They call it the jewel in the crown of the Formula
One calendar. And they're right. There's nowhere
else like it. No circuit more glamorous, no backdrop
more iconic. But don't let the luxury fool you.
This place can be brutal. Narrow streets mean
zero margin for error. One lapse in focus and
you're in the wall. Or worse, in the harbour.
It's as tough on the cars as it is on the drivers'
minds. And the pressure? It all comes down to
Saturday. Nail qualifying and your name might
just end up etched into history. But it's not
always a procession. Sometimes Monaco delivers
magic. From anonymous first winners to the rise
of future champions. And wars of attrition where
simply getting your car to the finish can mean
triumph. Sure, the cars hate it. But the drivers,
they love it. Because winning here, it means
more. This can make a career. This can forge
a legend. This... is the Sporting Almanac Podcast.
afternoon ben hello jack how are you today yeah
yeah i'm good mate great fa cup final can i just
say yes lived up to the expectations Yeah, I
mean, the FA Cup is magic. The FA Cup is a unique
sort of magic. And after the fact, it's always
easy to point to and say, oh, it always felt
like that was going to happen. Oh, the magic
of the Cup or whatever. But it just always delivers.
And for those who don't know, Crystal Palace
beat Manchester City. It was the first ever trophy.
They qualified for Europe for the first time.
Massive achievement. Obviously the underdogs
on the day. Lovely stuff. Yeah, very good. But
let's not dwell. Let's get to the heat of the
action for this week. We're in Monaco. We are
in Monaco, and I'm very excited by that. Though
there may be two or three mentions of the Indy
500 as well, which is taking place on the same
day as it usually does in Indianapolis. Between
that, the Monaco Grand Prix, and the 24 Hours
of Le Mans, which is in a few weeks' time we're
going to be doing a full episode on, they make
up the triple crown of motorsport. So there might
be a few mentions of the Indianapolis 500 as
well today. Just maybe one or two. It's fair
to say, isn't it, that you and I have a love
-hate relationship with the sport of Formula
One. Not always the most successful and not always
the slickest of run sports either, Formula One.
No, that's true. Often influenced by politics,
often influenced by off -track issues, which
you perhaps, you know... get exposure to in more
diluted uh ways in other sports whereas in formula
one it seems to be very in your face yeah very
entrenched with the way in which the sport is
governed the way the sport is run so formula
one is a sport that um if you fall in love with
it too hard it's very easy to then fall out of
love with it when things go against your sporting
expectations shall we say And 2021 was a good
example of that for me particularly, because
for those of you who haven't realised yet, I'm
a big fan of rules and regulations and sticking
to them. And we won't go into details on 2021
today. It's one of the great sporting injustices
and it was manipulated with abandon and utter
disregard for the rules in a way that was unprecedented
and will probably never be seen again. Yeah,
so COVID. 2020 COVID was a hard time for everyone
of course it was and one of the things that really
helped get me through it was a couple of sports
particularly that I fell in love with I was already
in love with but I fell in love even harder with
them and one of them was Formula One that coming
back that season going on and the other one was
the NFL as well with that going on and 2021 having
had obviously it was probably the greatest season
of Formula One in my lifetime 2021 up there with
2008 2009 2010 all cracking seasons and some
others but that was a brilliant season and for
it to end the way it did burst my bubble as i
said i fell in love so hard with it it was a
long way down from there and i guess that leads
us on to sort of the burning question because
monaco is a sport well not sport an event rather
that encapsulates perhaps some of the um paradoxical
yeah the paradoxical aspects of like formula
one um very neatly uh and i think i think you
had posed the question to me prior to this jack
is it even good it's a simple question is is
monaco even a good event if you were shortening
the formula one calendar would you put it in
an eight race season would you put it in a race
season for example at what point do you bring
Monaco in given that the vast majority of races
there are very processional very much if you
qualify on the front row certainly first on the
grid on Saturday you are more than likely going
to win on the Sunday especially in modern cars
in the past Monaco used to be a war of attrition
the amount of gear changes you go through obviously
affects your gearbox the suspension is badly
affected by the hills and the camber obviously
your brakes because you're braking a lot during
the race and old formula one cars used to be
very unreliable and obviously the concentration
levels required for the drivers there is no room
for error if you brake late if you lock up you're
probably going into a barrier so it used to be
the case that you would get someone qualifying
lower down the grid finishing near the front
because people would retire people would crash
out but in modern formula one with the cars being
as wide as they are as big as they are and as
reliable as they are Yeah, there's been Monaco
Grand Prix's, there's been two Monaco Grand Prix's,
2003 and 2021, where there's not been a single
overtake during the entire race. And that's only
ever happened five times in Formula One history.
