Iconic Moments from the Monaco Grand Prix

The F1 race at Monaco is one of the most iconic races on the calendar and one of the most prestigious. A demanding street circuit with many sharp turns and elevation changes. It has never been off the F1 calendar. Along with the Le Mans 24 hours and the Indy 500, its forms the Triple Crown in motorsports.

Some of the greatest F1 drivers, made Monaco their favourite circuit, taking part in many battles with their arch rivals. No driver dominated this circuit, as much as Ayrton Senna who has a record 6 wins and 2 other podiums in 10 races here. It has been the site for certain upsets in  a race or witness to many important moments in F1.

A look at some of the most Iconic moments at Monaco.

1. 1996 Monaco Grand Prix

3 Finishers

The Sole win for Oliver Panis, and the last win by a Frenchman in F1.

Panis and Pedro Diniz qualified well down the order, as the Liger was misfiring all weekend. On Race day, during the warm up, Panis was the quickest. However, there was a shower prior to the race and an additional 15-minute window was added, to allow drivers to get used to the Wet conditions.

The start was chaotic. Andrea Montermini crashed during the warm-up lap and could not start the race. Lap one saw 5 cars, including pole sitter Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. However, Gerhard Berger who was running in 3rd, retired on lap 9 and Eddie Irvine was struggling the Ferrari.  Lap 31, which saw Martin Brundle retire, also saw Panis pass Irvine who had to restart his stricken Ferrari.

Damon Hill and Jean Alesi were in first and second.  After pitting for the dry weather tyres, Damon Hill’s race ended on Lap  40 when his engine blew out. Alesi then led for another 20 laps comfortably before a suspension failure caused the Frenchman’s retirement. Luca Badoer who was SIX laps down on the leaders , collided with Jacques Villeneuve to retire them both.

Eddie Irvine, who was running well behind the leaders, crashed coming out of the Lower Mirabeau. During the recovery, both Mika Salo and Mika Hakkinen crashed into them, leaving only 4 running cars. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who was a lap down on the leaders, pulled into the pits on the penultimate, as it was pointless.

Panis would finish ahead of David Coulthard and Johnny Herbert, with Frentzen being classified as 4th.

One of the smallest packs to ever finish a race. It would be the last win for the Liger team in F1.

2. 1992 Monaco Grand Prix

Nigel Mansell vs Ayrton Senna

The 1992 Monaco Grand Prix was an intense duel between defending champion Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell.

Mansell has been in the stunning form that year, using the powerful Williams FW14B to take 5 race wins heading into Monaco.  Senna had a mixed start, with 2 podium places , 3 retirements heading into Monaco. Yet he would feel confident, as Monaco was his playground, having taken 4 of the last 5 wins at the principality. Mansell would qualify strongly, with Senna well over  a second behind the Williams. Senna would finish 3rd in qualification.

At the start of the race, Mansell performed very well. Senna also passed Mansell’s teammate Patrese to move into 2nd. Mansell would hold a comfortable lead over Senna for much of the race. Lap 60 was a near disaster for Senna when Michele Alboreto spun his car in front of the McLaren. Senna lost 10 seconds to Mansell.

However, lap 70 forced Mansell into the pits for a suspected puncture (which turned out to be a loose wheel nut) for a new set of tyres. He would emerge 5 seconds behind Senna. He would close the gap and in the last 3 laps, they’d duel.

Senna was able to second guess every move made by Mansell and held off the charging Williams to take his 5th win at Monaco.  Their duel over the last 3 laps has been considered one of the finest spectacles in F1 history.

While Senna put the trouble start of the season behind him, Mansell held a tremendous advantage at the top would dominate the season to take his maiden title in 1992.

3. 2014 Monaco Grand Prix

Jules Bianchi and Marussia F1’s only F1 points

2014 Monaco Grand Prix will be the most fondly remembered by Manor Racing.

A chaotic start to the race saw 2 safety car periods by the 23rd lap and 5 cars retire by then.  By Lap 59, 3 more cars had been knocked out and this promoted Jules Bianchi running in Marussia into 10th place, the first time the team had a car running in the points. Jules had received a 5-second penalty, though, for illegally taking a previous 5-second penalty, which was added to his final race time.

Just ahead of Jules Bianchi, Raikkonen attempted to pass Kevin Magnussen and they both collided. This allowed Jules to move up to 8th place as the McLaren and Ferrari were forced to pit. The Race ended with a Nico Rosberg victory, but Jules Bianchi would finish 8th a lap down. He would be demoted to 9th owing to the time penalty added to his race time, but still in the points.

A proud moment for Marussia, who scored their first ever points in the sport. This would end up proving to be invaluable points in saving the team from liquidation later on as they received a better prize money than Caterham.

4. 1984 Monaco Grand Prix

Ayrton Senna’s debut at Monaco

Monaco was Senna’s winning circuit.

