Monaco Grand Prix

The race is held on a narrow course laid out in the streets of Monaco , with many elevation changes and tight corners as well as the tunnel, making it one of the most demanding circuits in Formula One. In spite of the relatively low average speeds, the Monaco circuit is a dangerous place to race due to how narrow the track is, and the race often involves the intervention of the safety car .

The first Monaco Grand Prix took place on 14 April 1929, and the race eventually became part of the pre- Second World War European Championship and was included in the first World Championship of Drivers in 1950 . It was twice designated the European Grand Prix , in 1955 and 1963, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one Grand Prix race in Europe. Graham Hill was known as " Mr. Monaco " [ 6 ] due to his five Monaco wins in the 1960s. Ayrton Senna won the race more times...

Like many European races, the Monaco Grand Prix predates the current World Championship . The principality's first Grand Prix was organised in 1929 by Antony Noghès , under the auspices of Prince Louis II , through the Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM), of which he was president. [ 12 ] The ACM organised the Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo , and in 1928 applied to the Association Internationale des Automobiles Clubs Reconnus (AIACR), the international governing body of motorsport, to be upgraded fro...

To attain full national status, Noghès proposed the creation of an automobile Grand Prix in the streets of Monte Carlo . [ 14 ] He obtained the official sanction of Prince Louis II and the support of Monégasque Grand Prix driver Louis Chiron . Chiron thought Monaco's topography was well-suited to setting up a race track. [ 13 ]

The first race , held on 14 April 1929, was won by William Grover-Williams (using the pseudonym "Williams"), driving a works Bugatti Type 35B . [ 6 ] [ 15 ] It was an invitation-only event, but not all of those who were invited decided to attend. The leading Maserati and Alfa Romeo drivers decided not to compete, but Bugatti was well represented. Mercedes sent their leading driver, Rudolf Caracciola . Starting fifteenth, Caracciola drove a fighting race, taking his SSK into the lead before wasti...

Caracciola's SSK was refused permission to race the following year, [ 16 ] but Chiron did compete (in the works Bugatti Type 35C), when he was beaten by privateer René Dreyfus and his Bugatti Type 35B, and finished second. Chiron took victory in the 1931 race driving a Bugatti. He remained the only native of Monaco to have won the event until 2024. [ 17 ]

The race quickly grew in importance after its inception. Because of the high number of races which were being termed 'Grands Prix', the AIACR formally recognised the most important race of each of its affiliated national automobile clubs as International Grands Prix, or Grandes Épreuves , and in 1933 Monaco was ranked as such alongside the French , Belgian , Italian , and Spanish Grands Prix. [ 18 ] That year's race was the first Grand Prix in which grid positions were decided, as they are now, ...

The race became a round of the new European Championship in 1936, when stormy weather and a broken oil line led to a series of crashes, eliminating the Mercedes-Benzes of Chiron, Fagioli , and von Brauchitsch , as well as Bernd Rosemeyer 's Typ C for newcomer Auto Union ; Rudolf Caracciola , proving the truth of his nickname, Regenmeister (Rainmaster), went on to win. [ 20 ] In 1937, von Brauchitsch duelled Caracciola before coming out on top. [ 21 ] It was the last prewar Grand Prix at Monaco, ...

Racing in Europe started again on 9 September 1945 at the Bois de Boulogne Park in the city of Paris , four months and one day after the end of the war in Europe. [ 24 ] However, the Monaco Grand Prix was not run between 1945 and 1947 due to financial reasons. [ 25 ] In 1946, a new premier racing category, Grand Prix , was defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the successor of the AIACR, based on the pre-war voiturette class. A Monaco Grand Prix was run to this formula ...

The 1948 race also included a motorbike race.

The 1949 event was cancelled due to the death of Prince Louis II; [ 25 ] it was included in the new Formula One World Drivers' Championship the following year . The race provided future five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio with his first win in a World Championship race, as well as third place for the 51-year-old Louis Chiron, his best result in the World Championship era. However, there was no race in 1951 due to budgetary concerns and a lack of regulations in the sport. [ 28 ]

1952 was the first of the two years in which the World Drivers' Championship was run to less powerful Formula Two regulations. The race was run to sports car rules instead, and it did not form part of the World Championship. [ 6 ] [ 29 ]

No races were held in 1953 or 1954 due to the fact that the car regulations were not finalized. [ 28 ]

Britain's Graham Hill won the race five times in the 1960s and became known as "King of Monaco" [ 32 ] and "Mr. Monaco". He first won in 1963, and then won the next two years. [ 6 ] In the 1965 race , he took pole position and led from the start, but went up an escape road on lap 25 to avoid hitting a slow backmarker. Re-joining in fifth place, Hill set several new lap records on the way to winning. [ 33 ] The race was also notable for Jim Clark's absence (he was participating in the Indianapoli...

By the early 1970s, as Brabham team owner Bernie Ecclestone started to marshal the collective bargaining power of the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA), Monaco was prestigious enough to become an early bone of contention. Historically, the number of cars permitted in a race was decided by the race organiser, in this case the ACM, which had always set a low number of around 16. In 1972, Ecclestone started to negotiate deals which relied on FOCA guaranteeing at least 18 entrants for ever...

Because of its tight confines, slow average speeds, and punishing nature, Monaco has often thrown up unexpected results. In the 1982 race, René Arnoux led the first 15 laps before retiring. Alain Prost then led until four laps from the end, when he spun off on the wet track, hit the barriers and lost a wheel, giving Riccardo Patrese the lead. Patrese himself spun with only a lap and a half to go, letting Didier Pironi through to the front, followed by Andrea de Cesaris . On the last lap, Pironi ...

