Why the world's most famous car race is in Monaco - YouTube

“Gentlemen”

“Start your engines”

In the wide world of car-racing,

there’s a feat called the “Triple Crown”.

It’s when a driver wins the sport’s three most prestigious races.

And only one has ever done it

a British driver named Graham Hill.

In 1972 he won the 24-hours of Le Mans race, in France,

the country that invented the first self-propelled vehicle.

In 1966, Hill won the Indianapolis 500 in the American midwest.

Home to the world’s biggest car companies.

But the third leg of the Triple Crown isn’t in a place known for making cars.

In fact, it's in a country that’s impossible to see on this map.

It spans only 499 acres.

And only 39,000 people live there.

Yet, its home to the most important of the Triple Crown races:

“The most picturesque road race”

“The most glamorous, most demanding circuit”

“Perhaps the most difficult”

“The Monaco”

“The Monaco” “The Monaco”

“The Monaco Grand Prix.”

It’s 78 laps around a course unlike any other on earth.

Where some of car-racing’s greatest moments have happened.

Graham Hill, despite being the only Triple Crown Winner ever,

is nicknamed Mr. Monaco because he won this race 5-times.

So, how did tiny Monaco create the world’s most prestigious car race?

Monaco is the world’s second smallest country, spanning just 2.2 square kilometers.

In 1297, the Grimaldi’s, a prominent Italian family,

seized this area, called the “Rock of Monaco”, from a rival family.

But over the centuries, it was controlled by

the Spanish, the Sardinians, and the French.

In 1861, the French finally recognized its sovereignty with a treaty,

keeping the Grimaldis in power as monarchs.

Around this same time, the gas-powered automobile was invented.

And in a few decades, Europeans were obsessed with racing them.

Car manufacturers, like Mercedes, Bugatti, and Peugeot

would pitch their fastest models against each other.

And countries began hosting national races, called the Grand Prix.

In the 1920s, the Automobile Club de Monaco set out to create their own Grand Prix.

They already hosted the Monte Carlo Rally

where drivers would begin all over Europe and finish in the heart of Monaco,

called Monte Carlo.

But when the club tried to make that race the Monaco Grand Prix, they were denied.

International rules held that a country’s Grand Prix course

had to exist entirely inside its borders.

Easy for most, but a serious challenge for tiny Monaco.

So they used all the space they had,

thereby creating one of the world’s most unusual courses.

Most Grand Prix courses were set in the countryside, on roads built just for racing.

But Monaco’s course ran right through downtown Monte Carlo,

on regular streets, up a cliff, under a tunnel, and just feet from the harbor.

Most Grand Prix courses included long straight-aways

where drivers could use speed to overtake each other.

And wide corners, with run-off space where they could pass each other.

But, the Monaco course had very short straight-aways and the corners were perilously narrow,

meaning attempting a pass here meant risking a crash.

This generated a new style of racing.

Where having the fastest car wasn’t as important as

having the most skilled, and daring, driver.

The first race, in 1929, was a success.

And in the following decades, the Monaco Grand Prix

became part of the prominent Formula 1 league

and known for generating some of the sport’s most dramatic moments.

In 1955, Italian driver Alberto Ascari was leading the race

until he flew off the road and into the harbor, here.

A spot where many dreams would come to an end.

In 1970, Australian Jack Brabham was winning

until he crashed here, on the final corner on the final lap.

And in 1982, catastrophe struck five drivers in the final three laps.

Starting with Alain Prost, at the harbor.

“And as Prost goes into the tunnel, he is now..."

"...on his way to his sixth Grand Prix victory…”

“...And there goes Prost!”

Then Riccardo Patrese, at the hairpin turn.

“Well Riccardo Patrese has all the pressure off,

he’s only got to cruise round…”

“He’s sliding and he’s lost it!”

Then it was Didier Pironi’s turn, in the tunnel.

“No hope of catching Pironi, he’s into the tunnel for the las—”

“Is that Pironi stationary? It is! My goodness!”

“He must’ve run out of petrol.”

And Andrea di Cesaris, at the Casino.

“And there is diCesaris’s car!”

And finally, Derek Daly, just a couple hundreds meters from the finish line…

“And now there is Derek Daly coasting to a standstill.”

“This is unbelievable.”

“And now Patrese is coming in to win.”

But while this course was unique in the sport,

it alone didn’t make the Monaco Grand Prix famous.

It got help from the people watching here.

And to understand how they got there, we need to talk about taxes.

Remember that treaty, in 1861, where the French recognized Monaco’s sovereignty?

Well it actually came at a pretty steep price.

Previously, Monaco included all of this area,

where citrus farms brought in most of the country’s revenue.

But in 1848, the people here rebelled against the Grimaldi’s,

partly because taxes were so high.

So to save their kingdom, the Grimaldi’s signed that treaty,

giving France all this territory in exchange for

their sovereignty and $4 million francs.

But it left Monaco tiny and broke.

To bring in money, the Grimaldi’s hatched a plan

to offer Europeans something they couldn’t get at home.

At the time, many countries were passing laws that restricted gambling.

So, the Grimaldi’s had a casino built

eventually named the Casino de Monte Carlo.

It struggled at first, but when a railroad was built connecting it to France, it boomed.

By 1869, the casino brought in so much revenue

that the Grimaldi’s stopped collecting taxes from its citizens.

This was another opportunity to offer Europeans something they couldn’t get elsewhere.

Tax rates were rising in most European countries, especially on the rich.

Monaco offered them a place to stash their fortunes.

It made itself a tax-haven.

Europe’s wealthiest people flocked to Monaco.

They built luxury hotels, theaters, and mansions.

And brought their yachts

and of course, their fancy cars.

Before long, celebrities joined their lavish parties.

The tiny country entered the world’s spotlight when

famous actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier Grimaldi III in 1956.

Today, out of a population of 39,000 people, a third are millionaires.

But only about 9,000 are native Monégasques.

Meaning, the rest are foreigners, here to enjoy the low-taxes and the parties.

The biggest of the year is the Grand Prix.

“In the sparkling waters of Monte Carlo,”

“the wealthy unemployed relax in those rich, peaceful surroundings”

“But for one day in the year, that gilt-edged peace is threatened”

Throughout the weekend, lavish parties attract the rich and famous,

who attract the press and therefore, the spotlight to Monaco.

And they watched the race from the best seats,

here, on the yachts, just a few feet from the course.

They turned the Monaco Grand Prix into a world-wide spectacle

and car-racing’s most prestigious event.

“With its hazardous twisting course,”

“the Monaco Grand Prix is known as ‘the race of 1,000 corners.’”

Brazillian driver Nelson Piquet used to say

the Monaco Grand Prix was like “cycling around your living room.”

Meaning, it’s too tight.

In the last 90 years, the course has only changed in minor ways.

In fact, if the course was designed today, it wouldn’t pass Formula 1’s safety standards.

Because the cars have completely transformed.

When William Grover-Williams won the first Monaco Grand Prix,

his French Bugatti averaged 84km/hour to set a lap record.

In 2018, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen set a new record averaging 150km/hour.

And he drove a car more than twice the size.

Overtaking on Monaco’s narrow streets was difficult in the early 20th century.

But it’s nearly impossible now.

In the past 16 races, the car that’s started at the front of the race

has gone on to win 12 times.

It’s why some consider the Monaco Grand Prix boring to watch

Even, occasionally, the drivers.

Yet after almost 100 years of racing drama, in front of the world’s most famous audience,

the Monaco Grand Prix remains the world's most renowned car-race.

As Piquet would continue to say…

“... but winning here is worth winning twice anywhere else.”