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| FULL MONTE ... Heikki Kovalainen takes in the scenery during last year's qualifying in Monaco |
THE Monaco Grand Prix. It’s the jewel in the Formula One crown, up there with
Le Mans and the Indy 500 as one of the three most prized victories in global
motorsport.
Monaco neatly encapsulates everything that is F1: the good, the bad and the
ugly.
It’s the most glamorous race of the year, attended by Hollywood stars, Russian oligarchs and European royalty.
It is the supreme test of driving skill, once likened to trying to cycle around your living room.
But it is probably the hardest environment the teams have to work in all season.
Victory in Monaco is cherished possibly more than anywhere else.
For a driver, adding the Monaco GP to your list of race wins puts you in exalted company — your name on the records for ever alongside Stirling Moss, Damon Hill and Ayrton Senna as masters of the 3.34km street circuit cut into one some of the most expensive land in the world.
For a driver, the challenge of Monaco is unmatched by any other circuit on the calendar. It might not be their favourite track to race on — most of the drivers say Suzuka or Spa would take that accolade — but it is the most challenging.
It begins by having to make sure you use every second of the Thursday practice sessions without making any mistakes and helping you set the car up pinpoint perfectly for qualifying and the race.
FP1 and FP2 are always run on Thursday in Monaco rather than Friday to allow the local residents one less day of total traffic chaos in race week.
When Saturday afternoon comes round the pressure is really starting to rise.
Assuming all three practice sessions have gone according to plan, you should be perfectly prepared for Q1, and now you have to put a lot of your faith in your engineers on track and back at the factory to use the GPS maps and the simulation software to accurately manage the traffic on track and give you a clear shot at a qualifying lap.
After qualifying, Sunday is when the pressure levels ramp up to maximum.
The drivers do what they can to stick to their normal schedules and approach the race as if it was any other.
They will try to avoid the huge increase in the number of people who want to stop and say hello and focus on their jobs.
Get to the grid in good shape and then block it all out as the red lights come on and the countdown to the race start begins. The lights go out and 78 laps later someone will be a hero.
Remembered for ever as a Monaco Grand Prix race winner and lauded worldwide as a rare talent.
Behind the drivers are the teams, and while the skills required to race around Monaco are on display every time the cars are on track, the skills needed to run an F1 team within the confines of Monaco are equally worldclass.
The team’s motorhomes are the first large items to go in. The normal paddock
layout is abandoned with teams using every single millimetre at their
disposal to pitch their vast homes-away-from-homes by the edge of the
harbour.
Red Bull Racing’s Energy Station, home to both Red Bull and Toro Rosso at the European races, is so large it does not fit on the harbour, so it goes in the harbour, floating alongside millions of pounds worth of yachts.
And it has a swimming pool. A pool in a floating motorhome in the Monaco harbour — well, this is F1.
Up in the garages it is the same story. The teams are all squeezed into temporary facilities that, for our team, look out over the famous ‘swimming pool’ section of the track.
The engineers, normally used to their own truck as their circuit base, sit above the actual garages and have to make themselves heard over the sound of the Pitlane on one side and the start/finish straight on the other.
The headphones normally used to communicate in-sessions are used an awful lot more in Monaco.
The truckies and mechanics have considerably less room to work in than at most of the races, and the temperatures in the garages can reach uncomfortable levels.
That famous Cote D’Azur sunshine is perfect for the sun-lovers on the beaches, but for the boys in the garage it’s another physical factor to deal with in one of the hardest races of the season.
For the truckies it’s equally tough. Moving heavy equipment around the small
spaces in the pitlane or the paddock requires military precision and inch
perfect planning.
Make a mistake and it could cost thousands.
While Monaco parties, the F1 teams will be working. They will have a couple of moments to relax — and at £10 a pint in Monaco you only want a couple of minutes to relax — but while the world sees Monaco as the most glamorous race of the season, for the teams it’s probably the toughest.
Still, it is Monaco, and that’s pretty cool.
It’s the most glamorous race of the year, attended by Hollywood stars, Russian oligarchs and European royalty.
It is the supreme test of driving skill, once likened to trying to cycle around your living room.
But it is probably the hardest environment the teams have to work in all season.
Victory in Monaco is cherished possibly more than anywhere else.
For a driver, adding the Monaco GP to your list of race wins puts you in exalted company — your name on the records for ever alongside Stirling Moss, Damon Hill and Ayrton Senna as masters of the 3.34km street circuit cut into one some of the most expensive land in the world.
For a driver, the challenge of Monaco is unmatched by any other circuit on the calendar. It might not be their favourite track to race on — most of the drivers say Suzuka or Spa would take that accolade — but it is the most challenging.
It begins by having to make sure you use every second of the Thursday practice sessions without making any mistakes and helping you set the car up pinpoint perfectly for qualifying and the race.
FP1 and FP2 are always run on Thursday in Monaco rather than Friday to allow the local residents one less day of total traffic chaos in race week.
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| HAIR STYLE ... Monaco's famous hairpin bend outside the Fairmount Monte Carlo hotel |
Assuming all three practice sessions have gone according to plan, you should be perfectly prepared for Q1, and now you have to put a lot of your faith in your engineers on track and back at the factory to use the GPS maps and the simulation software to accurately manage the traffic on track and give you a clear shot at a qualifying lap.
After qualifying, Sunday is when the pressure levels ramp up to maximum.
The drivers do what they can to stick to their normal schedules and approach the race as if it was any other.
They will try to avoid the huge increase in the number of people who want to stop and say hello and focus on their jobs.
Get to the grid in good shape and then block it all out as the red lights come on and the countdown to the race start begins. The lights go out and 78 laps later someone will be a hero.
Remembered for ever as a Monaco Grand Prix race winner and lauded worldwide as a rare talent.
Behind the drivers are the teams, and while the skills required to race around Monaco are on display every time the cars are on track, the skills needed to run an F1 team within the confines of Monaco are equally worldclass.
 |
| SEA VIEW ... Monaco harbour is one of Formula One's most spectacular settings |
Red Bull Racing’s Energy Station, home to both Red Bull and Toro Rosso at the European races, is so large it does not fit on the harbour, so it goes in the harbour, floating alongside millions of pounds worth of yachts.
And it has a swimming pool. A pool in a floating motorhome in the Monaco harbour — well, this is F1.
Up in the garages it is the same story. The teams are all squeezed into temporary facilities that, for our team, look out over the famous ‘swimming pool’ section of the track.
The engineers, normally used to their own truck as their circuit base, sit above the actual garages and have to make themselves heard over the sound of the Pitlane on one side and the start/finish straight on the other.
The headphones normally used to communicate in-sessions are used an awful lot more in Monaco.
The truckies and mechanics have considerably less room to work in than at most of the races, and the temperatures in the garages can reach uncomfortable levels.
That famous Cote D’Azur sunshine is perfect for the sun-lovers on the beaches, but for the boys in the garage it’s another physical factor to deal with in one of the hardest races of the season.
 |
| WINDING ROAD ... The pit area in Monaco is squeezed among residents' luxury apartments |
Make a mistake and it could cost thousands.
While Monaco parties, the F1 teams will be working. They will have a couple of moments to relax — and at £10 a pint in Monaco you only want a couple of minutes to relax — but while the world sees Monaco as the most glamorous race of the season, for the teams it’s probably the toughest.
Still, it is Monaco, and that’s pretty cool.
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