Monza's Grid Gigs: Tifosi Divided Over Concert During F1 Build-Up

The tifosi came for engines and jeopardy. Instead, as the Monza grandstands swelled and the pre-race tension built, television viewers suddenly found themselves watching a concert.

Formula 1’s Grid Gigs returned at the Italian Grand Prix with Laura Pausini taking centre stage, the Grammy Award-winning Italian delivering a two-song set with a full live band. On site, it looked and sounded like a big production. On TV, it landed right in the middle of the build-up.

Sky Sports F1 paused its usual pre-race coverage to show both songs in full, sung in Italian and Spanish, before handing back to its presenters and pundits for the final minutes before lights out. That programming call lit up social media almost as quickly as the five red lights on the grid.

Some fans loved it. One viewer called for Grid Gigs to become “a permanent fixture”, describing Pausini’s performance as “absolutely brilliant” and saying they “thoroughly enjoyed it”. Another, previously unsure about the concept, admitted this particular show “can persuade me”.

The backlash arrived just as quickly. Many questioned why the concert had eaten into the core pre-race window that usually focuses on strategy, grid walks and last-minute storylines.

“If ‘Grid Gigs’ are going to be a thing in the future, I might have to rethink when I start watching this coverage,” one fan wrote. Another asked bluntly: “Was Sky F1 forced to show this?”

That suspicion cropped up repeatedly. “Have FOM forced Sky F1 to show this Grid Gigs thing, I wonder? I’m pretty sure they’ve never bothered with it in the past,” another viewer posted, echoing a theme that F1 itself may be pushing broadcasters to lean into the music element.

The performance divided opinion on artistic grounds as well. Some labelled it “embarrassing” and “drivel”, unimpressed at both the style and the timing. Others went the opposite way, calling it “amazing” and “emotional”, convinced it added spectacle to an already grand stage.

For Pausini, this was hardly unfamiliar territory. Earlier in the summer she performed at the World Cup final in New Jersey, sharing the stage with Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger for their ‘FIFA Anthem’, Desire, in front of a global television audience of millions. F1, keen to position itself as a wider entertainment product, clearly saw Monza as the moment to lean on a homegrown star: Pausini is the only Italian artist ever to win a Grammy, and F1 billed this as its “biggest ever” Grid Gigs show.

The Grid Gigs concept itself is still relatively new. It debuted in Austin last year, where country singer Drake Milligan performed before the United States Grand Prix. The series rolled on to Las Vegas with former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, then to Miami in May with Colombian singer-songwriter Manuel Turizo fronting the show.

At Monza, the idea was pushed harder. F1’s announcement confirmed Pausini’s set would be live-streamed across the sport’s social media platforms, underlining the championship’s determination to package race day as a full entertainment experience. The press release, though, made no mention of TV rights holders being expected to carry the performance live.

That gap between the official wording and what viewers actually saw on Sky Sports F1 is where the debate now sits. Is this the future of race weekends on television – a blend of concert and countdown – or an unwelcome distraction from the very thing that makes F1 matter?

As the championship battle tightens and the grandstands continue to sell out, the sport’s appetite for spectacle shows no sign of easing. The question is whether fans at home want their pre-race tension soundtracked by revs or by a chorus.