Alright, so I spent some time today trying to get a decent setup going for Monza in F1 24. It’s always a tricky one, the Temple of Speed, you know? Gotta find that balance between flying down the straights and actually making it through the chicanes.
My Process for Monza
First thing I did was load up the track. I usually start with one of the default setups, maybe the ‘Maximum Top Speed’ preset, just to get a baseline feel. Honestly, those defaults are often miles off for me, but it’s a starting point.
Aerodynamics First: This is Monza, so straight away I slammed those wings down. I think I went really low, maybe like 6 on the front and 4 on the rear initially. Did a few laps. The car was fast on the straights, obviously, but felt a bit nervous turning into the chicanes, especially the Ascari complex. So, I nudged the front wing up a click or two, maybe to 8, and the rear to 5 or 6. Just trying to get a tiny bit more stability without killing the speed. It’s always a trade-off.
Moving to Transmission: Next, I looked at the differential. Getting good traction out of the Rettifilo (Turn 1 chicane) and Della Roggia (Turn 4 chicane) is crucial. I started playing with the ‘On-Throttle’ setting. I lowered it quite a bit at first, maybe around 55%, trying to stop the rear wheels spinning up so much on exit. For ‘Off-Throttle’, I kept it relatively low too, perhaps around 50% or 52%, to help the car rotate into the slower corners without snapping.
Suspension Geometry Tweaks: Then I messed with the camber and toe. For Monza, you want minimal drag. So, I pushed the camber pretty far negative on the front, maybe around -3.0 or more, and less so on the rear, like -1.5. For toe, I went for a tiny bit of toe-out on the front (like 0.05) for turn-in response and almost zero toe-in on the rear (maybe 0.10) to help straight-line speed.
Onto the Suspension Itself: This took a while. Monza needs a stiff car for quick changes of direction in the chicanes, but you also have those big kerbs you need to ride.
- I stiffened the front suspension quite a bit, maybe around 30, and the rear a little less, perhaps 10.
- Anti-roll bars followed a similar pattern, stiffer front (around 10) than rear (maybe 3) to help rotation.
- Ride Height: As low as possible without bottoming out too badly! I tried something like 30 front and 35 rear. You have to test this lap after lap, listening for the scraping sound and feeling how the car handles the kerbs. Had to raise it a click or two after a few laps.
Brakes and Tyres: Didn’t spend ages here. Brake pressure high, around 100%, but I focused on my braking points to avoid lockups. Brake bias I usually start around 55% or 56% and adjust if I feel too much locking at the front or instability at the rear. Tyre pressures, I generally lower them a bit from default for Monza, especially the rears, to help traction. Maybe around 22.5psi front and 20.5psi rear, then adjusted slightly based on temperatures after a few consistent laps.
Testing and Feeling It Out
The main part was just doing laps. Pushing the car, seeing where it felt weak. Was it understeering into Parabolica? Was it too snappy out of the second chicane? I kept going back, making tiny adjustments – one click on the wing, a bit more diff lock, slightly softer rear suspension. It’s a slow process. You do 3-5 laps, pit, tweak one thing, go back out. Focusing on consistency and watching those lap times.
Eventually, I got to a point where it felt pretty decent. Fast on the straights, manageable through the chicanes (though you still have to be careful with the throttle), and stable enough under braking. It’s not perfect, setups rarely are, and it might not suit everyone, but it felt like a solid base for me to work from for a race distance.
So yeah, that was my fiddling process for Monza today. Hopefully, sharing how I went about it helps someone else out there trying to tame this beast of a track!
