[Official] Rate the Grand Prix: Monaco Grand Prix 2015

[Paradise City]

Monaco is peculiar in that typically no racing goes on there! But the challenge -- and it's a real one for the drivers -- is not to clatter the wall.

It's like Talladega in NASCAR in a bizarre way. You literally cannot get a more radically different track in a more different universe. At Talledega the racing has no meaning for 90% of the race but the real challenge there too is not to lose balance and clatter the wall, your competitors..et al.

[ECW Dan Selby]

Quite stunned to see the positive feedback this has got, I must say.

Are our standards that low this season? lol

Selby

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by wnut

Prefer hill climbs myself; only quali laps; but good point!

Good point also.

[Adam43]

Wouldn't it be awful if every race was on a circuit like Monaco. Isn't it fantastic that one race a year is.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Wouldn't it be awful if every race was on a circuit like Monaco. Isn't it fantastic that one race a year is.

Er, nope.

[Aysedasi]

Have to agree with them on this one Adam. It's a total anachronism which has no real place in F1 and rarely serves up a great race - because passing is virtually impossible without compliance from the guy in front or nerfing him to get past. We know that BE has absolutely no sentiment when it comes to these things, so there is only one reason for retaining Monaco year after year..... The lucre in Monaco is as filthy as anywhere else....

[Adam43]

For me the alternative is then just more of the same then. It's not been suitable for F1 in that was for 40 odd years for that. However the sight, attitude and precision of those cars around there is spellbinding. I'll forgive a no overtaking race once a year for that as no where else gives you anything like that.

I guess I also like variety. I tell you what you let me have this one and there is no need for you to bother watching. I'll let you have five others I won't bother with. Tell me what Bahrain, Russia, Abu Dhabi, Spain and Azerbaijan are like won't you?

[fourWheelDrift]

Originally Posted by Adam43

For me the alternative is then just more of the same then. It's not been suitable for F1 in that was for 40 odd years for that. However the sight, attitude and precision of those cars around there is spellbinding. I'll forgive a no overtaking race once a year for that as no where else gives you anything like that.

I guess I also like variety. I tell you what you let me have this one and there is no need for you to bother watching. I'll let you have five others I won't bother with. Tell me what Bahrain, Russia, Abu Dhabi, Spain and Azerbaijan are like won't you?

I am old enough to remember when F1 went to sixteen circuits and each one had it's own distinct character so, for example, I looked forward to Hochenheim for the long fast engine breaking blast through the forest and the tippy toe through the stadium, Spa for eau rouge and the bus stop, Monaco where you can't overtake but the challenge is awesome. Every single race I would look forward to because the circuit was familiar and had unique features but now Monaco, Spa and Montreal are probably the only ones I feel like that about, the rest are just blending into a sea of super smooth tarmac, painted lines and mediocrity.

[Paradise City]

Monaco stays. Monaco would only be replaced by a monotonous Tilke Turkey in Whateveristan anyway. Every track is a monotonous Tilke Turkey bar a couple.

Monaco is a novelty race and a special weekend where we suspend reality for just one weekend and enjoy the bizarre challenge of F1 driving on what are basically backroads! If they ever got rid of Monaco it'd be an obscenity, a pure obscenity.

I am old enough to remember when F1 went to sixteen circuits and each one had it's own distinct character so, for example, I looked forward to Hochenheim for the long fast engine breaking blast through the forest and the tippy toe through the stadium, Spa for eau rouge and the bus stop, Monaco where you can't overtake but the challenge is awesome. Every single race I would look forward to because the circuit was familiar and had unique features but now Monaco, Spa and Montreal are probably the only ones I feel like that about, the rest are just blending into a sea of super smooth tarmac, painted lines and mediocrity.

yes.

[VIVA GT]

I always look forward to The Monaco GP, I suppose for a number of reasons.
I'm old enough for Monaco to have been one of the few races that were shown on TV when I was a youngster, so that's one thing that makes the event special to me.
I also know (from what my Dad told me at that time) that Monaco is a special place, with lots of famous people & lots of money, that glamour adds to the appeal.
My first foreign holiday with mates was spent camping in the South of France, and we had a day trip to The Principality so I could drive around the circuit in our car and despite the novelty of topless beaches (this was the 70's!) for me, that was the highlight of the holiday.
Finally, I attended the 1983 Monaco GP, which was a great experience, seeing F1 cars driving around the streets was spectacular.
I admit that it is not a race due to the lack of overtaking because there isn't room, but for me the spectacle more than makes up for that. Let's face it, there are plenty more much wider circuits that still don't have many opportunities for overtaking, but tyey also don't provide the spectacle that Monaco does.

[Kingair]

Always a great event, the last thing we need in Boring1 at the moment is another Tilke designed circuit!

[simon21191]

I would give it a 6

Seen a lot worse but also seen a lot better.

Closing stages made it bearable viewing. Had Verstappen not went into the back of Grosjean to cause the chain of events that followed, it would have been a lot worse.

[JamesH]

Funny how so many people complain about boring F1 races, but still want to retain the most boring of them all....

