F1's Grid Gigs at Monza: A Divided Reaction
The tifosi came for engines and adrenaline. For a few minutes, they got Laura Pausini instead.
Formula 1’s Grid Gigs returned at the Italian Grand Prix with the Grammy-winning Italian star taking centre stage before the race, delivering a two-song set in Italian and Spanish on a purpose-built stage at Monza. The grandstands lapped it up. Viewers at home were a different story.
Sky Sports F1 cut away from its usual pre-race analysis to show Pausini’s performance in full, band and all. The grid, the strategy talk, the last-minute tension – all put on hold while the broadcast followed the music. Only when the final note faded did the presenters and pundits return to the business of tyre choices and title pressure.
That decision lit up social media almost as quickly as the five red lights.
Some fans loved it. One pleaded for the concept to become part of F1’s fabric: “Make F1 grid gigs a permanent fixture please – that was absolutely brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed it.” Another admitted past scepticism about the series, but said Pausini’s turn “can persuade me”.
The other side of the argument was just as loud. For many, interrupting the build-up felt like a step too far into showbiz.
“If ‘Grid Gigs’ are going to be a thing in the future, I might have to rethink when I start watching this coverage,” one viewer wrote, unimpressed at losing those crucial pre-race minutes. Another asked bluntly: “Was Sky F1 forced to show this?”
That suspicion kept resurfacing. “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,” came another comment, reflecting a growing belief that the broadcaster’s hand had been guided from above.
The performance itself also divided opinion. Some fans dismissed it as “embarrassing” and “drivel”, unimpressed by the injection of pop into a moment traditionally dominated by rising revs and tightening nerves. Others went the opposite way, calling the show “amazing” and “emotional”, delighted to see an Italian star given the stage on home soil.
For Pausini, this was hardly unfamiliar territory. Earlier in the summer she had already sung in front of a global sporting audience at the World Cup final in New Jersey, sharing the stage with Robbie Williams and Nicole Scherzinger to perform their ‘FIFA Anthem’, Desire. Monza simply added another high-profile stadium to her year.
For Formula 1, Grid Gigs is a relatively new experiment, and Monza was billed as its boldest version yet. The concept debuted in Austin last season, where country singer Drake Milligan performed before the United States Grand Prix. It resurfaced in Las Vegas with former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, then appeared again in Miami in May, fronted by Colombian singer-songwriter Manuel Turizo.
This latest edition was promoted by F1 as its “biggest ever” Grid Gigs show, headlined by Pausini – the only Italian artist to have won a Grammy – in front of packed Italian grandstands. The series is clearly being positioned as part of the sport’s expanding entertainment package, a live show to complement the spectacle on track.
The official announcement confirmed the Monza performance would be live-streamed across F1’s social media platforms. It did not, however, spell out that TV rights holders like Sky would be expected to carry the full set within their pre-race programming. That gap fuelled the questions about who made the call, and why.
This is the tension Formula 1 keeps running into. The sport wants to be a global entertainment product, not just a race. Fans, especially the hardcore audience glued to the screen from the first shot of the paddock, want every second of build-up, every grid walk, every scrap of information before the lights go out.
On Sunday at Monza, the music briefly won that battle. The question now is whether Grid Gigs becomes a fixed part of the F1 weekend, or a sideshow that risks drowning out the sound that really matters – the cars rolling onto the grid.
