The Monaco Grand Prix. The most prestigious, opulent, extravagant, and frankly ridiculous racing weekend of the entire Formula 1 calendar – around 3.337 kilometres of armco and ancient stone, with twenty-two drivers racing within the gilded shadows of luxury hotels and casinos.
Super yachts worth hundreds of millions of dollars line Port Hercule – some charging upwards of $200,000 a night – housing the teams, drivers and their families throughout the three-day event.
Partner brands have flown in their local teams and media for it, throwing once-in-a-lifetime parties through some of the Principality’s most exclusive addresses, reminiscent of some secret mission of some lost Bond title, rather than a sporting event.
And some people are brazen enough to question whether it still has a place on the calendar. Monaco is Formula 1, and the entire industry would be worse off without it.
In the modern era, the driving isn’t the best. Sorry, let me rephrase that. The racing isn’t the best. Six out of the last 10 winners started from pole position. The last three Monaco GPs in a row (2023, 2024, 2025) have all been won from pole.
Narrow streets, tight corners, and limited overtaking opportunities for the larger cars of the modern era mean that whichever driver occupies the early positions after qualifying will likely finish in a similar spot when the chequered flag falls.
For many, the biggest challenge in Monaco is keeping your cool and bringing the car home. Which is easier said than done through a track that many feel features some of the most difficult driving anywhere in Formula 1.
Throughout history, the streets of Monte Carlo have produced much more than processional races, giving us impossible overtakes, catastrophic crashes, inexplicable miracles, otherworldly performances, moments of pure chaos, and celebrations that have now become part of Formula 1 folklore.
So, without wasting any more time. Let’s get into this, shall we? The best moments in Monaco Grand Prix history. Well, the light’s not going to get any greener.
Senna's Qualifying Lap From Another Dimension (1988)
Often lauded as the greatest qualifying lap in the history of Formula 1, Ayrton Senna got behind the wheel of his McLaren at the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix and produced something that has never been fully explained. And frankly, nothing encapsulates Monaco more completely.
He was already on pole by half a second. Then a full second. Then nearly two. Senna’s teammate Alain Prost – a two-time world champion in an identical car – watched the telemetry and, according to McLaren engineer Neil Oatley, "a kind of ghostly look came over Alain's face; he just couldn't understand how or where Ayrton's time had come from."
Senna had qualified 1.427 seconds faster than one of the greatest drivers in Formula 1 history, in an identical car. In the modern era, a tenth of a second often separates the front row.
According to former Team Principal Jo Ramírez, Senna’s lap was “a religious experience.” That, somehow, the Brazilian would have been able to complete the lap blindfolded.
“That day, I suddenly realised that I was no longer driving conscious,” Senna revealed.
“And I was in a different dimension. The circuit for me was a tunnel, which I was just going, going, going. And I realised I was well beyond my conscious understanding…”
The following day, Senna was clear of the field and utterly dominant before he clipped the barrier at Portier and crashed out of the race.
Prost secured his 30th Formula 1 win, including his 4th and final in Monaco. Senna reportedly went straight to his Monaco apartment, and McLaren did not hear from him until that evening.
2. The Monaco Rain That Announced Ayrton Senna to the World (1984)
Years before, on only his 6th Formula 1 start, a 24-year-old Ayrton Senna climbed from 13th on the grid in a Toleman-Hart, in the pouring Monaco rain, and began, for the first time, hunting down Alain Prost from midfield.
One by one, Senna, surging from 13th, claimed the places of the sport’s greatest names – Niki Lauda, Nigel Mansell, Michele Alboreto – before setting his sights on the race leader in the far superior McLaren-TAG.
As the rain relentlessly fell, Senna was on the hunt, narrowing the gap on Prost at an average of 3.7 seconds per lap, through Laps 27 and 31.
The conditions worsened, and Prost was battling “major brake imbalance” as his carbon brakes couldn’t generate enough heat.
By Lap 29, the Frenchman had signalled to the stewards to stop the race. And on Lap 31, race director Jacky Ickx waved the red flag – even though Senna managed to pass Prost in his failing McLaren before the end of the lap, the results reverted to the previous lap, and Senna placed second.
It remains one of the most contentious finishes in Formula 1 history, but will always be remembered as the first bout between these enduring rivals. And the moment Formula 1 discovered its future superstar.
3. Senna vs. Mansell: Seven Laps at Monaco (1992)
Nigel Mansell arrived at Monaco in 1992 having won the first five races of the season, driving a Williams that was so dominant that he was already leading the Drivers’ Championship by 26 points.
