(01)History
Why the Monaco Grand Prix Remains Formula 1's Most Legendary Race
No win in Formula 1 carries quite the same prestige as one taken in the streets of Monte Carlo. Here's what sets Monaco apart from every other race on the calendar.
4 min read
The oldest race on the current calendar
First run in 1929, before the world championship even existed, the Monaco Grand Prix is one of the few races that has been part of the sport since its very earliest days — and the only one still held in the streets of a city that has stayed largely unchanged for nearly a century.
One third of motorsport's Triple Crown
Alongside the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Monaco is one of three races widely considered the most prestigious in all of motorsport. Only one driver, Graham Hill, has ever won all three — a telling measure of just how rare that feat is.
A track Formula 1 could never build today
At 3.337 km, squeezed between cliffside and harbour with barely any run-off anywhere on the lap, the Monaco circuit would meet none of modern motorsport's safety standards if it had to be homologated from scratch today. It survives on the calendar because of its history, not its compliance — a genuinely unique case in Formula 1.
An occasion that goes beyond sport
The Casino de Monte-Carlo, a harbour packed with yachts, streets lined with private terraces: since its earliest days, the Monaco Grand Prix has also been a social and economic occasion that spills well beyond the racetrack — a dimension few, if any, other races can claim to the same degree.