Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo · MC
The jewel in Formula 1's crown. Racing through the narrow streets of Monte Carlo past the harbor, casino, and tunnel is the ultimate test of precision. Winning here is worth two victories anywhere else.
Monaco is the slowest and tightest circuit in Formula 1 and the one with the least margin for error, run entirely on public streets that reopen between sessions. The lap climbs from Sainte Devote up to Casino Square, drops through Mirabeau to the Grand Hotel Hairpin — where cars slow to around 45 km/h, the lowest speed anywhere in a season — then runs down through the tunnel and along the harbour to the Swimming Pool complex and La Rascasse. Barriers line the whole lap, so a small mistake is usually a terminal one.
For visitors it is unlike any other race weekend, because the circuit is the city. Much of the viewing is from terraces, balconies and boats rather than conventional grandstands, and the whole principality is walkable. That access comes at a price: accommodation is the most expensive of the season and books out a year or more ahead. Nice and Menton are the usual fallback, connected by frequent trains.
The Grand Prix was created by Antony Noghès, a cigarette manufacturer who had helped found the Automobile Club de Monaco, with the backing of Prince Louis II and the driver Louis Chiron. The first race ran on 14 April 1929 over 100 laps of a circuit just over three kilometres long, and was won by William Grover-Williams in a Bugatti at an average of a little over 80 km/h.
What is remarkable is how little has changed. Sainte Devote and the Grand Hotel Hairpin were both in the original plan and remain in use today. The most significant alterations came between 1973 and 1985, when the circuit was reworked to keep it viable for modern Formula 1 — the old Gasworks Hairpin was replaced by La Rascasse and a final corner named, fittingly, after Anthony Noghès.
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