Two of those were farcical races, 2005 US Grand
Prix, where only six drivers started. In Indianapolis,
ironically. In Indianapolis, yeah. And Spa 2021,
which was farcical, where it's just a procession
round behind the safety car. And the other one
was Sochi 2017. And that's the only time this
happened, twice at Monaco. And Monaco doesn't
have the excuse of things influencing the race
to cause that. You've just described circumstances
in which the weather was so poor that there was
a procession around with a safety car, or there
was a farce with the tyres, as was the case in
Indianapolis. Whereas Monaco was an authentic
race distance event that just did not allow for
overtaking. And yeah, I think you've summed it
up perfectly, mate. The only thing I would add
is the sport is so professional, as is the case
with most sports now, that the standards required
in order to even get into Formula 1 are so high
that the guys are so talented and so damn good,
even the ones that you would question are not
even necessarily there on pure merit, that when
you combine that with such sophisticated machinery,
the likelihood of them binning it... in a way
that made Monaco so attractive in the past, with
it being so narrow, with no runoff areas, with
just limited room for error, that's all been
negated now. And so what you effectively have
is a series of talented dudes driving around
in very, very sophisticated machinery, not making
mistakes, and it doesn't always make for a great
spectacle. It's very intriguing nonetheless,
if you are aware of that context and the skill
that's still involved and the engineering that
goes into it. You can still admire it, but...
It's not a good spectacle, necessarily. If the
Monaco Grand Prix didn't exist nowadays and someone
proposed it, they would get laughed out of the
room immediately. It's just not a practical place
to drive Formula One cars around. It's not a
practical place to drive Formula One cars around
in the 1960s when the cars were half as wide
as they are now. All the cars now are 50 % wider
than they used to be, so half again, the whiff
on top. It's a race that really only exists because
of its history. But it is a brilliant history.
And every so often, it throws up a magnificent
race that just makes you realize, my words, maybe
this is a place where you can race Formula 1
cars. Like, incredible races. Some of the greatest
races in Formula 1 history have been there. Yeah,
exactly. And I think, yeah, I mean, the succinct
answer is, is it good? I think we come down on
yes. It is good. I think you've got a perfect
summary, mate. You've got a one -line summary
of it. Do you want to just say what you said
to me? Because I think it's spot on and then
we can delve into the event itself. It's a paradox.
It's deeply flawed, yet it's emotionally irresistible.
Yeah, I think that's nice. I think that's so
well put. And with that in mind, like, allow
us, indulge us whilst we try and explain to you
why, despite all the shortcomings that we've
just summarized existing, it is nonetheless good
and worthy of its place on the sporting calendar.
Well, its history is incredible. Its history
is so deep. so linked to Formula 1. There's good
things and there's bad things. Obviously, you've
got the opulence, you've got the wealth, you've
got flaunting of wealth, the yachts by the side
of the bay, the champagne being popped left,
right and centre, $20 ,000 hotel rooms throughout
the weekend. It's not accessible for the common
man. But yet, the sporting history alone is incredible.
You can take that, put all that to one side and
just talk about the heroes that have driven there
and the fact that it does separate, the cream
rises to the top, it separates the... the rookies
from the heroes of the sport because the margins
are so fine and the amount of bravery and the
amount of control and the amount of discipline,
mental concentration you need to win there is
so vast and it is notable that the drivers that
have won it multiple times are the gods of the
sport. I mean, like, the ones particularly, and
we'll probably indulge in some of these stories,
but, like, in the 70s, the 60s, the 70s, the
50s, 60s, 70s, probably, actually, it's probably
the golden era where it was a super dangerous
sport. Incredibly dangerous. And, as you say,
like, some of the greats really came out of that
period of time, ones that have gone down in folklore.
