The Italian Grand Prix takes place this weekend as F1 returns to Monza to mark the final race of the European season.

The circus will begin to rack up the miles once more after this GP, with venues such as Singapore, Japan, and Qatar coming up in the next few weeks.

First, though, the historic surroundings of Monza host the latest round of the world championship, and so here's what you need to look out for this weekend on track...

Max Verstappen eyes another record

Max Verstappen has had an incredible season and is on the verge of another slice of F1 history if he can win this weekend.

The Dutchman made it 9 GP victories successively last time out at his home race at Zandvoort, drawing level with the benchmark that Sebastian Vettel and Alberto Ascari had set.

No one has won 10 F1 races in a row but with him so far ahead of everyone else right now, it seems as though only a reliability issue or an unlikely mistake will prevent the double world champion from claiming another record.

Can Williams cause another shock?

Williams came back from the summer break in fine form, with them seeing both cars into Q3 for the first time since 2017, with Logan Sargeant making the last part of the session for the first time in his debut F1 year.

A hydraulics issue sent him into the barriers during the race and so his weekend ended on a sour note but, even so, team-mate Alex Albon ensured the Grove outfit had something to show for their efforts, with him coming home inside the points.

Monza, last year, was one of the team's strongest tracks with stand-in Nyck de Vries earning points on debut, and so there could be a chance Williams once again ruffle some feathers.

Liam Lawson gets a full weekend

Lawson did a solid job last weekend for AlphaTauri as he was thrown into the deep end at Zandvoort with little prep time thanks to Daniel Ricciardo's crash and subsequent injury.

The inclement weather on the Dutch coast only made his task harder of getting to grips with the AT04, but he kept things clean and brought it home, earning praise in doing so.

He now gets to experience a full race weekend as an F1 driver with Ricciardo still injured, and will be looking forward to going through it and trying to show more of his talents.

Settled weather

Dry, settled weather wouldn't normally be news for a race weekend but this year it feels as though it deserves a mention.

A fair amount of race weekends have been hit by rain this season, with both Spa and Zandvoort taking a particularly hard drenching at times.

The forecast this weekend is for dry and warm conditions, though, and the teams, drivers, engineers, and fans for that matter, will all be pleased that they should get some uninterrupted running in this weekend.

Special liveries

Finally, we're set to see some one-off liveries used this weekend by a couple of the teams.

Both Ferrari and Alfa Romeo are on home turf this weekend and have marked the occasion with some eye-catching paint jobs.

As with last year, Ferrari have brought flashes of yellow to their car and team overalls, whilst Alfa Romeo have dorned their car with the green, white, and red of the Italian flag, in a very eye-catching and pretty design.