My Top 5 Monaco Moments

Monaco, the jewel in the crown for the Formula One season. A race which every driver wants to win. It carries such a reputation with it when legends such as Senna and Graham Hill dominated the track year after year. But the streets of Monte Carlo can often show another side to a driver. A side which provokes hatred or love from the spectators and a side which can earn you a place in the hall of fame, or the hall of shame.
These are my personal top 5 Monaco moments.

Number 5:- Triumphant Trulli (2004)
Jarno Trulli had always shown that he had a considerable amount of pace inside his Renault R24 but could never tick that final box of winning a Grand Prix. So, how do you go about winning your first Formula One Race? The answer, at the streets of Monaco in 2004. The Italian took a mighty pole position from Jenson Button and was looking to make it a perfect weekend in one of the most eventful races of the season. With only 9 drivers finishing it almost became like a last man standing event! Alonso, Michael Schumacher and both Mclarens had all retired along with the other 9 drivers who couldn't make it to the end. But it was the patience and the perfect strategy that saw Jarno Trulli break the spell of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher and show the world that they can be beaten. It was to be his only ever victory in Formula One, but he did it on the grandest stage of them all.


Number 4:- Schumacher's true colors shine through (2006)

A race dominated by spaniard Fernando Alonso and the news dominated by the antics of 7 time World Champion Michael Schumacher. At the end of qualifying Michael had pole position within reach, but Fernando was flying around the streets of Monte Carlo and in the final minute of the session, the German parked his car into the penultimate corner, stopping the session and seeing him keep his pole position. 
   After the session he claimed that he simply locked his brakes and almost hit the barrier, but the onboard footage was enough to see that this was no accident. This effort to keep his pole position had the reverse effect. Michael started from the very back of the grid
 Alonso was able to keep his lead during the race and cross the line  to win his first of two Monaco Grand Prix's to date. Michael still defied the odds and from 22nd on the grid brought his Ferrari home in 5th place at least getting some points for the team. But this impressive drive has been still over shadowed to this day by his actions at Rascasse.

Number 3:- A Fairytale ending (2008)

One of the most eventful races in recent memory saw Lewis Hamilton take his first ever Monaco win.
After Massa dominated qualifying in a dry session, the heavens opened the next day, meaning drivers would start the race on Wet tyres. The first pit stop came on lap 6. No this was not down to a Pirelli tyre wear pit stop, but for Lewis Hamilton who had touched the wall on the exit of Tabac picking up a puncture. The Mclaren team tried something extremely risky and fitted the Intermediates on the car. He came out in fifth due to the field being spread out all over the circuit and fate played into his hands nicely. Massa was running away with the race until Coulthard and Bourdais collided on lap 8. The safety car was brought out and all of his hard work was lost.

    Later on saw Nico Rosbergs massive incident at the swimming pool again bringing out the safety car. But just as the fans thought the action was coming to a close, Kimi Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari exiting the tunnel and hitting the back of Sutil who was up until that point having a sensational race.

 But at the end of the race it was Lewis Hamilton who at one point looked like he stood no chance of finishing in the top 5, came through and won the race. His first Monaco GP win was delivered in style.

Number 2:- "Sennasational" (1992)

Nigel Mansell in 1992 was tipped to win the championship. His Williams-Renault was the fastest car on the grid and his driving was relentless. But none of that mattered at Monaco. Mansell was dominating the race until the final stint. A loose wheel nut forced him to pit in, bringing him out behind one of the only men to give him the race of a lifetime– Ayrton Senna. It took just two laps of Mansell coming out behind Ayrton for the lead to be crushed from six seconds to two. He then spent the last five laps desperately trying to get past, ducking and diving at every possible opportunity. Corner after corner Nigel tried his absolute best to push past the young charger but Senna was too smart that day. He took the chequered flag for the fifth time as a winner in Monaco and his fifth Monaco win, equalling the record of British racing icon Graham Hill. One he would beat year later.

Number 1:- An underdog story (1996)

My personal favorite moment in all of Monaco's exciting history has to be the year where Olivier Panis took his first and only Grand Prix win. In  races which see the attrition rate sky rocket, the winner is normally the man that keeps his nose clean, his head down and drives his own race. This was proven once again at the Monaco Grand Prix, 1996.
 The race started on a drying track and the odds favored the Pole sitter Michael Schumacher and his rival Damon Hill who was keen to win at Monaco like his father before him.The two sat on the front row but the Germans race ended much quicker than he imagined as he crashed heavily in the opening stint. Hill realised the opportunity he had  and continued to lead through the race until his engine suffered a failure which was rare for the team.
  Jean Alesi was granted the lead but it was almost like every driver in the lead was cursed as Jean later retied with a suspension failure.
  Panis was now in the lead in his Ligier and all he had to do was stay in front of David Coulthard. In a dash to the line Panis took the chequered flag and won his only ever Grand prix race, and Ligiers first in 15 years. Only 4 cars finished out of 22 starters making it one of the most exciting races in Monaco history.