Next up on our packed racing calendar is the Monaco Grand Prix. Often referred to as the jewel in F1's crown.
It's said that there are generally two different fan opinions regarding the Monaco Grand Prix. The first is that the track is too small, the racing dull and it should have been dropped a long time ago, the second is that it should have been dropped a long time ago because the racing is dull and the track is too small.
Motorsport has been coming to Monaco since 1929 but It wasn't really until 1929 that it became evident that the track was unsuitable for racing cars. By then it was too late to drop it from the calendar. It's remained a fixture ever since.
Given that it's only in the most unlikely circumstances that one car could pass another around this track, the more memorable races are normally down to the fact that there have been a number of crashes or incidents. Two people have ended up going over the harbor wall and swimming with the fishes. Fans with long memories will recall the famous incident where the American, Pete Aron crashed his Jordan BRM into his British team mate Scott Stoddard resulting in injuries that put Stoddard out of several races in 1966. There have been other memorable incidents including the 1982 race where almost the entire top 6 crashed at one point in the last few laps. The 1984 race where our Nige was well on his way to his maiden F1 victory before a white line and a wall intervened. This was the same race in which Senna finished second for Toleman. Later in the 80's, Senna had his famous out of body experience when qualifying his McLaren almost 2 seconds ahead of his team mate, then went on to have his famous out of car experience when he crashed his McLaren driving inexplicably fast in a race he'd won several times over already. In 1996 we had heartbreak for Damon Hill as he was leading at his Dad's most successful track only to have an engine failure and the rest of the field seemingly joined in out of sympathy. That year only the top three cars saw the finishing line and Olivier Panis became a quiz question. We've had Schumi parking his car on track during qualifying and Rosberg doing something similar or not depending on which side of the fence you sat. So, there has been some entertainment over the years just none of it due to outstanding racing.
Last year was probably one of the all time F1 lows. The top 10 finished in the same order they'd started. An early red flag meant that every car changed their tyres and that was the chance of any pip stop action getting in the way and allowing at least one car to pass another somehow. Verstappen complained that he needed a pillow and Piastri claimed that at times the cars were running slower than the F2 guys.
To try and spice things up this year, the FA has mandated that cars will need to pit twice. Yippee, I hear you all cry. Unfortunately the FIA hasn't mandated that cars should be able to pass each other on the track but still, those pit stops will be awesome I bet. Having said that, given the high likelihood of safety cars, red flags etc, then I can foresee that next year the FIA will mandate a minimum 70 pit stops.
If anyone has actually been to Monaco, then you'll know how tight it really is. I was surprised when I walked the track just how steep the elevation is from the first corner up the hill into Casino square. It doesn't look that steep on TV but when you're walking up it and especially when you look at how high you are when you get to the top and look back down towards the sea, it wouldn't shock me if I was told that it's one of the steepest gradients on an F1 track.
While I've given the race a bit of a kicking and, yes it deserves it, it must be bloody terrifying to drive as an F1 driver especially if there's even a tiny bit of moisture on the road. If they could somehow, find an extra bit of Monaco to stick some more track on and at least provide one measly overtaking opportunity then it wouldn't be the worst place to come in world.
Its interesting to speculate on the future of Monaco. It was once the jewel in the crown but, with so many backers willing to throw money at a few miles of desert and the real hard cash being in locations such as Saudi and the Emirates, Monaco's attraction as a high rollers night out will surely slip away. We are no longer in an era of movie stars strolling out of casino's, looking out upon the riviera to where their yachts are parked. They're more likely to be doing that in Dubai.
Last year, this was a successful day out for Ferrari but given their difficulties so far and especially last weekend, it would be impossible to see anyone other than a McLaren topping both the Saturday time sheets and the Sunday podium with only the flag and anthem to be decided.
Race timings:
Looks like there may be a drop of rain on Saturday but Sunday should be fine:
Enjoy it if you can.
