Parc Ferme: Formula 1’s spiritual home

However, since Formula 1 seems to be more about the ‘fluff’ than the competition these days, it has become an even more important stop on the European calendar.

No matter how you look at it, the race around this tiny municipality is nothing more than a high-speed, expensive car and poser parade, interspersed by the occasional pause to clear up the nuts and bolts left over from driver errors.

Overtaking is meant to be a staple diet of motor racing. But, in Monaco, the pickings are meagre. Passing requires the man in front to stop in the pits. The only competition to be had is between the pit strategist making the best of a fortuitous safety car.

No amount of regulatory jiggery–pokery has solved this conundrum to date.

Despite this, there is not a F1 driver, aspiring or otherwise, who doesn’t covet a win here at least once in their career.

Standing on the top step next to royalty, being celebrated by the rich, the beautiful, and the famous, many would trade their home Grand Prix for victory around these streets. 

Technically, for many, it is their home race anyway. There’s no easier weekend travel-wise than the Monaco Grand Prix.

Even at the lower levels – F2 and F3 - drivers base themselves here, where F1 is a year-round presence in terms of people.   

So, what are we to do with this abomination of racing? Maybe Max Verstappen’s solution of hiring some rent-a-cars to replace the overweight, over-wide batteries on wheels, thereby allowing overtaking and returning the competition to the drivers.

The idea in principle is not bad. Imagine if the Monaco Grand Prix were designated a one-off event with driver points only. If they all competed in a one-make, narrow formula car, carrying the team’s branding and shod with all-weather tyres designed to last the duration; maybe with a Porsche GT3 spec engine in the rear.

This solution seems so obvious and would only serve to enhance its special place in F1’s heritage. Dream on, I guess.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, we have an F1 fairy tale narrative in the making.

It might be McLaren’s 1000thGrand Prix, but short of divine or Maranello intervention, Ferrari should be on course for a front row lockout this weekend.

Their nimble, low-and medium-speed corner chassis, together with their small, rapid-spool-up turbos, represent a significant advantage in the principality’s narrow streets. The only cloud to this silver lining is a wet race, where carnage and red flags will almost certainly prevail.

However, if Parc Ferme were a gambling man, he would be putting money on Lewis Hamilton to take this one.

Having abandoned the Ferrari sim to solve his set-up problems, he has now returned to his roots and a methodology that brought him seven world championships – himself! Let’s see some “Luigi time” around the hallowed streets.