{"id":718870,"date":"2026-06-06T11:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T11:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/718870\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T11:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T11:16:12","slug":"f1-drivers-always-say-monaco-is-special-but-only-a-hot-lap-of-the-track-proves-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/718870\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 drivers always say Monaco is special. But only a hot lap of the track proves it"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage from F1\u2019s 2026 Monaco Grand Prix<\/a> today<\/p>\n

MONACO \u2014 The Monaco Grand Prix is often described as the \u2018crown jewel\u2019 of Formula 1.<\/p>\n

Between the oversized yachts in the harbor, the tight confines of the paddock, and the immense concentration required from the drivers to thread their cars between the barriers, this is a race truly like nothing else on the calendar.<\/p>\n

Coming up with a race like Monaco nowadays just wouldn\u2019t fly from a safety perspective \u2013 something that only makes it all the more special.<\/p>\n

This week, on what is my eighth visit to Monaco, I gained an entirely new perspective from a real-life lap around the tightest street track on the calendar.<\/p>\n

For all of the criticism that is laid against the racing action \u2014 or lack of \u2014 in Monaco due to the difficulty of overtaking as a result of those tight confines with big, modern cars, nailing a qualifying lap here requires an immense level of skill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really like when people criticise the racing in Monaco,\u201d said Haas driver Ollie Bearman. \u201cI don\u2019t know what you expect. It\u2019s a street track. Where else do you put the track? It\u2019s surrounded by real estate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is in Monaco the spectacle comes on Saturday afternoon (with qualifying, where drivers risk crashes pushing as hard as they can around the walls). That\u2019s the one that we should all be tuning into.\u201d<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t my first F1 hot lap. George Russell has taken me around the tracks in Miami and Austin in the passenger seat of a Mercedes AMG sports car, hitting 150mph and chatting like it was a Sunday drive.<\/p>\n

Last year in Austin, Bearman assured me his Ferrari GT car was fine as I got in with the brakes smoking and sensor alarms blaring. Monza, with its long straights, was the fastest I\u2019ve ever gone in a car by some margin.<\/p>\n

Yet nothing compared to Monaco. It felt the fastest \u2014 and scariest \u2014 of them all.<\/p>\n

F1 has run a hot laps program for those fans willing to pay a premium or those lucky enough to be offered a lap for free (media members are randomly selected for these laps on occasions as well, as was the case for The Athletic in Monaco), with its tire partner, Pirelli, since 2018.<\/p>\n

They began in Monaco last year. Squeezing time into the packed schedule, with the need to open all of the track to road traffic and pedestrians each evening, was previously deemed too much of a challenge.<\/p>\n

To see the closed track from the passenger seat at speed is a rare opportunity.<\/p>\n

My driver was Andre D\u2019Cruze, a professional performance and stunt driver, who was behind the wheel of a McLaren 720S. The four-liter V8 engine can deliver 710 bhp and does 0-60mph in less than three seconds.<\/p>\n

Every bit of that acceleration was felt as D\u2019Cruze hit the gas exiting the final corner to begin the lap, passing under the trees that overhang the pit wall and start\/finish gantry.<\/p>\n

The narrowness of the track made even a top speed of 120mph appear much higher. F1 cars have hit 220mph on other tracks so far in 2026, but even they can\u2019t go much quicker in Monaco.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n The rise from Sainte Devote, the first corner in Monaco, to Massenet, with the Nouvelle chicane beneath it. (Mark Thompson \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

At the first corner it felt like going twice as fast again, making me instinctively reach downward and cling to either side of the seat as we hurtled forward. I didn\u2019t let go for a good 20 seconds.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Cruze hit the brakes with plenty of time before Sainte Devote, Turn 1, swinging the car right and beginning the uphill climb that is much steeper than it looks on TV. Threading through the kink on the run up to Massenet, he had to slow down due to how narrow the track is between the barriers. In an F1 car, the entire section is flat out and hardly a corner.<\/p>\n

Then came the hook left through Massenet, the track opening up and allowing D\u2019Cruze to put a bit more power down before dipping right into Casino Square, where the track tightened up again. He carefully worked the wheel and shifted down a gear, before putting down the power as early as possible for the downhill straight to Mirabeau.<\/p>\n