He was fastest in the first Practice sessions, qualified on pole, and led for most of the race – comfortable, unhurried – and looked like he was about to claim his first win in Monaco. A bucket list moment for any Formula 1 driver.
That was, of course, until a wheel nut came loose on Lap 71, forcing Mansell into an unplanned pit stop.
On fresh tyres (and in the fastest car in the world), Mansell closed a seven-second gap to 5 seconds, to nose-to-tail, within just four laps. Mansell lunged, feinted, tried the outside at Mirabeau, the inside at the swimming pool, every line Monaco offered. Senna simply read every move and shut the door.
The chequered flag fell with 0.2 seconds between them. It’s largely considered the greatest defensive drive in Formula 1 history.
"If I'm really honest about it,” Mansell later revealed. “I should have nudged him up the back."
4. Fangio Reads the Crowd… and Saves His Life
On the opening lap at Tabac corner, at the second-ever Formula 1 world championship race, a freak wave from the Monaco harbour swept seawater across the track, sending Nino Farina and his Alfa Romeo into the path of the rest of the chasing pack.
Within seconds, nine of the 19 starters had been eliminated in a chain-reaction pile-up stretching across the circuit. But Juan Manuel Fangio, running in second, managed to brake early and survive the crash through a remarkable piece of observation.
On the second lap, as he exited the chicane before Tabac, he noticed something strange about the grandstand ahead. Instead of the usual blur of faces, he was seeing the backs of spectators' heads. The crowd wasn't watching the race leader. They were looking at something else.
The day before the race, he had seen a photograph of a similar Monaco crash from 1936, and Fangio instantly realised there had been an accident around the blind corner ahead.
He braked hard, stopped just short of the wreckage, picked his way through the chaos, and drove on. He would go on to win by a lap, claiming the first World Championship victory of his F1 career.
5. Ricciardo's Dive Into the Pool: 10 Out Of 10
After winning Monaco 2018 against all odds and with half a power unit, Australia’s favourite son Daniel Ricciardo was surrounded by a scrum of cameras, team members, journalists, and generally anyone who wanted to catch a glimpse of the race winner, unknowingly about to witness one of the defining images of the Aussie’s entire F1 career.
He worked his way through the crowd to the edge of the paddock swimming pool, paused, composed himself, and executed the most technically perfect swallow dive anyone had seen at a Formula 1 event.
Ricciardo was, of course, then followed immediately by half of his Red Bull team, several journalists, and at least one camera operator who appeared to forget they were holding equipment worth more than most people's cars. That goes straight to the pool room.
6. Schumacher Parks It at Rascasse (2006)
People forget that much of Michael Schumacher’s legacy in Formula 1 was his reputation as the ultimate opportunist. He was the fastest driver on the grid, of course. But he was also a master at operating in the grey areas of the sport – and it (often) got him into trouble with race officials.
In 2006, Michael Schumacher held provisional pole in the dying seconds of Q3. Fernando Alonso was behind him, on a flying lap that everyone – including Schumacher's own teammates, according to later testimony – could see was faster.
Then, at Rascasse, the final hairpin, Schumacher appeared to lock a front wheel, slid slightly wide, and stopped, parking sideways across the racing line, compromising Alonso’s final qualifying time.
“No, I didn't cheat, and I think it is pretty tough to be asked if I did,” Schumacher said afterwards. Though after checking the telemetry data, the stewards didn’t agree. Schumacher was sent to the back of the grid, and Alonso won comfortably.
His Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa later confirmed in a Sky Sports documentary that the team had discussed the tactic in a pre-qualifying meeting. Keep it clean, lads.
7. Charles Leclerc’s First Monaco Grand Prix Win (2024)
In 2021, Ferrari’s Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc qualified on pole for the Monaco Grand Prix in front of his entire hometown and looked set to claim his first Formula 1 win at home.
On his final qualifying run, however, disaster struck – he clipped the barrier at Portier and damaged his left driveshaft. The car was fixed and returned to the starting grid for the formation lap, but only just. On the formation lap, the driveshaft finally failed, and Charles Leclerc was forced to retire before the race had even begun.
It was heartbreak for Monaco’s local hero, who, long before Ferrari and Formula 1, would watch the race from balconies overlooking the circuit and imagine himself behind the wheel.
