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MONZA, Italy - Round 13 of the 2014 Formula 1 season sees teams headed for the iconic Monza circuit for the Italian GP on September 7.
Mercedes has won all but three races so far: the exceptions are Canada, Hungary and Belgium - each won by Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. His win at the 2014 Hungarian GP was Red Bull's 50th in F1.
The Italian and British grands prix are the only ones to have appeared on the calendar in every season since the championship started in 1950.
FASTEST ON CALENDAR
The Italian race has always been staged at Monza, with one exception - Imola in 1980. It's the fastest track on the calendar with top speeds of around 340km/h; on the approach to the first chicane cars brake from 340 to 80km/h in 150m.
The circuit holds the record for F1's fastest average speed: 262.242km/h set by Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya during qualifying in 2004.
The race has been won from pole only 21 times but nine times in the past 11 years. In the last two decades only German drivers have won and gone on to take the title that season: Michael Schumacher in 2000 and 2003 and Sebastian Vettel in 2011 and 2013.
Schumacher won a record five times at Monza with Ferrari, which team has 18 wins at Monza, more than any other.
SPECIAL PLACE FOR VETTEL
There are currently no Italian drivers in F1, although Ricciardo and Williams' Felipe Massa each hold an Italian passport due to their ancestry. Marussia's Jules Bianchi also has Italian roots.
Vettel took his first F1 win at Monza, for Toro Rosso in 2008, making him the sport's youngest race winner yet at 21. Only Toro Rosso's Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat is young enough among the current drivers to beat that.
The only current drivers to have won at Monza are Vettel (2008, 2011, 2013), Hamilton (2012), and Alonso (2007, 2010). Vettel is the only one to have won for the same team twice.
Race statistics for the 2014 Italian GP:
Lap distance: 5.793km.
Total distance: 306.720km (53 laps)
2013 pole: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull 1min23.755 seconds.
2013 winner: Vettel
Race lap record: 1:21.046, Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari, 2004.
Start time: Sunday (September 7), 2pm (SA local)
Tyres: Hard (orange), Medium (white)
POLE POSITION
Mercedes and Williams are the only teams to have started a race on pole in 2014. Rosberg (Bahrain/Monaco/Canada/Britain/Germany/Hungary/Belgium) has had seven poles in 2014 to Hamilton's four(Australia/Malaysia/China/Spain).
Felipe Massa was on pole for Williams in Austria.
Vettel has 45 career poles. Hamilton 35 - more than any other British driver in the history of F1. Ferrari's last pole was in Germany - Alonso in 2012.
POINTS IN 2014
Caterham, which entered the sport in 2010, is the only team on the grid without a point.
Ferrari has finished a record 79 successive races with at least one car in the points, a run that dates back to the 2010 German GP. Alonso is the only driver to have scored points in every race so far in 2014.
Sauber has gone 12 races without scoring, its longest dry streak since it entered the sport in 1993. Sauber went nine in a row between October 1995 and May 1996 at a time when only the top six cars scored points.
GRAND PRIX WINNERS
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has 39 career wins, Fernando Alonso 32, Lewis Hamilton 27, Kimi Raikkonen 20 and Jenson Button 15. Championship leader Nico Rosberg has seven.
Hamilton is level with triple champion Jackie Stewart in the all-time list of winners. The only British driver to have won more is 1992 champion Nigel Mansell (31).
Ferrari has won 221 races, McLaren 182, Williams 114 and Red Bull 50. Mercedes has won 22 and one more will lift the team level with the now-defunct Tyrrell.
McLaren has not won for 31 races, a run that dates back to Brazil 2012 though it's not its longest drought. Most recently, it went 48 races without a win from 1993 to 1997.
Ferrari's most recent victory was in Spain in May 2013 - the last time a team other than Mercedes or Red Bull won.