When you watch F1 cars lapping at this point, you will always see them veer right to avoid a bump in the road. For a sports car, it\u2019s easier to ride slightly over it \u2014 and I really felt that rise up and down before the brakes were applied again.<\/p>\n

Then came the slowest and most technical part of the track, as D\u2019Cruze turned in early and kept as close to the wall as possible through Mirabeau before coming to the hairpin in front of the Fairmont hotel. All the while, the track is dropping downhill towards sea level.<\/p>\n

My mom dreamed of watching Monaco from that hotel, vowing to me she\u2019d do so even if she had to use a Zimmer frame. Though she sadly never got to realize that, I made sure to look up to the balconies and kept her in mind as we snaked through the 180-degree switch left that forms the hairpin.<\/p>\n

Exiting Portier, we arrived at the tunnel, the fastest point of the track for F1 cars. But again, the reduced downforce and power of a road car means you can\u2019t go quite so fast, and the corner midway through the tunnel felt more like an actual corner than it ever does on TV.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Cruze still got past 100mph before hitting the brakes, again for the surprising dip down again into the Nouvelle Chicane.<\/p>\n

Clout-clout on the curbs on entry and exit, before D\u2019Cruze again got the power down for the blast to the left-hand Tabac corner, slowing before coming through to my favorite point of the circuit: the Swimming Pool.<\/p>\n

Standing on the outside of this section \u2014 behind the barriers and catch fencing, while leaving a few meters extra grace that you normally don\u2019t when venturing trackside \u2014 is one of the best places on the entire calendar to watch.<\/p>\n

You can really judge the bravery of the drivers as they try to carry as much speed as possible over the curbs, flirting with the barrier on the outside. Back in the car, it was \u2018only\u2019 80mph for us, but enough to put my eyes on stalks.<\/p>\n

With the second, slower part of the Swimming Pool section negotiated \u2014 another fast chicane \u2014 D\u2019Cruze slowed the car and informed me I was only the second person he\u2019d taken for a lap this week. From the way he\u2019d hustled the car around the track, I could hardly tell.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n The Swimming Pool section of the Monaco track, with the pit straight to the right. (Mark Thompson \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

A thrilling ride, one I\u2019m incredibly fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to experience. But it was also one that only made clearer to me why the challenge of Monaco remains as immense as ever, despite the presence of faster street tracks on the calendar, such as Jeddah or Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Even in a high-performance road car, it got my heart rate racing. I can\u2019t begin to truly know what it\u2019s like for F1 drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one is maybe a bit less high speed than some of the other tracks, but in terms of the walls and everything being very close, that poses very different challenges,\u201d said Bearman.<\/p>\n

\u201c(There are) quite a lot of street tracks on the calendar, but this one feels very different to them, with the history and the importance of Monaco as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely one of the coolest weekends of the year, and one that we all look forward to, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s qualifying session in Monaco is a moment in the season that should be celebrated. It\u2019s where we see driver skill really come to the fore. With the 2026 cars, the drivers also get a rare chance to push flat out without many engine energy limitations.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to give it 100 per cent in quali,\u201d explained the other Haas driver, Esteban Ocon. \u201cYou always do, but this time it\u2019s much more important. That\u2019s the beauty of Monaco, full stop. That\u2019s the beauty of F1. It\u2019s a different compromise to how it is usually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 Alex Albon felt it was important for people to recognize the art of qualifying at the track, even if that came at the cost of overtaking and on-track passing in Sunday\u2019s race, which will likely be a procession once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery race does not always have to be about Sunday as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Whoever is at the front leading into Sainte Devote stands an excellent chance of winning, given the difficulty of overtaking around the tight confines.<\/p>\n

But that should not detract from the \u201cbeauty,\u201d as Ocon phrased it, of Monaco. This is a very special track, the kind of which we\u2019ll surely never see created again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage from F1\u2019s 2026 Monaco Grand Prix today MONACO \u2014 The Monaco Grand Prix…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,12716,82],"class_list":["post-718870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-motorsports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}