The European part of the 2007 Formula 1 World Championship is coming down to the closing end. Next weekend we will be in Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, which is followed just seven short days later by the final 2007 on European soil, the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps.

Both are classic circuits and both are on my personal top-five list. No circuit has hosted more Formula 1 World Championship Grands Prix than Monza - the “Autodromo” in the Royal Park north of Milan has been a permanent fixture in every season bar 1980, when the Italian Grand Prix was moved to Imola for safety reasons. But after improvements to the track, Monza made a comeback in the 1981 calendar, and this year´s Italian Grand Prix will be the Formula 1 World Championship´s 57 visit to the historic circuit.

But the Autodromo di Monza is actually much older than the World Championship. The decision to build the circuit was taken in January 1922, work started in mid-May and was completed in just 110 days. The track was officially opened on September 3 and one week later Monza hosted its first Italian Grand Prix!

I always enjoy going to Monza, and I think the coming weekend will mark my 25th. visit to the circuit. To me, Monza has everything: Great atmosphere (in a good Ferrari season, the “tifosi” are second to none!), nice weather, history - and high speed: Today, Monza is the only true high-speed circuit remaining in the F1 calendar. The chicanes may slow the cars at several points of the circuit, but overall lap speed is still impressive: The average speed of 2006 winner Michael Schumacher was more than 245 km/h, and the FIVE fastest World Championship Grands Prix ever all took place at Monza with 2005 topping the list with 247,585 km/h (last year is third - and the 1971 pre-chicane Grand Prix holds a strong fifth place with 242,615 km/h!).

The top speed at Monza is also impressive. The highest speed ever measured in a Grand Prix weekend came in 2004 when Antonio Pizzonia was clocked with 369,9 km/h before the first chicane. The current V8 cars may not be quite as fast when it comes to top-speeds, but Michael Schumacher´s average from last year proves that Monza is (almost!) as fast as ever. In fast, I was recently told that the cars spend 76 percent of a Monza lap with full throttle!

Panasonic Toyota Racing enjoyed another successful test at Monza last week. There is no doubt the Panasonic Toyota Racing TF107 is now firmly in the top-five when it come to the speed of the 2007 cars, and with a little more luck, both Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher could score points in Monza.

I will be back on Friday with more news from the “Autodromo”!

The opening day of practice for the 2007 Italian Grand Prix here in Monza saw McLaren-Mercedes drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton on top of the time sheet. Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher had a trouble-free day and finished 11th. and 12th. in the afternoon session.

When I drove into through the gates to the circuit yesterday I realised in was 25 years since my first visit to the “Autodromo Nazionale di Monza”. It was back in 1982; a few months after my 20th. birthday. I had just started studying law at the University of Copenhagen, but a future as a lawyer was not really what I wanted. No - I wanted to be a F1 journalist, but coming from Denmark, I might just as well have told the career advisor at high-school that I wanted to become an astronaut. Studying law seemed an OK way of killing the time while I continued to dream about a career in F1 journalism, but one week after starting at the University, I decided to skip a few lectures and go down to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix. It was “only” 24 hours by train, but one Friday morning in September 1982 - while my fellow students in Copenhagen began a lecture in commercial law or something of that kind - I stepped out of the train in the Milano Centrale station. It was a short bus ride up to Monza and then I walked out to the circuit with my bag pack and small tent, where I eventually found the media accreditation office. In those days the local organisers took care of the accreditation (today everything is handled by the FIA in Paris), and I made sure I put by bags and tent out of sight of the press officer. I then explained to them that I was an important photojournalist from Denmark, and with a full week of law studies behind me, I managed to convince the press officer to issue me with a pass.

Then into the “Parco di Monza” to put the tent up and finally into the pits for first practice. It was probably as far from the quiet law lectures in Copenhagen as I could get, but I had a great time. With my Russian Zenith camera I even took some decent photos, which today are some of my most treasured pictures on our www.grandprixphoto.com website.

I enjoyed my first time at Monza a lot, but on Sunday night it was back into the train for another 24 hours up to Denmark - and Tuesday morning I was back at the University. It was a little difficult to focus on the finer points of commercial law when the F1 engines were still ringing in my ears, and all I could really think of was that the next European Grand Prix was now more than six months away.

In the coming years I spent every summer break on trains; going from one Grand Prix to the next with my little tent and Zenith camera. And when I finally qualified as a lawyer in early 1987, I decided to skip the graduation parties and went to Rio for the Brazilian Grand Prix instead. It was then I took the final decision that my future was F1 journalism and not law. And 25 years later I am glad to be back in Monza!

