F1 in Monaco

This year I travelled to Monaco with six friends to watch the Grand Prix. This was not the first time I watched Formula 1 live. Many years ago the Estoril track hosted the Formula 1 (1994 to 96). At that time I was still a student and I had the chance to work for one of the F1 contractors for three years in a row. Many years after I was keen to watch it live again as it is a different experience from watching it on TV.

The famous 5 at Gatwick Airport

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We booked this trip well in advance (I think November) to ensure that we could get cheap flights and hotel, as well as good places to watch the race. We arrived in Nice on Saturday afternoon. Nice, which is where most people who come to watch the GP stay, is 20min away from Monaco by train. Kevin booked the accommodation before me and when I went to book the same hotel, it was not available anymore. I then booked another one just a stones’ throw from their place. When we arrived at the hotel, I went to mine and Mike, Kevin, Dave and Nathan went to theirs (Richard and Daniela were stuck in the middle of nowhere after Richard booked a hotel 32km away from Nice!!!).

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A few minutes later they call me to say that their hotel… had closed!!! They did not let this affect their spirits and off they went to… the nearest café for a beer while trying to sort out alternative accommodation. As you can imagine, in GP weekend there are not many rooms available, specially in a popular GP like Monaco. Luckily there were a few places still available and they managed to book two rooms (at outrageous prices though…). As we sat outside the café, we hear a big bang! Just in front of us, a car had crashed against the back of another car!! What an eventful first few hours!! Having sorted out accommodation we went to ours rooms to get ready to go out for dinner.

Opps.... no hotel... no worries it's just GP and Cannes Festival weekend... I am sure you'll find accommodation easily... what about a Presidential suite for €2500 a night?

Nice is quite a pleasant city (except the taxi drivers who are there to rip you off!). The city is very pedestrian friendly and features a good range of restaurants. We headed to the old town where there are plenty of restaurants in the same square. As you would expect on a Saturday night on GP weekend, the place was very busy. Most restaurants serve seafood and they display it outside the restaurant to persuade passing people to select their restaurant. The night was a bit cold so we ensured that we selected one who had heaters. After a bit of hesitation, we finally sat and ordered our meal. I ordered oysters for a starter and a seafood kebab for main course. Both were quite delicious. The meal was accompanied by plenty of wine and with Mike making the choice, needless to say the wine was of a high standard.

Delicious Oysters

Saturday night dinner. All smiling... no wonder, after can't-remember-how-many bottles of wine...

The next day – Grand Prix day – we headed off to Monaco. The best way to get there is by train. I must say I was surprised by how efficient the system was. There are plenty of trains running all morning and each train has probably about 12 double deck wagons. As we arrived in Monaco mid morning, we headed to our stand. We had tickets for stand B, which is located in front of the Casino. We ‘checked in’ at about 11am, just before the Formula Renault started. Formula Renault (also known as Formula 3000) is the competition that provides access to Formula 1. A lot of the current F1 pilots are previous champions of F3000. The race was eventless… except where we were!!! We saw a spin, and two crashes.

Arriving in Monaco - View from the train station

Sortie pour la tribune B - this way please...

After a short break that we used for lunch, it was time for the F1 drivers parade. All drivers are put in the back of a truck and paraded through the circuit while they wave to the crowd. There was another break before the race begun and it was time for a Hagen Daz ice cream (which was delicious by the way). While enjoying our ice cream we could hear the cars travelling to the starting grid. The noise is loud, believe me. But this is what makes watching F1 live so different from the TV. As the race approached, excitement grew. I could not wait to see all the cars coming through at high speed.

Lunch time...

The drivers parade

At 2pm the race begun, first with the formation lap and then 78 laps of competitive racing. There were a few crashes and overtakes, but none was in front of us. We almost saw one – Barrichelo crashed after the starting grid and before the place where we were. We could still see the dust and the car being taken from the track, but the accident itself we could only see it in the big screen in front of us. The pace car had to step in a few times, making any time advantage redundant. However, since it is very difficult to overtake in Monaco, this did not lead to any overtaking… And that was it, the Red Bulls appeared to have ‘wings’ and managed to get the two first spots.

The dust from Barrichelo's crash... a few meters farther and we would have seen it!

Barrichelo's car being pulled

View from the stand

At the end - winners receiving the trophy in the big screen

By the end of the race, we hanged around for a while visiting other parts of Monte Carlo. We headed to the marina area to see all the boats that come to Monaco for the race. On our way there, we had the chance to see some of the dozens of luxury cars that exist in Monaco – Ferrari, Bentley and Rolls Royce just to name a few. We saw so many Ferraris that by the time we went through the Ferrari Garage we were not excited anymore… we had seen it all in the streets before. On race day the many Monte Carlo's bars and cafés are buzzing. Just before the Marina, where many restaurants and cafes are located, there was a party going on, with a band playing live music. They were quite good, playing from traditional bands like U2, Queen and Simple Minds to more recent hits. The party kept going for quite a while, but this was not a surprise given that most who were there were…. Brazilians! If Brazilians are around, you bet they will be partying. And Brazilians did not even do well in the race, so imagine if they had done! After emptying a number of bottles of wine, we headed to the starting grid area of the track and then to the Marina.

Spectacular views on our way to the Marina area

The street party

Everyone having a good time

The party full of Brazilians (otherwise there would be no party...)

Me and my Ferrary - the only way to fit in...

Another (beautiful) Ferrari

The pit stops area was busy with all the teams packing. This is a good opportunity to take a few pictures next to the shinning trucks. It is also an opportunity to look at the ‘behind the scenes’. This was not new for me as during the Estoril races in the nineties I had the chance of walking around the pit stops after the race, including entering the areas where they work on the cars. Still it is interesting to watch some of it again. We also managed to access the podium area and take a few pictures where the drivers had received their trophies a little earlier.

The winners! @ Monaco GP podium

One of the Ferrari's trucks

Although this weekend is about cars, there is a second show going on at the Marina. The number of large yachts is impressive. There are more like mini cruise liners to be honest. Apparently one of the boats there cost 25 million USD. These boats are use for VIP after race parties. They are owned either by sponsors or team owners. While we were there guests started to arrive and we kind of wanted to join in… if anything just to see how those boats look like inside. We hanged around for a while, took a few more pictures and then headed back to the train station to return to Nice. We selected a Vietnamese restaurant in the city centre for dinner. We were pretty knackered after such a long day, but we still had time for a good laugh when one of us (not me) asked Nathan how his 'Pecking dick' was (it was 'Pecking duck'!!!). That made it for the night…

One of the 'small' boats

and another one...

And another one...

On monday our return flight was in the afternoonon so we just chilled out in Nice, first enjoying a nice long breakfast at a café on the seafront and then lunch in the main restaurant area. The flight back was quiet and quick and by 10pm I was back home. A bit tired but satisfied after a wonderful weekend in Côte-D’azur - something to repeat in the near future for sure.