Monza has got me thinking. In qualifying Perez attained the highest recorded top speed, at 349.2kph. With unrestricted DRS and low fuel, with a low-drag Monza wing, that is probably going to be the fastest a 2011 F1 car ever goes.
But how fast have F1 cars travelled in the past? Are there any crazy race speed records from the turbo era, or 2004’s V10s? What about Monza & Hockenheim before they had chicanes added?
A bit of googling turned up Honda’s “Bonneville 400” project, which in 2006 set the overall speed record for an F1 car at 397.4kph. (The car did hit 400.4kph, but only in one direction.)
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/07/21/honda-f1-sets-land-speed-records-at-bonneville/