It's always special for a driver to race in his home Grand Prix, and since Imola fell off the F1 schedule, Monza has become even more important for any Italian. This year Force India's Tonio Liuzzi heads to the famous Autodromo as one of only two locals in the field. While veteran Jarno Trulli has a lot of support, Tonio will be the leading Italian contender, as he's the man challenging for a place in the top 10 in both qualifying and the race.

'It's definitely a special occasion to race in front of your own crowd and in front of your friends, because it's the country where you come from,' says Tonio. 'Plus Monza is a wonderful circuit, it's one of the few historical circuits left in the World Championship, along with places like Spa. It has a great feeling, with a great atmosphere, a great crowd, and it's always a special occasion.

The Italian Grand Prix this weekend will be the final race of the European season before the FIA Formula One World Championship embarks on a quintet of flyaway races in Asia and South America. The Force India F1 Team heads to this historic event looking to consolidate the form it showed at the previous event in Spa-Francorchamps, where it secured its third double points finish of the 2010 season.

Team Q&A

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal
Yet again Spa was a good track for us, ultimately yielding a double points finish for Adrian and Tonio. These points were crucial for us in the constructors' championship, moving us 18 points clear of Williams for sixth, but it also showed that we're back in business for the second part of the season. The pace and the handling were both encouraging and, with similar configuration tracks coming up in Monza, Japan and Brazil, we're hoping that this performance can be replicated.

The three-way fight for the title of the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland has turned into a duel. With his fourth win of the season in Brands Hatch, local hero Nick Tandy (Konrad Motorsport) shrunk the gap to points' leader Nicolas Armindo. The Frenchman from Hermes Attempto Racing saw the chequered flag on the home track of his toughest rival in second place. With two races left on the calendar only seven points separate Armindo and Tandy - the two drivers who have divvied up all the victories between themselves at Germany's fastest brand trophy series. At the same time, their closest pursuer, Uwe Alzen (Germany, Team Herberth Motorsport PZ Olympiapark), was thrown back in the overall classification due to tyre damage.

Whilst the British pole-sitter Nick Tandy got away well at the start to increase his gap lap for lap and bring home an unchallenged victory, Nicolas Armindo had his hands full. Only in the first third of the race could the 28-year-old take a breather. After that, Armindo had to deal with the Dutch guest starter from Konrad Motorsport, Jeroen Bleekemolen, and his pursuer Martin Ragginger. For the Austrian from Schnabl Engineering the main goal was not to lose contact to the front-runners. But all hopes were dashed when he was sidelined in the twelfth lap. Bleekemolen went on to celebrate the third podium spot.

Monza is the closest F1 will come to a drag race. Fast and furious, it is all about speed with almost the whole track being driven at full throttle, 80% to be precise. This means a low downforce setup coupled with a very powerful engine generally takes the cake at Monza, something Ferrari have a lot of success doing in the past. They have won 18 races here, double that of Mclaren who have won 9. Michael Schumacher has won at Monza 5 times, the most by any driver and Sebastien Vettel will have fond memories of the track as he won his first race here in 2008 and in the process became the youngest ever to do so.

The Front runners

Red Bull showed that they can take pole in almost any given track condition, but Monza will be their toughest to tackle yet. Their car’s strength’s won’t count as much as in other more technical tracks because of Monza’s pure pedal to the metal nature. Red Bull’s pace seemed to have been affected by the new more rigorous front wing flex tests and their wing also seemed to flex less after the introduction of the new rules. It will be interesting to see how the team tackles a track which doesn’t favour them in any way. Sebastian Vettel was disappointing in Spa, making quite a few errors and taking out Jenson Button in the process. He is however due a race win, but that will largely depend on his head and his luck. Mark Webber did well to make up for his embarrassing start at Spa but will have to up his game to catch up with the in-form Lewis Hamilton.