Italian GP 2026: eSIM, Schedule and Guide

The 2026 Italian Grand Prix runs from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 September at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, with the race starting at 15:00 local time. A weekend at the Temple of Speed asks a lot of your phone. Between the train out from Milan, the shuttle queues, a sea of Tifosi and long walks through Monza Park, you are leaning on maps, tickets and group chats all day, and none of it works without data.

This guide covers the session times, the shape of the circuit, how to get there from Milan, and how to sort out connectivity before you travel using a Europe eSIM. Italy sits inside Lotsotravel's Europe regional plan, so a single profile gets you online at Monza and keeps working if you carry on to other stops on the European leg. We sell the eSIM, so the pricing here is exactly what appears on our live site.

Session times

All times local (CEST, UTC+2), as published by Formula 1 and checked on 18 August 2026.

Both Friday sessions and Saturday qualifying sit in the hottest part of a north Italian early-September day, which matters more at Monza than it sounds. The race itself starts mid-afternoon and runs a little under two hours, so plan for sun rather than for cold.

The circuit

Monza is 5.793 km, run clockwise, 53 laps for a race distance of 306.7 km. It has been on the calendar since 1950 and is the fastest track Formula 1 visits.

The layout is essentially three long straights joined by heavy braking zones, which is exactly why cars run their skinniest wings of the year here. Off the start/finish line the cars hit the Variante del Rettifilo, the tight first chicane where opening-lap chaos usually happens, then sweep through the fast right of Curva Grande down to the Variante della Roggia.

The two Lesmo rights come next, tightening as they go and sitting in the shaded, wooded part of the park. From there a long run under the old banking leads to the Variante Ascari, the quick left-right-left that separates good laps from great ones, and then the long back straight into Curva Parabolica, officially Curva Alboreto since 2021, which sends them back onto the pit straight.

For spectators the practical read is that the chicanes are where you see overtaking, the Lesmos and Ascari are where you see the cars carrying speed, and the Parabolica gives you a long view of cars accelerating away onto the main straight. General admission areas in the park sit around the outside of much of this, and it is a long walk between the far corners.

Getting there from Milan

Most fans base themselves in Milan and travel out each day, because the city has the hotels, the food and the transport.

Train. Services run frequently from Milano Centrale and Milano Porta Garibaldi to Monza in roughly 10 to 15 minutes. From Monza station you either walk to the gates through the park or take a shuttle. The walk is pleasant and around half an hour depending on which gate you need, so add more time than the train journey itself takes.

Driving. Possible, and rarely worth it. Roads around the park congest badly across race weekend and parking fills early. The train is the calmer option in both directions, particularly on Sunday evening when 100,000 people leave at once.

Airports. Milan is served by Malpensa, Linate and Bergamo. Linate is closest to the city, Malpensa has the widest long-haul network, and Bergamo is the low-cost hub. All three connect to central Milan by bus or train, and none of them are quick on a race weekend.

Whichever way you travel, you will be checking live departure boards, shuttle times and walking directions on your phone, usually in spots with no usable Wi-Fi.

What the weekend is actually like

Monza Park is one of the largest walled parks in Europe and the circuit sits inside it. That has two consequences worth planning for.

The first is distance. Moving between grandstands means walking, sometimes 20 or 30 minutes between areas, on gravel and grass paths rather than paved concourses. Comfortable shoes matter, and so does deciding in advance where you want to be for each session rather than wandering.

The second is weather. Early September in Lombardy typically means highs around 27C (81F) and lows around 16C (61F), with real humidity and a genuine chance of an afternoon thunderstorm. Parts of the park are heavily wooded and shaded, but grandstands and the main straight are exposed. Sun protection and water are more useful here than a jacket, though a thin waterproof is worth having for the storm risk.

The Tifosi are the other thing that defines the weekend. Monza is the closest thing Formula 1 has to a home football crowd, red everywhere, flares and flags, and traditionally a track invasion toward the podium once the race finishes. It is a large, loud, good-natured crowd, and it is also the reason mobile networks around the park struggle at exactly the moments everyone wants to post something.

What you use data for on race weekend

It is easy to underestimate how much your phone does over three days at a circuit. The usual list looks like this:

• Maps and walking directions through the park to gates and grandstands.
• Live train and shuttle times for the commute in from Milan.
• Your mobile ticket, loaded and scanned at the entrance.
• The official event app for schedules and any timing or onboard features.
• Group chats to find the rest of your party in the Tifosi crowd.
• Posting photos and short clips while the moment is fresh.

None of that is heavy on its own, but it adds up across a weekend. Budget around 1-3 GB per day and you will have room for everything above without watching a counter.

Why an eSIM beats roaming and venue Wi-Fi

Roaming on your home plan can work, but the cost is the catch. Per-day roaming passes stack up fast across a long weekend, and pay-as-you-go roaming rates can produce a nasty bill. Venue Wi-Fi, where it exists, gets overwhelmed when tens of thousands of people reach for it at once, and it does nothing for you on the train to Monza, in the shuttle queue or back at the hotel in Milan.

A Europe eSIM sidesteps both problems. It connects to local Italian networks at local data rates, it travels with you everywhere on the route rather than staying tethered to one Wi-Fi hotspot, and it costs a fraction of a roaming pass. You set it as your data line and forget about it.

Recommended plan and Europe pricing

Europe covers 33 countries on one eSIM profile: all 27 EU states plus the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and a few neighbours. The profile auto-attaches to a partner network in each country, so there is no manual switch when you cross a border. Here are the VIP rates referred customers pay, verified against live pricing on 2026-06-29:

For a single weekend at Monza, the 3GB or 5GB plan is the sweet spot for most fans. If you are streaming on the train or staying in Milan for a longer trip, the 10GB plan gives you headroom.

Setting it up before you fly

Getting online should be the easy part of the trip. Here is the order that works:

1. Buy your Europe plan before you leave home.
2. Install it over your home Wi-Fi once the email says your QR code is ready. The QR is delivered through our website, with that email as your heads-up.
3. Set the eSIM as your data line in your phone settings.
4. Keep your home SIM active for calls, texts and two-factor authentication codes.
5. Turn off data roaming on your home line so it cannot ring up charges.

Done in that order, you land at Milan Malpensa, Linate or Bergamo already connected, with no kiosk hunt and no roaming surprise.

Part of the European leg

Monza sits in a packed European stretch of the calendar, and Milan makes a handy base for more than one stop. A fan based in the city can run the same Europe eSIM out to Monza and then on to the next European round with no swapping, because Europe covers 33 countries on one profile. The eSIM that gets you through the Italian GP carries straight on across the border, so there is nothing to rebuy at the next gate. For the full season plan, see the main F1 2026 eSIM guide.

Sort the connectivity now, wear shoes you can walk a park in, and the only thing left to think about at 15:00 on 6 September is the racing.