In 1983, the ACM became entangled in the disagreements between Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) and FOCA. The ACM, with the agreement of Bernie Ecclestone, negotiated an individual television rights deal with ABC in the United States . This broke an agreement enforced by FISA for a single central negotiation of television rights. Jean-Marie Balestre , president of FISA, announced that the Monaco Grand Prix would not form part of the Formula One world championship in 1985. The...

In 1986, the Nouvelle Chicane was added by expanding into the nearby water to make the track wider. [ 39 ]

Era of Prost & Senna dominance

The 1994 race was an emotional and tragic affair. It came two weeks after the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in which Austrian Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna both died in crashes on successive days. During the Monaco event, Austrian Karl Wendlinger had an accident in his Sauber in the tunnel; he went into a coma and was to miss the rest of the season. The German Michael Schumacher won the 1994 Monaco event . [ 52 ] Schumacher also won the 1995 event. The 1996 race saw Michael Schumacher ta...

In 2004, land reclamation work was completed, allowing expansion of the pit area with larger temporary garages. [ 54 ] A temporary 6,000 seat grandstand would also constructed in the Swimming Pool area. [ 54 ]

Seven-time world champion Schumacher would eventually win the race five times, matching Graham Hill's record. In his appearance at the 2006 event , he attracted criticism when, while provisionally holding pole position and with the qualifying session drawing to a close, he stopped his car at the Rascasse hairpin, blocking the track and obliging competitors to slow down. [ 55 ] Although Schumacher claimed it was the unintentional result of a genuine car failure, the FIA disagreed and he was sent ...

In July 2010, Bernie Ecclestone announced that a 10-year deal had been reached with the race organisers, keeping the race on the calendar until at least 2020. [ 57 ]

In 2025, the fastest yet qualifying lap was set by Lando Norris in qualifying (Q3) for the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix , at a time of 1:09.954. [ 58 ]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the FIA announced the 2020 Monaco Grand Prix's postponement, along with the two other races scheduled for May 2020, to help prevent the spread of the virus. [ 59 ] However, later the same day the Automobile Club de Monaco confirmed that the Grand Prix was instead cancelled, making 2020 the first time the Grand Prix was not run since 1954. [ 60 ] The race returned in 2021. [ 61 ]

The 2022 event saw the Monégasque driver, Charles Leclerc of Scuderia Ferrari , achieve his first Monaco Grand Prix pole position at the Circuit de Monaco (he had taken pole the previous year but could not start due to driveshaft failure). [ 62 ] [ 63 ] However, a critical strategical error meant Leclerc would drop to fourth, with Sergio Pérez winning the race. [ 64 ] [ 65 ]

In 2024, Charles Leclerc became the second Monégasque to win the race following Louis Chiron's win in 1931. [ 66 ] The race was the first time the top 10 cars finished in their starting order, and there were no successful overtakes. [ 66 ] [ 67 ]

In November 2024, the ACM signed a new race contract to remain on the F1 calendar until the 2031 season, extending their previous agreement which was set to expire in 2025. [ 68 ] As part of this deal, the ACM relinquished advertising rights and television coverage to Formula One Management , with previous races having their television coverage produced by Tele Monte Carlo . [ 69 ] [ 70 ] From 2026, the race will be held on the first weekend of June, and will therefore no longer clash with the I...

The fastest-ever qualifying lap was set by Lando Norris in qualifying (Q3) for the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix , at a time of 1:09.954. [ 58 ]

The Monaco Grand Prix is organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco which also runs the Monte Carlo Rally and previously ran the Junior Monaco Kart Cup . [ 92 ]

The Monaco Grand Prix differs in several ways from other Grands Prix. The practice session for the race was traditionally held on the Thursday preceding the race instead of Friday. [ 93 ] This allows the streets to be opened to the public again on Friday. From the 2022 event onwards the first two Formula One practice sessions were held on Friday, bringing the running schedule for Formula One in line with other Grands Prix. [ 94 ] Support races is run on Thursday. [ 95 ] Until the late 1990s the ...

For many years, the numbers of cars admitted to Grands Prix was at the discretion of the race organisers – Monaco had the smallest grids, ostensibly because of its narrow and twisting track. [ 96 ] Only 18 cars were permitted to start the 1975 Monaco Grand Prix , compared to 23 to 26 cars at all other rounds that year. [ 97 ]

The Monaco Grand Prix is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the world alongside the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans . [ 76 ] [ 101 ] These three races are considered to form a Triple Crown of the three most famous motor races in the world. As of 2025, Graham Hill is the only driver to have won the Triple Crown, by winning all three races. The practice session for Monaco overlaps with that for the Indianapolis 500, and the races them...

In awarding its first gold medal for motorsport to Prince Rainier III , the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) characterised the Monaco Grand Prix as contributing "an exceptional location of glamour and prestige" to motorsport. [ 9 ] The Grand Prix has been run under the patronage of three generations of Monaco 's royal family: Louis II , Rainier III and Albert II , all of whom have taken a close interest in the race. A large part of the principality's income comes from tourists att...

The Grand Prix attracts big-name celebrities each year who come to experience the glamour and prestige of the event. Big parties are held in the nightclubs on the Grand Prix weekend, and the Port Hercule fills up with party-goers joining in the celebrations. [ 109 ]

* Between 1998 and 2005 built by Ilmor , funded by Mercedes

** Built by Cosworth , funded by Ford

*** Built by Porsche