This BBC Sport feature marks the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the most historic venue on the Formula 1 calendar, by presenting a selection of archive photographs spanning the race's history since 1950. Monza has hosted a grand prix in every season bar 1980, when it underwent renovation, and remains central to the sport's identity as the "cathedral of speed" and spiritual home of Ferrari and its tifosi. The piece underlines the circuit's enduring significance, noting it hosted the deciding race of F1's inaugural championship and, more recently, Max Verstappen's record-breaking qualifying lap.

The images trace key moments across the decades, including Giuseppe Farina's 1950 title win, the banked circuit used until 1961, and the fatal accidents involving Wolfgang von Trips in 1961 and Jochen Rindt in 1970, the latter becoming F1's only posthumous world champion. Other highlights include closely fought slipstreaming finishes in 1969 and 1971, the first female F1 driver Maria Teresa de Filippis competing at her home race in 1958, and a lighter moment from 1973 when team boss Frank Williams won an impromptu circuit race organised among drivers and staff.