Going Monaco Mad
Its back! F1’s most iconic racing venue of the season! MONACOOO!!!! After being cancelled last year, everyone is desperate for the buzz of seeing an F1 car navigating through the narrow streets of the principality once again.
What is it about Monaco that gets us so excited?
It is no doubt the most luxurious F1 weekend on the calendar, surrounded by yachts, the famous casino, pool parties, Hotel De Paris, fashion shows and usually boat loads of glamorous celebrities and members of the rich list. The allure around Monaco attracts and immerses all that watch the race weekend into this almost movie like atmosphere, it lets us pretend we are part of the glamour that surrounds Monaco for a weekend.
But the real attraction for us F1 fans is the narrow street circuit, that pushes all drivers that face it to the limit. It is a track that is fun to drive but as many drivers say it punishes you for your mistakes. On corners like the swimming pool where the drivers are taking their car around at max speeds, being a minuscule few centimetres out can cost them drastically. It is a race that favours track position, which normally would be a boring race but in Monaco has a different feel. Monacos tight streets and and difficulty for overtaking poses huge priority on qualifying unlike any other track, it favours the cars who are faster in corners than on the straights which is why this tack can produce very different podiums (something we could all use to escape another HAM, VER, BOT right now!)
Monaco is a track that has given us many iconic situations in Formula1 such as:
The 2003 Monaco Gp
There is no doubt that the slender streets of Monaco make it extremely difficult to overtake, but this Grand Prix was a very rare occasion where there were ZERO recorded track overtakes during this race! This joins only 2 other Grand Prix where this has happened, the 2009 European Grand Prix and the controversial 2005 United States Grand Prix. This highlights the importance of qualifying in Monaco, as there is always the risk of this situation being repeated as the cars become bigger and more delicate the prospect of danger becomes higher for the drivers.
Special Liveries and Race Helmets
There is something about Monaco that makes the teams go crazy for one-off liveries and helmets. This year McLaren have debuted its one-off McLaren X Gulf livery, joined with merch, race suits and helmets all to match the light blue and orange livery. Williams are celebrating their 750th GP this weekend, they have introduced 100 special winners names on to each of the drivers halos for the weekend alongside the drivers 750th GP celebratory helmets. Some fun liveries we have seen in the past have obviously come from Red Bull where in 2005 they turned to the Dark Side with a special livery to promote Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Red Bull again promoted the Superman Returns film in 2006, with a special livery and racing suits including capes for the team! This was the year the team clutched their first Podium ever in Monaco which led to the famous clip of Christian Horner jumping into the pool wearing nothing but a Superman cape (an iconic Monaco moment in itself!). In 2004 Jaguar unveiled a special promotional livery for the Oceans Twelve film, including a massive Steinmetz diamond on the nose of both of their cars, these diamonds did not prove to be good luck charms as Mark Webber retired on Lap 11 and Christian Klien was involved in a lap 1 accident. When Christian’s car was recovered the jewel was nowhere to be found and has still not been found to this day, leaving many to speculate where did the huge diamond go?
The Iceman Chills Out
Halfway through the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen was forced to retire after a mechanical failure and parked up his McLaren at the exit of the Portier turn. Luckily for the Finn his private yacht was only a quick walk away. The Iceman chose to head to his yacht instead of back to the garage (who can blame him). Every now and again in the race, the TV camera would pan to Kimi chilling out on his yacht with a drink in his hand! A truly iconic moment to describe the appeal of Monaco.
We love the Monaco GP, even though it may not be the most action packed race, it has an allure that keeps us crawling back for more!
Whats youre favourite Monaco moment, think we missed it? Let us know on our Instagram @fs_formulas!
Soph & Sach
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