Antony Noghès’s idea
It all began with a refusal. In 1928, Antony Noghès went to Paris to apply for the Automobile Club de Monaco to join the international governing body of the time. He was told that the club’s events took place outside Monaco’s territory. His answer was bold: race cars through the streets of the Principality itself.
There were cobblestones, tramway rails between La Condamine and the Casino, and even a step to cross on the harbour. The Monegasque driver Louis Chiron backed the idea, and Prince Louis II gave his support.
On 14 April 1929, 16 drivers started from a grid drawn by lot. The British driver William Grover-Williams, known as "Williams", won in a privately entered Bugatti 35B, after 100 laps of a 3.180 km circuit, at an average of about 80 km/h. A statue now shows him at the wheel of his Bugatti, near the Sainte-Dévote corner.
- 1925 The Automobile Club de Monaco is bornOn 29 March 1925, the sports club chaired by Alexandre Noghès takes the name Automobile Club de Monaco. This club, driven by his son Antony, would organise the first Grand Prix four years later, and it still organises the race today.
- 1929 First Grand PrixOn 14 April 1929, William Grover-Williams wins in a Bugatti ahead of Bouriano and Rudolf Caracciola. The competitors learn a lesson: this twisting layout calls for short, very nimble cars far more than raw power.
- 1950 Joining the World ChampionshipOn 21 May 1950, Monaco hosts the second round of the very first Formula One World Championship, after Silverstone. Juan Manuel Fangio wins in an Alfa Romeo. The race only returns to the calendar for good from 1955.
- 1955 Ascari in the harbourDuring the race, Alberto Ascari misses the harbour chicane and his Lancia plunges into the water. He is pulled out unharmed. Only 2 drivers have ended up in Monaco’s harbour, and this is the more famous of the two.
- 1973 The Swimming Pool and La RascasseA new section links Tabac to the nautical stadium, goes around the swimming pool and ends in a hairpin around La Rascasse restaurant. The lap grows to 3,278 m and the race drops from 80 to 78 laps, still the number today.
- 1986 The Nouvelle ChicaneWidening the quay at the tunnel exit makes it possible to redesign the harbour chicane, considered too dangerous. It becomes slower, with 2 right-angle turns, and is renamed the Nouvelle Chicane. It is now one of the few places where overtaking can be attempted.
- 1993 Ayrton Senna’s recordAyrton Senna takes his sixth win in Monaco, including 5 in a row from 1989 to 1993, beating Graham Hill’s record of 5 wins. No one has done better on this circuit since.
- 2015 Today’s layoutThe Tabac corner is slightly reshaped, shortening the lap by 3 metres. Since then the circuit has measured 3.337 km. Setting it up takes about 6 weeks, and taking it down another 3 weeks after the race.
- 2024 A Monegasque victoryCharles Leclerc becomes the first Monegasque to win the Monaco Grand Prix as a World Championship event. Before him, Louis Chiron had won the 1931 race, which was not part of a championship.
One lap of the circuit
After the start line on Boulevard Albert Ier, the cars dive into the right-hander at Sainte-Dévote, below the small church of the same name. They then attack the Beau Rivage climb along Avenue d’Ostende, where the gradient reaches about 12%.
After the long left-hand curve of Massenet comes Casino Square, 44 metres above the lowest point of the circuit. The track drops down to Mirabeau, then to the Fairmont hairpin, the slowest corner in Formula One, taken at about 48 km/h. Teams even adapt their cars’ steering to get round it.
Next come Lower Mirabeau and Portier, then the tunnel. On the way out the cars take a flat-out kink at about 260 km/h, before braking hard for the Nouvelle Chicane. Then come Tabac, the two Swimming Pool chicanes, La Rascasse and the Anthony Noghès corner, which leads back to the pit straight.
During the race weekend these pavements are closed to the public. For the rest of the year you can follow much of the layout on foot, staying on the pavements: traffic runs as normal.
- Lap length
- 3.337 km
- Number of laps
- 78
- Race distance
- 260.286 km
- Corners
- 19
- First Grand Prix
- 14 April 1929
- Most wins
- Ayrton Senna, 6
