Monaco GP track breakdown: The twists, history and challenge (2024)

The Monaco Grand Prix is the epitome of Formula One.

The principality is known as a playground and a haven, attracting tourists and the rich and famous. It may be the world’s second smallest independent state (at 0.76 square miles, barely half the size of New York’s Central Park), but it’s packed with casinos, designer malls and clubs. Each year, when the grand prix rolls around, the harbor fills with yachts as fans prepare for the thrill on track and champagne moments afterward on the podium.

Monaco’s street track was part of the calendar for F1’s inaugural season in 1950, and it’s kept that place every year since 1955, except for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

The iconic circuit is narrow, requiring pinpoint accuracy because even being a millimeter off can be a costly error as the drivers navigate around famous buildings, a tight hairpin, and past a slew of yachts. Early races saw the occasional car end up in the harbor; now, fans see costly shunts into the barriers. Overtaking is incredibly difficult (the 2003 race saw zero on-track overtakes), and strategy is critical. Nelson Piquet once said driving in Monaco is “like riding a bicycle around your living room.”

As the 2024 edition of the Monaco Grand Prix kicks off, here’s all you need to know about one of the jewels in F1’s crown.

Something of a squeeze

Though they’ve fluctuated over time, Formula One cars have gotten longer, wider and heavier as the machinery continues to advance, particularly in recent years.

The cars’ width increased from approximately 5.9 feet in 2017 to a maximum of 2000mm (6.56 feet) last season. This is around two meters, not counting the tires, which have also widened.

When it comes to tight tracks like Monaco, where the circuit’s space is dictated by its surroundings, the width can present unique challenges as drivers figure out how to navigate areas like the Turn 6 hairpin.

Points of interest (with a history lesson)

The Monaco GP is part of motorsport’s Triple Crown (along with the Indianapolis 500 and 24 Hours of Le Mans) for a reason. It’s 78 laps of pure adrenaline as drivers tackle the 19 turns in the heart of the principality, zipping past the iconic Monte-Carlo Casino, the yacht-filled harbor and more.

Turn 1: Sainte Dévote

The track’s opening turn is a right-hander with a small chapel just beyond the barriers on the left. Expect to see lockups happen here, and cars go straight into the run-off. It’s one of the few places you could see a shuffle in the grid during the opening lap, depending on who gets a better start.

The Sainte Dévote Chapel dates to the 11th century and is dedicated to the patron saint of Monaco.

Turn 3: Massenet

The cars are at the top of the hill as they enter the tight, quick left-hand turn, one of the highest points of the circuit. This portion of the track runs in front of the opera house, named after French opera composer Jules Massenet.

Turn 4: Casino Square

This is one of the most iconic and recognizable corners on the circuit that even non-motorsports fans may know — the 1995 James Bond film “Golden Eye” includes scenes filmed in the Monte-Carlo Casino. The right-hander takes drivers past the front of the establishment.

Another off-track fun fact: Gambling is illegal for Monaco residents. According to the BBC, Princess Caroline felt the revenue shouldn’t come from Monégasques instead from foreigners. Monaco citizens still get a good deal: They don’t pay income taxes.

Turn 6: The Hairpin

This turn has had a couple of names over the years, including “Loews Hairpin” or the “Fairmont Hairpin,” the latter of which is the name of a famous hotel just outside the corner. Sandwiched between a pair of right-handers, it’s one of the slowest turns on F1’s calendar (think average car speed on a residential road type slow), and if the driver does not hit it correctly, they could turn the track into the normal street with a traffic jam.

Turn 8: Portier

It’s well recommended that drivers take the right-hander rather than heading off into the sea as the 20 cars barrel towards the tunnel. This corner is named after a nearby neighborhood, Le Portier.

There have been a few infamous crashes here, such as in 1988 when Ayrton Senna’s wreck led to his rival (and teammate) Alain Prost winning. Senna went straight to his Monaco apartment afterward and didn’t contact the team until later that evening. In 2017, Jenson Button and Pascal Wehrlein were involved in a nasty-looking collision. Button was competing for McLaren in a one-off appearance and tried to make a move on the inside of Wehrlein’s Sauber. The gap closed, and Wehrlein’s car ended up sideways. Wehrlein later said, per Sky Sports, that his head touched the barrier.

Then there’s the more recent moment that caused a stir during the 2022 season when Sergio Pérez lost the rear of his car during qualifying and crashed backward into the barrier at Portier.

Turns 10 and 11: Nouvelle Chicane

After going through the tunnel, drivers are met with a prime overtaking opportunity in front of the yachts. The chicane was reprofiled in the 1980s, changing the name from Chicane du Port to Nouvelle Chicane (which means new in French).

Turn 12: Tabac

A tobacco shop nestled outside the track gave this lefthander its name. During the 1950 grand prix, a wave crashed into this corner, causing a major pile up that eliminated a chunk of the grid.

Turns 13-16: The Swimming Pool section

This technical complex requires drivers to tackle two chicanes—the left-to-right Louis Chiron (named after a former Monégasque F1 driver) and a right-to-left sequence that takes them out of the swimming pool section. This latter sequence, Piscine, is a slower portion, as history has seen drivers clip part of the wall on Turn 15, which could break the suspension and/or send drivers flying into the barriers outside Turn 16.

Mick Schumacher crashed in this section during the 2022 race, splitting his car into two when he hit the barriers.

Rascasse

This reasonably narrow corner is named after a restaurant of the same name (which itself shares a name with the scorpionfish that’s an ingredient in bouillabaisse). The right-hander’s arguably most famous moment came during 2006 qualifying when Michael Schumacher caused a scandal of sorts. The stewards determined the Ferrari driver purposefully parked his car at Rascasse to prevent competitors from improving their times and sent him to the back of the grid for race day.

Virage Antony Noghes

Finally, we come to the portion named after the Monaco Grand Prix’s founder. It’s the rare point on the track where two cars can go side-by-side — and have before. In 2010, Michael Schumacher passed Fernando Alonso into this portion right as the safety car was leaving the track (and was subsequently dealt a penalty).

Drivers defend Monaco

Though it may sound dramatic, getting through Monaco is a matter of survival. In a tweet last year, Mika Häkkinen, who won the F1 world championship in 1998 and 1999 and the Monaco Grand Prix in 1998, acknowledged fans may feel the race is “too predictable” because of the overtaking difficulty. But he argued it’s still a noteworthy grand prix: “For me, it’s the challenge between the driver and the circuit, still unique in #F1.”

The current F1 drivers agree. “You need to really nail all of qualifying to get a lap together there, get the tires to work as well when it matters, it’s always very tricky,” Max Verstappen said. “Monaco is very special, I would say, in that sense.”

Lando Norris agreed. “It’s a track where you want a good car, but you also just need to commit to everything,” he said. “It’s such a fast circuit. It’s not like you kind of just turn the wheel slowly. You have to commit. You have to judge how close you’re going to get to the apexes and that kind of thing. So there’s a big element of risk. And when that comes into play, it kind of spreads out things a little bit, too.”

Charles Leclerc — a Monaco native who remembers watching Ferrari’s red car zipping past from his friend’s balcony growing up — detailed a particular approach to his home race. “Monaco is so specific that we need to start a little bit from a blank page. And yeah, free practice is super, super important to build the pace little by little. But I’m confident we’ll be strong. And as I’ve said many times, obviously, it’s the same roads that I took by bus to go to school when I was younger. Now it’s in a Formula One car. So that makes it extra special for me. So I’m really looking forward to it. To be in Monaco, a very special track I think for every driver because it’s a very challenging track and extra special for me, as it’s my home race.”

Monaco balances risk versus reward — just how far do you push?

“Most often, it’s just sheer luck,” Lewis Hamilton said last year. “Throw it into the corner and come out with your eyes open. And hopefully you’ve made it round.”

(This is an updated version of a story originally published in May 2023.)

(Track video courtesy of EA Sports F1 — learn more about “F1 24″ here.)

(Lead image: Mark Thompson, Darren Health/Getty Images; Design: Drew Jordan)