When the red lights go off for the 2007 Italian Grand Prix tomorrow, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton will start from the front row. Panasonic Toyota Racing´s Jarno Trulli produced another strong qualifying result and will start from ninth position while his team-mate Ralf Schumacher had a frustrating time and will line up in 18th. position.

Monza is “Ferrari country” and Felipe Massa is third on the grid with Kimi Raikkonen back in fifth. The Finn went flying in Saturday morning´s free practice with an enormous accident, but he was lucky to escape without injury. Still, it underlined the fact that Monza is a true high-speed circuit. Before the race this year, Jarno and the other drivers asked for the safety to be improved in certain areas, and on Friday he was asked about these modifications.

“I feel it’s quite positive what Monza circuit has done. We obviously travel at very high speeds here, so it’s obviously a little bit an unsafe circuit compared to the others, but this is due only to the speed, not because of the run-off areas. I think Monza has been working very hard every time and now we are definitely happier than last year,” he said.

Jarno went on to talk about Monza in more general terms.

“I always loved Monza for the atmosphere as well as for the track. I have always been very competitive, so I hope to have another good weekend this year, I especially hope to bounce back in the points because at the moment I’m a little bit frustrated by the last few races. Due to the circumstances I was unable to score points, so I’m really hungry for that, and I shall really go for it this weekend, because I believe we had a very positive test last week, the team is pushing really hard and is improving the car, step by step, so from now to the end of the season we really want to get it right,” he said.

If you look at Jarno´s qualifying results this year, it is surprising he hasn´t scored more points. After all, he is the most regular top-10 qualifier outside the three top teams McLaren-Mercedes, Ferrari and BMW.

“As I say, I think recently we have been a little bit unlucky in general, because the midfield battle is very tight. You really need to get it right all the way through the weekend, because with a little difficulty, you might slip out of the top ten and not score points. This is what happened in Hungary as well for me last weekend in Turkey when I had this problem at the start, so obviously when the gaps in the midfield are so tight, you really need to get everything completely right every time and you also need a bit of luck. This year, I must say, we have always been there, we have always been fighting but we didn’t get advantage in certain circumstances where our rivals got the advantage and scored many points.”

And finally - Ferrari: Why is it that Ferrari seems to avoid signing Italian drivers?

“Well, to be honest, no-one has ever said that Italian drivers are not well-accepted in Ferrari,” Jarno said with a smile. “It is just the case that in the recent era, with Schumacher, and I have always been contracted with other teams and I had no connection with them. But they have always been good to me. They always give me ice cream! So I am happy…,he said.

And just to avoid any misunderstandings: Jarno is contracted to Panasonic Toyota Racing for 2008!

The Italian Grand Prix saw Fernando Alonso win in front of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen. Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher finished 11t. and 15th.

In yesterday´s diary I listened to Jarno talking about the Monza and his 2007 season. At the very end, he mentioned the possibility of a future with Ferrari, and this made me think. The Ferrari comment was out of context, but still quite interesting, and this is not unusual: When you interview people, some parts will never be used. At least not until now: Over the past years I have interviewed Jarno a lot of time, and today you will get some of the “out-takes”: Bits and pieces which never made it into the original interview - but they are still interesting. At least that is what I hope!

So here we go: Jarno Trulli - the out-takes! This is Jarno on

...F1 politics: “That doesn´t interest me. I just drive the car!”

...wine versus F1: “When I produce wine, all I have to rely on is the weather and the earth. In F1, so many things have to come together to produce great results.”

...safety in testing: “In F1 I guess safety in testing in 30% down on what it is for racing.

...success: “It is a very personal thing: If you are happy with what you do, everything else it not important.”

...crashes: “They happen so quickly in F1 that there is no time to think. There is no time to get scared...”

...the other side of Trulli: “I do change when I get into the car. It is fair to say I am harder when I am in the car.”

...Ralf Schumacher: “He is much nicer than I had expected before we became team-mates. We work very well together.”

...his goal: “To win the World Championship. Always has been - always will be.”

...marathon: “I have done one marathon - in New York 2000. The goal was to get under four hours, but I missed that. By two minutes and 21 seconds...”

...half-marathon: “A full marathon requires too much specialised training, which is not going to help me in F1. But I still do some half-marathons.”

...home cooking: “I make the best pizza in the world!”

...motor bikes: “I like riding my bikes, but I am also a little bit afraid of them. They can go VERY fast.”

...long hair: “It started as a sort of competition with Fernando Alonso a couple of years ago. Now I just like it...”

...friendship in F1: “This is a hard world which encourages rivalry rather than friendship among the drivers. But I have some good pals like Alonso, Fisichella and Panis.”

So much for the “out-takes”. All this gives an insight into Jarno´s personality and I hope you found it interesting! Not it is times to leave Monza, because in a few days we will head to Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix next weekend. My preview will be on-line shortly!