But, yeah, I mean, having said all of that, and
we've given it a big, that's a big intro, but
having said all of that, you know, it's... Its
origins are not as glamorous as it is now, and
it's a fairly average origin story, so to speak.
It's so mundane. To think of where it is now,
to think of the glitz and the glamour and everything
connected to it, it basically came about because,
this is in the years before Formula One, this
is in the late 1920s, there was the Automobile
Club de Monaco. who were most famous for organizing
the Monte Carlo Rally. The Monte Carlo Rally
went all around Europe. It just finished in Monaco.
So it was obviously not contained entirely within
the principality. At that time, the ACM, Automobile
Club de Monaco, applied to the AIACR, the Association
Internationale d 'Automobile Club Reconus. Rolls
off the top. Call it the FIA. It became the FIA
after the war. But what is now the... uh federation
international automobile and the fia as in the
governing body of all of all motorsport um so
the the acm applied to them for full international
recognition but were rejected because monaco
had no race that took part in its own soil so
in order to be accepted uh anthony knows she
was the president of the acm just basically saw
the solution which was creating a grand prix
within the city itself which again not quite
as bonkers as it would seem today but It is not
a place that you would naturally think to race
motorcars around. Nevertheless, we're backing
from Prince Louis II, the ruling prince of Monaco.
A course was designed around the hills and the
city streets, and the first Monaco Grand Prix
was held as a result of that in 1929. All that
just because the ACM wanted to be recognised
as an international body, just like the Automobile
Club of Britain of France. That's all it came
down to. There is a lovely symbiosis to this
all still, which is... Politics were at play
from the off. Always. And I think that, you know,
you just summarized it nicely, which is just,
it was rich people wanting a playground of their
own, having to jump through some administrative
bureaucracy in order to get their fun. Yeah.
And it led to one of the most iconic racing events
in history. Probably the most iconic, I would
say. Le Mans or Monaco. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One
or the other. Yeah, just very quickly on Monaco
as well, because you mentioned it. Most people
probably obviously heard of Monaco. I don't know
how many people have been, because it is very
rich, and it's not the most accessible, I think.
Nice is probably the nearest biggest town or
city in France. You can get there on the train
fairly easily. You can obviously fly into Monaco,
but I don't know if it's got its own airport.
I think it's just outside. I think most people
fly into Nice and then get the train to Monaco,
unless your first name is Sheikh. You probably
can't afford to get in any other way. It's tiny.
It's hilly. It's in a mountainous region. It's
pretty. Yes, very pretty. It's southwest. um
sorry southeast france uh not too far from the
italian border and um on the mediterranean with
a big harbor very very narrow streets undulating
um topography yeah like not the place you would
set up a grand prix no you and i went there once
when we were poor students we did we couldn't
even afford an ice cream we just went there and
basically walked a lap of the Grand Prix circuit,
because, of course, what else do you do when
you're poor students in Monaco? Yeah, exactly.
Nice to have gone, though. Well, before we get
into the Grand Prixs proper, is it worth, therefore,
just going, explaining a bit about the circuit
itself, then, since we've just said we've been
there? Yeah. It's not changed, so... Well, it's
changed a little bit, but barely changed. I mean,
the most significant thing that's changed since
the early days is they now actually put barriers
down. Whereas before, if you missed a turn, if
you missed some of the turns, you were in the
drink, you were in the harbour, which did happen
a couple of times. Or someone's house. Or someone's
house, yeah. I mean, if you look at old videos
of it, or some people have done mock -ups on
racing simulators of how it used to be, it is
terrifying. I don't believe people used to drive
around there. It's bad enough now with the barriers.
Without the barriers, my word, these men were
brave. If you play it on a simulation game, I
know this is completely absurd because it's clearly
never going to be as good. It's still so hard.
Yeah. Like, really hard to play on the computer.
