Monaco
When was the track built?
In 1215, sort of – that’s when Monaco was first established as a colony of Genoa.
When was its first Grand Prix?
It was 1929 when racing engines first reverberated around the Principality, after cigarette manufacturer Antony Noghes decided to organise a race with his pals from the Automobile Club de Monaco. The race was part of the calendar in the first year of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1950, and hasn’t been off it since 1955.
What’s the circuit like?
Incredibly narrow and totally iconic. Nelson Piquet memorably described driving around Monaco as “like riding a bicycle around your living room”… which is fair. Despite that, it’s a challenge that nearly all drivers love, forcing them to put their skills on the line and rewarding millimetric accuracy. Overtaking on the tight streets is harder, however, with the 2003 Grand Prix witnessing a grand total of zero passing moves!
Why go?
A holiday on the French Riviera, plus the chance to watch Formula 1 cars pounding past places where Monegasques usually go to buy a pint of milk? It really is as fun as it sounds. On top of that, the chance to walk the track after a day’s hard lapping – or even enjoy your dinner on it at one of the terrasse bars – is not to be missed.
Where is the best place to watch?
Assuming you can’t get into one of the overhanging apartment blocks around the circuit (or onto a boat) shoot for anything from Grandstands L to P, which are clustered around the Swimming Pool section of the track, and where drivers hurl their cars through the tight chicane at 200km/h. Or, for a more spectacular vista, try Grandstand B, overlooking the ritzy Casino Square.
(formula1.com)
[Music] Formula 1 returns to Monte Carlo once again today home to the world famous Monte Carlo Casino that first opened in 1863 and of course a certain Road Race first held in 1929 there’s no greater an occasion no more valuable a win than the Monaco Grand Prix the prestigious circuit Dem Monaco then is not all that dissimilar today to the layout that made its debut almost a century ago it’s 2 m and 19 Corners through the streets of Monte Carlo and although the average lap speed of around 93 mph is the lowest of the season the tiny margins for eror make it the natural habitat of the safety girl it’s time to see how our drivers are stacking up after yesterday’s exciting qualifying session world champion Max for stappen starts from pus and alongside me today okay he okay the start was fine let’s try and move forward DRS is being enabled this laap we can use DRS when you’re within 1 second of the car ahead and in the DRS Zone a oh no need to worry about the tire condition for now everything’s looking good okay mate it’s Ricardo ahead of you they’re holding us up now so let’s please try and get past as soon as possible and get on with our race push push great stuff it looked like you made easy work at that Target let’s try and keep that going right through to the end of the race a okay good work great pass w w okay this is your final lap final lap of the race a a [Music] yes mate I’ll take that well done we’re really happy with a Podium down here so well done yes they’ve done it then they’ve won here in Monaco with an emphatic performance and a victory they can be proud of for many years to [Applause] come I mean it looked like they were in a different category at points during the race LED every lap I mean what more can we [Applause] say here come today’s winners the team at Red Bull have done a phenomenal job recently and it’s clear to see that they’ve put in the the work and they should be so proud of the victory they secured here [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] well that was certainly an exciting weekend of Formula 1 be sure to join us for more exciting Formula 1 action very soon