg e Magnussen - adopted this strategy because the drop in performance from the tyres was already too high in the first stint.

The Italian Grand Prix has been a permanent fixture on the Formula 1 World Championship calendar since its inception, making this year's event the 75th edition. It has been run at Monza every year with the exception of the 1980 race, which was held at Imola. Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton have won here the most, with five victories apiece, followed by Nelson Piquet on 4. When it comes to pole positions, Hamilton leads the way on 7, followed by Juan Manuel Fangio and Ayrton Senna with 5 each. Hamilton and Schumacher also share top honours when it comes to podium finishes with 8, while Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are joint third on 6. Ferrari tops the table for team wins on 19, pole positions with 23 and 17 podium finishes. Actually, the Scuderia is not the only Italian team to have triumphed at home. The Faenza-based team has raced under a license issued by the Italian Automobile Club since it was first known as Minardi, all the way through to its current incarnation as Visa CashApp Racing Bulls. Under its Toro Rosso banner it won in Monza courtesy of Sebastian Vettel in 2008 and again in 2020, when known as AlphaTauri it took its second and only other win to date with Pierre Gasly at the wheel.