I remember the old Formula One, I think Formula
One 97 I used to play quite a lot when I was
a kid, so I'd been like 10 years old, and I just
used to skip it. I'd start seasons and I'd just
skip Monaco. Same, DNF it. Just crash out. Just
DNF it, yeah, exactly. What's the point? I'm
not as good as some of these drivers, to be fair.
Well, yeah, that is probably the key element.
We'll take you around the circuit itself anyway.
So it's just over two miles long, 3 .337 kilometres.
So just over two miles. Features 19 turns, incredibly
tight confines. It was described by Nelson Piquet
as like cycling through your living room, which
I think is a really good description. How dangerous
it feels. There's been 81 editions so far. It'll
be the 82nd this weekend. Obviously it's glamorous.
Obviously it's dangerous. Or difficult, I'd say.
Relatively speaking, not that dangerous compared
to other circuits in terms of driver injuries
and death. But still. one moment of poor concentration
and you were in the wall and it happens a lot
to the best. Literally, I've got a couple of
stories where just casually mentioned, oh, and
Alan Cross went into the wall and oh, Ayrton
Senna went into the wall. It's just, it happens
to the best. Yeah. Very difficult. It's an unforgiving
place. It's like one error and you're out. Effectively,
there are no... Exactly. Yeah. But yeah. Yeah,
it can be a procession, but add a little bit
of weather or... a bit of someone being out of
position on the grid, and it can become one of
the greatest racetracks in the world. There's
been some incredible races there. But the drivers,
generally speaking, they love it. They speak
so highly of it. They love the attention to detail
it needs, the concentration and skill that's
required, the challenge. And it is so heavily
focused on the Saturday. Qualifying is so important
that it makes it the biggest Saturday of the
year, by far. Yeah, by far, exactly. Yeah, and
a lot of drivers have described it being almost
a spiritual experience, like having an out -of
-body type feeling while driving around it. And
non -drivers have too, when they've been lucky
enough to go around the circuit. I mean, I'd
love to give it a go in real life, but I wouldn't
like to have to pay for the car I'm driving.
I mean, like I know Senna is the most iconic
of those, and he's said it a few times about
various laps, but I think he's particularly,
there was one lap in Monaco where... yeah he
sort of talks about it like being an almost now
a body experience um and i don't know close to
god yeah and lewis hamilton has said similar
things i think and yeah it's i imagine they still
love it because uh they are as we were saying
so good and it still poses a challenge despite
the fact that you know i sort of sought to undermine
somewhat the credibility of the race by saying
that the engineering is so good the cars are
so good and the racing drivers are so good that
it's um it's a bit of a dull watch like that's
true but that doesn't mean that it's it's not
extremely difficult and extremely challenging
and these guys are probably seeking out that
level of challenge because they are so talented
and it remains that to this day yeah there's
still no room for error as we say and obviously
You've got to be perfect on the Saturday, and
to be perfect, you've got to be incredibly brave
and have incredible car control, which is why,
obviously, you say Ayrton Senna being an icon.
Ayrton Senna was renowned for his attention to
detail on his car control. I thought this story
was from Monaco, but it's not. I think it was
from a Dallas Grand Prix, but there's a famous
story about Ayrton Senna. uh crashing into a
barrier yes during qualifying i know what you're
gonna say and he came back to the pit and he
was furious he was like someone's moved that
barrier yeah that barrier wasn't where it's supposed
to be and they're just like yeah calm down net
and don't be ridiculous and then they check the
footage or whatever else afterwards and they
were like yep someone here hit it earlier and
it was like three inches to the right of where
it was previously Yeah, and he clipped his wheel
and caused him to retire. And they all thought
he was making excuses. And in actual fact, he
was spot on. Just that good. He just has such
good feel for it. And we'll jump the gun a little
bit. No one has won more races around Monaco
than Ayrton Senna. His reputation in Formula
One and there generally is massive. to bear in
mind as well that unfortunately he lost some
of the best potential years of his racing when
he lost his life in 1994 as well so could have
been even more than the 61 well exactly he is
widely considered as top three that have ever
lived even though certainly the fastest yeah
yeah so you can have a debate as to who the best
is we me and you have our opinions on that maybe
we'll do that another day but he will always
be in that conversation Always. Anyway. Should
we try something novel? Yeah. