Nobody in Formula 1 has marked next Sunday as the best race of the season. Everyone knows what to expect in Monaco. Unless it rains or some other chaos occurs, the race will be run as an overtaking-free procession from start to finish. Overtaking might be difficult on many other tracks, but with modern wide F1 cars it is virtually impossible in the narrow principality.
This means that criticism of Monaco increases year after year. Year after year, the drivers are asked questions about this. In 2024, they are moving to a passionate defense of the street race that has been held since 1929. “I don’t know what people want, isn’t it like it was 10 or 15 years ago?” Lando Norris is frustrated by the critics. “Back then, there were hardly any overtaking maneuvers, today there are hardly any. That hasn’t changed.”
“People have to live with it,” says Norris. “It’s just that they are more impatient and stubborn these days, and things like that frustrate them. But it’s still the same, it’s Monaco, and it will always be so special.” Monaco, the Formula 1 drivers concluded on Thursday before the big race, is simply so much more than just a simple car race.
Qualifying in Monaco: Formula 1 in its purest form
From a driving perspective, there is first of all the challenge. This culminates on Saturday in the best qualifying of the year. “The feeling of driving here, of pushing a car to the limit, is so incredibly scary and wonderful and crazy and intense,” says Daniel Ricciardo, a two-time Monaco pole setter. “It’s one of the best experiences in life, you know? It’s hard to find a feeling like that anywhere else.”
“I also really respect the track,” says Nico Hülkenberg. “I know it’s one of the ultimate challenges to do a great qualifying here and complete all the laps.” The qualifying on Saturday is also a spectacle for the spectators. Nobody has forgotten the duel for pole last year between Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso. One that Verstappen won with a crazy last sector, even touching the wall.
“When he crossed the line after hitting the wall three times or so in the last sector, he probably thought: ‘Yeah, nobody else was prepared to hit the wall three times. I deserve the pole lap’,” Ricciardo says, putting himself in the shoes of his former teammate. No other track shows the limit so clearly. Elsewhere you end up in the grass, in the gravel, or do a lap on the asphalt. But in Monaco you can judge drivers by how close they get to the wall.
Getting to that limit over three 60-minute practice sessions is more difficult than anything else on the calendar. The track builds up grip incredibly quickly, it’s almost impossible to predict, and in combination with bumps and the narrowness, it has a very special appeal, explains Fernando Alonso: “You guess what the car and the track will do. And qualifying is practically the only qualifying session of the season where you drive through the corners at a speed you’ve never seen before.”
Glamour event Monaco must remain in Formula 1
“Full guessing game, full commitment,” says Alonso. “The adrenaline is very high. All the sponsors come here. All the VIPs, they want to come here. As I said, until Sunday it’s the best weekend of the year.” A price that the driver field is willing to pay.
The glamour factor is also not to be underestimated. “Arriving on the boat and seeing everything here – I’ve done that several times and it’s not a feeling I can ever get enough of,” said Daniel Ricciardo. “Would I like a Sunday that was a bit different or cooler? Sure, in terms of racing. But in terms of the weekend and the atmosphere and what it does to us drivers, I don’t think there will ever be anything that compares. I’m glad it’s still here.”