Has the Monaco GP lost its prestige?
Has the Monaco GP lost its prestige? And how do you bring it back?
Monaco is synonymous with F1. A lot of current and ex-F1 drivers call it their tax haven home. And for 1 week each year, the F1 circus comes to their backyard. The Monaco GP is one of the most prestigious races in the world. And winning the Monaco GP makes up a third of the famous triple crown, along with the Indy 500 and the overall win at the Lemans 24.
If you ask a random person of the street to name a race, chances are that they would say the Monaco GP. Its engrained in our psyche that the Monaco GP is one of the most famous races. However, if you were to ask an F1 fan what their most anticipated or favourite race of the year is (excluding 202 for obvious reasons) , chances are the Monaco GP wouldn't be one of them.
It used to be that Monaco offered some of the best racing in F1 and was where the best drivers in F1 made a name for themselves, look at the likes of Graham Hill (aka Mr. Monaco) and Ayrton Senna. In recent years though, the Monaco GP has become one of the most boring races. People aren't as excited as they used to be about the race. And some have even questioned whether the GP should be on the calendar at all. 2019, however did offer some excitement by Monaco's standard. We saw a somewhat tense "battle" between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen for the lead, however the only side by side action we saw between the pair was when max tried to send one down the inside at the Nouvelle Chicane , which only lasted for a brief second.
Since 2003, 12 of the 17 races that have been held there have been won by the pole sitter. And the last time we saw a on track lead change was in 2008 when Filipe Massa while down the Escape road at turn 1 (Hamilton 2016 overtake on Riccardo and does not count as it was due to a pit stop).
There are several reasons we this lack of overtaking at Monaco. Number one being F1's dirty air problem. This problem is one that effects a lot of the races on the calendar and is generally the reason why some F1 race have become dull. However the second reason is one unique to Monaco. That is the small circuit layout and the enormous cars of today. The size of Modern F1 cars being comparable to a family saloon, and the fact that the Monaco GP circuit is as small as it is, it's no wonder that overtaking is hard to come by in Monaco.
F1 is trying to fix these issues with the 2022 regulations with less downforce which should solve the dirty air problem and by making the cars smaller.
This brings me back to my original question; has the Monaco GP Lost its prestige?
Even if the racing around Monaco gets better, Monaco will still have lost a lot of fans over the years and the race won't be coveted by fans as it used to. How do you bring back fans then? You have to make the GP feel special by not just having a good race, but a brilliant weekend. Yes you have the history of Monaco to make it special, but circuits like Silverstone and Monza also have a lot of history, yet those races aren't as renowned as the Monaco GP.
Take a look at what the week of the Lemans 24 or the entire Month dedicated to the Indy 500. Those races know how to attract fans. And F1 has to do the same with the Monaco GP. When the Lemans 24 comes to town, the driver have a parade around the entire town. The same thing happens during the Bathurst 12 hours. The Indy 500 has "kissing the bricks" as a tradition for the winners, yes its unique to the 500, but that's the point. The only thing that F1 has that is close to any of that is having the a practice session on Thursday. F1 has to do better to advertise its crown jewel race and regain the fans that it has lost.
This brings me on to a detail which not a lot of people talking about, but which I think highlights a problem with the Monaco GP. The trophy. It almost symbolises F1's attitude towards the GP. The Trophy given to recent Monaco GP winners is just the layout of the circuit. How boring is that? The Indy 500, the Lemans 24 and Daytona 500 trophies are massive sculptures of art while the Monaco GP trophy is small and fragile looking in comparison. F1 are treating the Monaco GP like just another race, while in other racing series, their crown jewel race is talked about for months and has so much hype leading up to the race. Monaco should not just be another "race". We should be excited to go to Monaco and think that it will just boring single file racing.
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Comments (20)
It’s an absolute pain to race on the F1 games, pile up at the hairpin on every lap haha.
The Monaco Grand Prix like F1 is boring dominated by the driver who wins the Pole. Monaco survives on the image. The track is dated. I wonder with all of the new regulations in regards to F1 tracks how they are allowed to race there. The race is boring. F1 is not about racing anymore. For the last 20 or more years F1 has been dominated by just 3 teams. The entire series is about the car not the drivers. This was proven when Russell took the wheel of Hamiltons car and was within a 100th of a second of Bottas without ever have driven the car in competition. Any number of drivers could have accomplished the same feat. The cars only go so fast and the fact the Bottas and Hamilton week in week out have almost identical times in qualifying again proves the car only go so fast. The drivers are along for the ride.
Or that shows how good Russel is.
No, F1 lost it.
The Monaco GP first ran in 1929 so it will soon be 100 years old.
I've watched five Monaco GPs, 2015-19 and all of them had pretty interesting stories (except 2017 but I'm happy anyway cos of the Kimi pole and the Ferrari 1-2). So I'd keep Monaco as it's still a challenge with the wide cars.
Agreed. Even if the GP its self if boring, it gives other racing series an opportunity to drive the circuit and possibly give us better show than the F1 race.