In 2017, a year before Leclerc’s Ferrari seat was secured, his father Hervé lay seriously ill, and he told him a white lie: that the deal was done. That he had made it. Hervé died believing his son was about to become a Formula 1 driver.
Seven years later, Leclerc returned to the same circuit, took pole again, lap after lap, around the streets where he grew up. As the closing stages ticked down, his race engineer repeatedly reminded him to stay focused. Leclerc's replies became shorter and quieter. He later admitted he was thinking about his father.
When the chequered flag finally fell, confirming Charles Leclerc as a Monaco Grand Prix winner, it was unlike anything seen in recent Formula 1 memory. For once, Monaco had given one of its own a happy ending.
8. Jaguar Glued a $300,000 Diamond to a Racing Car, and It Disappeared
By now you’ve heard the story of the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix and the missing diamond. No? Strap in.
To promote the release of Ocean's Twelve, a film about stealing valuable jewels, Jaguar Racing and Warner Bros. reached what must have sounded like a brilliant marketing idea at the time. They would attach two real diamonds, each worth approximately US$300,000 and completely uninsured, to the nose cones of their Formula 1 cars and send them racing around Monaco's narrow streets at nearly 300 km/h.
Now, I have no idea who signed off on this. I’d imagine there was a PowerPoint presentation and a room full of people slapping each other on the back after a job well done.
On the opening lap, Jaguar driver Christian Klien became involved in an accident at Loews Hairpin, and the front of the car was destroyed – obviously. When the wreckage was recovered and inspected, one of the diamonds was gone. More than two decades later, nobody knows where it ended up.
Of course, Jaguar's PR department later pointed out that the stunt had generated enormous publicity. And to be fair, here we are rehashing it once more in 2026. But whether the missing diamond featured in any end-of-year performance reviews has never been disclosed. I’ve still never seen the movie.
9. The Night Chewbacca Danced at an F1 After-Party While George Lucas Watched
Now we’re really getting into the business end of the list; it’s not entirely implausible to imagine the ludicrousness of this evening quite like the title suggests. But, yes. During the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix, Chewbacca was spotted dancing at an official after-party, while the man who invented Star Wars watched from the corner.
Red Bull had entered a sponsorship arrangement with Lucasfilm to promote Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. For those taking notes, the best Star Wars ever released. DMs are not open on that one.
During the race weekend, the F1 cars ran a special livery, the pit crew wore Stormtrooper helmets during pit stops, and at the official Grand Prix after-party – attended by film creator George Lucas and actor Hayden Christensen – someone decided to put Chewbacca on the dance floor of the Amber Lounge.
Founded two years earlier by Sonia Irvine (sister of former Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine), it had by 2005 already become the defining social event of the Monaco weekend. Guest lists through a Formula 1 weekend would include Bono, Heidi Klum, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Prince Albert II of Monaco, and most of the Formula 1 grid. And now, apparently, a bear-dog companion from a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
10. The 2000 Monaco Grand Prix 100m Sprint
I’m not sure how we’ve let this list descend into further absurdity, starting with the greatest drives in Formula 1 history and ending up with Chewbacca cutting shapes overlooking Port Hercule and a literal footrace to decide a Formula 1 winner, but here we are.
On the opening lap of the 2000 Monaco Grand Prix, a collision between Pedro de la Rosa and Jenson Button at the Loews Hairpin triggered a cascading traffic jam that you could really only ever imagine through the streets of Monaco, with several cars piled up behind them and blocking the narrow confines of the track.
The action was red-flagged before most spectators had finished their first sip of champagne, but the race wasn’t over. At the time, regulations allowed teams to field spare cars if a race was stopped – if the drivers could reach them within 10 minutes of the flag.
So the drivers simply started running. And the commentators, sensing they were about to witness greatness, immediately began calling the action like the closing laps of the Grand Prix. For half a lap or so, the Monaco Grand Prix became a cross-country event – its competitors in full race suits and helmets, sprinting to the pits.
Sauber's Pedro Diniz reached the pits first and earned the right to restart from the grid rather than the pit lane, before crashing out of the actual race at Sainte Devote on Lap 31. Only Monaco.
Notable Mention: Kimi Goes Yachting
During the 2006 race while running in second place, Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren gave up, and he was forced to ditch the car in a smoking mess.
Now most drivers would've begrudgingly trudged back to the pits to watch the rest of the race with their team... but not Kimi. Instead, he headed straight to the Port Hercule, jumped on his yacht, took his top off, and enjoyed a few drinks with his pals for the remainder of the afternoon.
