Circuit de Monaco

Overview

The Circuit de Monaco is a street circuit laid out on the public roads of the Principality of Monaco, running through the districts of Monte Carlo and La Condamine around the harbour. It is often called Monte Carlo, since most of the lap lies in that district. The Automobile Club de Monaco organises the Monaco Grand Prix there, a round of the Formula One World Championship and one of the three races that make up the Triple Crown of Motorsport, together with the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The same streets host the Monaco ePrix of Formula E, the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco and support races for Formula 2, Formula 3 and the Porsche Supercup.

Technical Specifications and Track Features

The Grand Prix layout measures 3,337 m with 19 corners. The road is narrow and lined with barriers, and one section stands 44 m above the lowest point of the lap, with gradients of about 12%. From Sainte-Dévote the track climbs past Massenet into Casino Square, then drops through Mirabeau to the hairpin beside the Fairmont hotel, the slowest corner in Formula One at around 48 km/h. Portier leads into the tunnel under the hotel, where a flat-out kink is among the fastest points of the lap and the sudden change of light tests the drivers just before braking for the Nouvelle Chicane on the harbour front, the main overtaking place. Tabac, the swimming pool complex, La Rascasse and the Antony Noghès corner bring the lap back to the start. Average speeds are low, overtaking is rare, and the tight barriers make the safety car a frequent feature of the races.

Facilities and Specialized Areas

Because the circuit uses public roads, it has to be built for every event: assembly takes about six weeks and dismantling about three. Temporary grandstands are put up around the harbour each year, and since 1998 the paddock has been enclosed by shatterproof fences. Between 2002 and 2004 land was reclaimed from the harbour to widen the pit lane and to build larger pit garages in two-storey semi-permanent buildings. Monaco is the only Formula One venue where the garages, rather than a wall, separate the pit lane from the track.

History

The race was conceived by Antony Noghès of the Automobile Club de Monaco. In 1928 the club was refused full national status by the international governing body because Monaco held no major event entirely within its borders, the Monte Carlo Rally using roads in other countries, and a Grand Prix through the town was the answer. William Grover-Williams won the first race on 14 April 1929 in a Bugatti. Monaco was part of the first World Championship in 1950, won by Juan Manuel Fangio, and in 1955 Alberto Ascari crashed into the harbour. The layout has changed many times: in 1973 a new section linked Tabac with the swimming pool and the tunnel was lengthened, the harbour chicane became the slower Nouvelle Chicane in 1986, the pool section was reshaped in 1997 and 2003, and Tabac was re-profiled in 2015. Graham Hill won the Grand Prix five times in the 1960s, and Ayrton Senna won it six times, five in a row from 1989 to 1993. Formula E first raced in the principality in 2015.