1984 was his debut season and his first tryst with Monaco. The 1984 race at Monaco was the only wet race of the season.

Senna at that time was in an uncompetitive, Toleman Hart and qualified more than 2 seconds down on pole-sitter, Alain Prost. The race to have a wet start, and Alain Prost had the lead but there was chaos behind him. He was passed by future champion Nigel Mansell on Lap 9 as his engine was beginning to misfire.  Mansell himself crashed out on lap 16.

By the lap 25 mark, Senna who has passed Niki Lauda and was closing down on Alain Prost, who has had brake issues as well. Lap 31, the race was red flagged for being too dangerous to drive. This gave the win to Alain Prost and second to Senna. It was initially considered, Senna would pass Prost in the McLaren if the race had continued, but was confirmed by his team mechanics, that the suspension would not have held.

As the race had not completed 75% of the distance,  half points were only awarded. This might have been the reason why Prost lost the 1984 championship by just half a point to Niki Lauda.

Senna scored the first of his 80 podiums. It showcased the talent of Senna, especially his wet weather skills that were to be legendary. It was the first of 10 races at Monaco, and the first of 8 podiums (which would include 6 wins).

5.  2015 Monaco Grand Prix

Mercedes Error

Just before the 2015 Grand Prix, Mercedes had signed up Lewis Hamilton to a new 3-year contract till the 2018 season. Lewis was in fine form, having won 3 and finished runners-up twice in the previous 5 races, holding a 20 second lead over Nico Rosberg. On lap 64, Max Verstappen braked late and crashed into Romain Grosjean. The Lotus crashed into the barrier. To allow the Marshals to recover the car, the first Virtual Safety Car was deployed (followed by the real safety car). Hamilton who had held a 20-second lead was called into the pits for a new set of tyres.

Unfortunately, the team miscalculated the time and he lost his lead to Nico Rosberg and came out just behind Sebastian Vettel behind the car (the Monaco pit lane has a speed limit of 60km/hr). After lap 70 when the safety car pitted, Nico pulled ahead and Sebastian was able to keep a sufficient distance between Lewis. Lewis was under pressure but the Red Bull of Daniel Riccardo as well.

Post Race, Mercedes would apologize to Lewis, who was fuming. Nico admitted his win was luck and Lewis had driven brilliantly. Sebastian was the only happy person on the podium that day. Lewis would accept the apology of the team. The Result saw Nico half the deficit to Lewis at that point of the season.

6. 1982 Monaco Grand Prix

Well we’ve got this ridiculous situation where we’re all sitting by the start-finish line waiting for a winner to come past and we don’t seem to be getting one!

– James Hunt

A dry race which was, for the most part, dominated by the Renault pair of Rene Arnoux and Alain Prost. Arnoux led for the first parts of the race before he spun off. From then on, it was a two-horse race between Ricardo Patrese and Alain Prost, the latter leading.

Around lap 67, it started to rain. By then, only 10 cars were left running. Prost, who was in a hurry to finish the race before it rained, pushed his McLaren hard and crashed at the Chicane de Port on lap 74.

Patrese, who seemed the likely driver to win, stalled on lap 75, and Didier Pironi, who was in the only Ferrari at Monaco (It was the first race after Giles Villeneuve’s fatal crash) took the lead but ran out of fuel in the tunnel. Andrea de Cesaris, who would have been the leader, ran out of fuel.  Derek Daly was the next classified driver in a beaten down Williams that had lost its front and rear wings, suffered from a gearbox issue that prevented him from starting his final lap.

Finally, Patrese managed to restart his car with a downhill jump and took the win. It was his first win in F1. He was the only driver to finish on the lead lap, with Pironi and de Cesaris being classified as second and third.

7. 2012 Monaco Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher’s final pole position

2012 would be a competitive season in F1 and the final racing season for Michael Schumacher.

In the first qualifying session, Perez would crash heavily at the Swimming Pool which caused the session to be red-flagged. 6 minutes later the session resumed. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was the fastest,  and Kimi nearly avoided a shock by getting eliminated in Q1, but would set a lap time on the super-soft tyres.

Q2, which saw no red flags ended up as a very competitive session. Felipe Massa was the first to cross the 1:14 mark. Most of the usual Q3 candidates made it across, except Button who was eliminated. However, the top 15 drivers were separated by just under a second, showing a close match up.

With the exception of Sebastian Vettel who would not set a time, the remaining 9 cars went on the last qualifying effort. On the super soft tyres, Mark Webber led Nico Rosberg, but it was in the last second, that Michael Schumacher would set the lap of his second stint in the sport, to take pole position. It was his 68th pole position and his first for Mercedes, much to the delight of many of his fans.

He would start the race 6th, as he had a 5 place grid penalty, but would still be delighted with his efforts, given his post-qualifying comments. Unfortunately, he would not be able to finish the race, retiring on lap 63.