It's said that there are generally two different fan opinions regarding the Monaco Grand Prix. The first is that the track is too small, the racing dull and it should have been dropped a long time ago, the second is that it should have been dropped a long time ago because the racing is dull and the track is too small.
Motorsport has been coming to Monaco since 1929 but It wasn't really until 1929 that it became evident that the track was unsuitable for racing cars. By then it was too late to drop it from the calendar. It's remained a fixture ever since.
Given that it's only in the most unlikely circumstances that one car could pass another around this track, the more memorable races are normally down to the fact that there have been a number of crashes or incidents. Two people have ended up going over the harbor wall and swimming with the fishes. Fans with long memories will recall the famous incident where the American, Pete Aron crashed his Jordan BRM into his British team mate Scott Stoddard resulting in injuries that put Stoddard out of several races in 1966. There have been other memorable incidents including the 1982 race where almost the entire top 6 crashed at one point in the last few laps. The 1984 race where our Nige was well on his way to his maiden F1 victory before a white line and a wall intervened. This was the same race in which Senna finished second for Toleman. Later in the 80's, Senna had his famous out of body experience when qualifying his McLaren almost 2 seconds ahead of his team mate, then went on to have his famous out of car experience when he crashed his McLaren driving inexplicably fast in a race he'd won several times over already. In 1996 we had heartbreak for Damon Hill as he was leading at his Dad's most successful track only to have an engine failure and the rest of the field seemingly joined in out of sympathy. That year only the top three cars saw the finishing line and Olivier Panis became a quiz question. We've had Schumi parking his car on track during qualifying and Rosberg doing something similar or not depending on which side of the fence you sat. So, there has been some entertainment over the years just none of it due to outstanding racing.
Last year was probably one of the all time F1 lows. The top 10 finished in the same order they'd started. An early red flag meant that every car changed their tyres and that was the chance of any pip stop action getting in the way and allowing at least one car to pass another somehow. Verstappen complained that he needed a pillow and Piastri claimed that at times the cars were running slower than the F2 guys.
To try and spice things up this year, the FA has mandated that cars will need to pit twice. Yippee, I hear you all cry. Unfortunately the FIA hasn't mandated that cars should be able to pass each other on the track but still, those pit stops will be awesome I bet. Having said that, given the high likelihood of safety cars, red flags etc, then I can foresee that next year the FIA will mandate a minimum 70 pit stops.
If anyone has actually been to Monaco, then you'll know how tight it really is. I was surprised when I walked the track just how steep the elevation is from the first corner up the hill into Casino square. It doesn't look that steep on TV but when you're walking up it and especially when you look at how high you are when you get to the top and look back down towards the sea, it wouldn't shock me if I was told that it's one of the steepest gradients on an F1 track.
While I've given the race a bit of a kicking and, yes it deserves it, it must be bloody terrifying to drive as an F1 driver especially if there's even a tiny bit of moisture on the road. If they could somehow, find an extra bit of Monaco to stick some more track on and at least provide one measly overtaking opportunity then it wouldn't be the worst place to come in world.
Its interesting to speculate on the future of Monaco. It was once the jewel in the crown but, with so many backers willing to throw money at a few miles of desert and the real hard cash being in locations such as Saudi and the Emirates, Monaco's attraction as a high rollers night out will surely slip away. We are no longer in an era of movie stars strolling out of casino's, looking out upon the riviera to where their yachts are parked. They're more likely to be doing that in Dubai.
Last year, this was a successful day out for Ferrari but given their difficulties so far and especially last weekend, it would be impossible to see anyone other than a McLaren topping both the Saturday time sheets and the Sunday podium with only the flag and anthem to be decided.
Race timings:
| First Practice | 23 May | 12:30 |
| Second Practice | 23 May | 16:00 |
| 3rd Practice | 24 May | 11:30 |
| Qualification | 24 May | 15:00 |
| Race | 25 May | 14:00 |
Looks like there may be a drop of rain on Saturday but Sunday should be fine:
Enjoy it if you can.
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