Jacques Villeneuve's lap of Monza.

Lucky Strike BAR Honda driver Jacques Villeneuve describes a lap of Monza, venue for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix:

''Monza is the only low downforce track that we have left, which means a lot of straight lines and very few corners. The main straight is long and fast into Rettifilo, a very slow chicane, taken in 1st gear. You're doing about 355kph and you have to slow down to about 80 kph for it, so it's hard on the brakes but very good for racing. The only problem is that it's too easy to cross the chicane and last year a lot of people crossed it while they were overtaking but were not getting penalties.''

''There's heavy acceleration out of that chicane and into Curva Grande, another quick straight. It's a little bit slower and not as long but quick enough. Then it's into another heavy braking chicane, the Variante della Roggia. You have some overtaking opportunities here but it's a more difficult corner to do because you actually carry a lot of speed into the chicane and if you have the inside line you can't take the corner anymore. It's more difficult to overtake here than at the first corner because of that.''

''Then you get into a fun corner, the first Lesmo. It's banked and taken in 3rd or 4th gear, mid- speed, or mid-speed for Monza, which is still 160/170 kph. It's just a small tap on the brakes as you turn in. There are a few bumps and because of the banking the front of the car ends up gripping a lot earlier. Because of the low downforce the rear is often very light.''

''Then you get to Lesmo 2 which used to be a flat out, beautiful corner, but has been destroyed into a 3rd gear, ugly corner. It doesn't have a nice layout, it doesn't have a nice rhythm and it doesn't make sense! You hit the brakes, you turn and you just hit the apex, and then you come out of the corner sliding a bit. It's not fun. Every time you go there you're annoyed basically!''

''The Serralio straight follows with heavy braking for the Curva del Vialone and Ascari chicane, which is actually a fun one. It's a mid speed, third gear chicane at 130/140 kph. You can carry a lot of speed in but it will have a big effect on your turn. Some people will carry a little less speed and then have a better second part of the corner. It depends on how your car handles once you lay the power on. Often you end up almost running out of road but suddenly just making it. That's when you've done it the best: When you can carry too much speed into it and still take the corner. This is because the second part of the corner - the right-hander - is actually a little bit faster and if you can keep the car without sliding too much then you'll be able to do the last bit of the corner without lifting. When your car's not set up well you end up in the middle part of the track, and then you cannot do the third part of the corner without lifting.''

''After this it's into yet another long straight. It's high speed into the difficult but fun corner, Parabolica. It's a corner that's very tight on the entrance and then widens for the exit, but the exit is very long. There are a lot of lines to take here. It's also the kind of corner where overtaking happens because you have so many lines into it. You can brake on the inside or brake too late. You won't make a good corner if you do that but you'll still make it around the track. That's what allows you to go deeper in and try something a little bit crazy. But normally if you overtake someone there, he'll overtake you into the hairpin, after the next straight, which is also the start/finish.''