And also that they use the words Monaco and race in the same sentence.

And that it's often referred to as a great event, a spectacle with fantastic atmosphere. But not a race.

Well, call me old fashioned, but I like to see racing cars, actually, well, racing.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Wouldn't it be awful if every race was on a circuit like Monaco. Isn't it fantastic that one race a year is.

My sentiments exactly Adam ...

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Funny how so many people complain about boring F1 races, but still want to retain the most boring of them all....

And also that they use the words Monaco and race in the same sentence.

And that it's often referred to as a great event, a spectacle with fantastic atmosphere. But not a race.

Well, call me old fashioned, but I like to see racing cars, actually, well, racing.

Yes okay, but its an event it happens once a year.. its tradition, what so wrong with that

[wnut]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

Yes okay, but its an event it happens once a year.. its tradition, what so wrong with that

It seems to set the standard as to what is acceptable in GP racing!

[Rindt70]

5....boring as always

[Paradise City]

I think it's funnier that the one of the very few tracks that has any character or history left - people want to ditch it!

Originally Posted by wnut

It seems to set the standard as to what is acceptable in GP racing!

Monte Carlo doesn't set any standard. It's a standard on its own. The rest of tracks are utterly different from what Monte Carlo is and if a similar track was to appear on the horizon; it wouldn't leave the novelty stage.

Strip out the garbage software and make these cars tough to handle again. Plenty of MC races in the past have been entertaining.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by wnut

It seems to set the standard as to what is acceptable in GP racing!

Wth all respect it does not, Its a one off event....

Which includes parties, pretty ladies, lots of exotic road cars, some major business meetings, some gorgeous boats, and F1 cars racing around a tiny little track.. Is that really so bad?

[wnut]

Originally Posted by JeremySmith

Wth all respect it does not, Its a one off event....

Which includes parties, pretty ladies, lots of exotic road cars, some major business meetings, some gorgeous boats, and F1 cars racing around a tiny little track.. Is that really so bad?

I like Monaco for tall the above reasons.

However, the genii who are responsible for regulating F1 seem to think that because they can get away with a tremendous "event" at Monaco with terrible racing, that they can use it as a blue print for the rest of the calendar, hence the mess F1 is in at the moment with no real racing breaking out anywhere!

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by wnut

I like Monaco for tall the above reasons.

However, the genii who are responsible for regulating F1 seem to think that because they can get away with a tremendous "event" at Monaco with terrible racing, that they can use it as a blue print for the rest of the calendar, hence the mess F1 is in at the moment with no real racing breaking out anywhere!

What on earth are you talking about? Noone uses Monaco as a blueprint for the rest of the calendar.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

What on earth are you talking about? Noone uses Monaco as a blueprint for the rest of the calendar.

Tilke does, just Mickey Mouse go-kart tracks with run offs added, when last did you see a truly fast curve in F1? Masta Kink, Tamburello without the stupid chicanes, Spa without chicanes?
A decent straight?
Everything has received square kilometres of runoff and been chicaned to death. To be fair to Monaco it is probably now a better test of a racing driver than most of the other circuits, and it is not really much of a race track for all the reasons given in this thread.

[chillibowl]

i see your point wnut.

maybe more so with the street circuit model/movement though as there is a desire for cities to host urban events while trying to replicate the glitz and glamour of Monaco and the powers that be dont seem to care much what the actual racing is like because its the image they are going for...perhaps because Tilke is also consulted on street circuit layouts.

at worse we have Sochi and formerly Valencia but it has imo worked incredibly well in Singapore. actually think Singapore GP is already well on its way to becoming a proper f1 tradition. New Jersey failed but we have Azerbaijan next year and perhaps a Bangkok GP on the horizon.

but not just replicating Monaco, Montreal and Melbourne (all M's so perhaps there is hope for Mexico City) have also been hugely successful in bringing races into the city limits and have created that urban party atmosphere that i think is most coveted by the new host cities.

speaking from a spectator's POV, if the racing is not good then the party better be!

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by wnut

Tilke does, just Mickey Mouse go-kart tracks with run offs added, when last did you see a truly fast curve in F1? Masta Kink, Tamburello without the stupid chicanes, Spa without chicanes?
A decent straight?
Everything has received square kilometres of runoff and been chicaned to death. To be fair to Monaco it is probably now a better test of a racing driver than most of the other circuits, and it is not really much of a race track for all the reasons given in this thread.

You're punished in Monaco if you make a hash of it.

You really ARE punished in Monaco if you make a hash of it.

You're whisked away on a sparkling magic carpet of run offs with a typical Tilke Turkey.

Racing has happened here. Verstappen raced this weekend. Get these cars in shape -- as opposed to plastering on gimmicks - and watch even the stereotypically boring races come to life. Yeah, even here.

[wnut]

Glad you guys get what I am banging on about.

It is really frustrating that Bernie and his stooges can't just do what would be best for the sport and sort the formula's ability to race out.

Monaco is a good event for a number of reasons, no question.

A replica of Monaco's twisty slow circuit type marked out in a car park is just plain terrible!
The circuits are as much to blame for the bad racing as the cars.