As the 2021 Formula 1® season shifts into top gear, motorsport’s showcase event is influencing the world of writing. Radical design and high-spec materials make up the F1® Speed by Montegrappa – a pen that promises an adrenaline rush for racing and writing aficionados alike.

As anyone who has ever seen a regular car knows, there is nothing ‘regular’ about a Formula 1® car. To make these hyper-engineered machines average speeds of over 200 km/h (124.37 mph) in close-quarters racing, team designers need to think outside the box. Yet the radical, secretive innovations they develop for the racetrack go on to influence family car design years down the track. The so-called ‘trickle-down effect’ is one way that many manufacturers justify the hefty investments needed simply to take part in motorsport’s most glamorous championship.

Italians’ fervour for performance design is no secret. From its idyllic factory located near Venice, Montegrappa has been engineering and building writing instruments for more than a century. Early designs were treasured by users like Ernest Hemingway and members of the Italian nobility, and the company still prides itself on its connections to dignitaries, celebrities and creatives.

Like a Formula 1® design team, most of Montegrappa’s efforts over the years have been dedicated to creating pens that have little in common with regular fare. The company’s designs are extravagant – often avant-garde – but their exuberant approach to writing has made them extraordinarily popular with collectors and the luxury set.

The luxury maker has a strong record of collaboration with motorsport. Practically all Italian prestige marques have turned to Montegrappa pens over the years, and official editions for Alfa Romeo and Ferrari are among the more than 200 designs in the company’s limited editions archive. A series of editions for race-legend Ayrton Senna also features, and former Ferrari driver, Jean Alesi, has been an investor in the company since 2010.

Last year, Montegrappa used titanium and Damascus-polished carbon fibre to rebuild a classic 1950s silhouette for the 70th anniversary of the FIA Formula One World Championship™. But for its follow-up, Montegrappa’s design team chose to emulate the free-thinking approach of modern Formula 1® designers. The result is the F1® Speed: a pen that takes a thoroughly new approach to ergonomics and aesthetics.

Beneath a veneer of carbon fibre and high-gloss lacquer, F1® Speed has a distinctive flared barrel – cut from high-tolerance brass using a new, in-house 5-axis machining centre. Its elliptic form requires precision milling, and boasts more than a passing resemblance to the modern, aerodynamic nose boxes that add downward force to Formula 1® cars. Tests of its suitability for writing showed a similar effect, offering users noticeable improvements in angle and control.

A carbon-fibre grip section is another innovation that alters the writing experience, while giving off airs of trackside ambience. Other design affordances compound the ‘being there’ effect, and include a scorched tailpipe, simulated air intakes and a unique clip and finial pairing.

Montegrappa chose brass as a core material for the F1® Speed because of its durability, and to make the model accessible to race fans as well as seasoned pen aficionados. All hardware is custom-machined by hand, and coated with gritty black ruthenium.

As a writing tool, the F1® Speed is anything but regular. Montegrappa has long been famous for its state-of-the-art mechanisms and writing blocks. Fountain pens remain the brand’s biggest sellers, and its newest Formula 1®-approved design is fitted with a ruthenium-coated 18K gold nib with ebonite feed – long seen as the reference level in writing.

A rollerball version is also available for those afraid of leaving ink skid-marks on the page, with both versions debuting in racing-red lacquer. Each is manufactured by hand up to a maximum of 372 pieces: a reference to 372.6 km/h – the top speed ever recorded during a FIA Formula One World Championship™ race.