Here's why you NEED to come to Monaco

You’ll be in the backyard of F1

Something of an obvious thing to say of one of the most iconic circuits in the sport but is it not a valid reason? Many an F1 driver hangs his hat in the principality including Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Why? Well, other than it being a tax haven, for one weekend of the year at some time or another, the city they made their home also became/becomes their place of work. We don’t need to tell you that the Monaco Grand Prix is one of the most iconic race meetings in all of motorsport. Victory here is a jewel in the Triple Crown of motorsport (along with Le Mans and the Indy 500). It’s probably the popular cultural backbone of Formula 1, with one informing the understanding of the other for those not so explicitly interested or in the know – that’s probably why it remains on the calendar, given it’s somewhat antiquated and out of regs... 

It’s the real-world equivalent of Eldorado or Atlantis… but for racing!

Nations and cities born out of myth and legend each have their treasures. Monaco’s treasure is motorsport, and is the embodiment of the lifestyle in top-level motor racing. It’s a country as much as it is a city, occupying a secluded corner of the southern-French coast with national lines all around separating it from France, and comes complete with its own laws and its own head of state. It’s a real country down to the question of whether your roaming charges will sky-rocket as you enter… The exclusivity of this place – the mythos surrounding it and those for whom it best serves – affords it status as somewhere slightly not of this world. While costs for staying within its borders may well be sky-high, a few nights in a hotel in nearby Menton (France) are by no means out of reach. Stay a week, come watch some racing. If not for the Monaco GP itself, the Historic! We can think of a good few reasons the latter should be your visit of choice.

Watch some racing, take a dip…

Due to its compactness and proximity to the ocean, you can probably go from being mere feet from historic F1 machinery ripping up the streets to shoulder-deep in the Med’ in the space of half an hour and no, you won’t require a taxi to achieve that. We’re damn tempted to test the theory come the end of play today… The Historic would feel as much like a holiday as it does a race meeting, if not for the need to get some work done…

To be and drive where racing history was made

It’s the oldest and by far the most significant street circuit on the calendar and it’s the only one that you can trundle down the shops on the same routes that greats from Chiron, to Fangio, to Hill, to Senna, to Schumacher to Hamilton battled in their pursuit of immortality in the history of motorsport.

Oh, and to watch some racing! We needn’t say more than that, really. It’s just the place to be. Where F1 is at its most glamorous and where the world is very nearly at its most beautiful.

Photography by Tom Shaxson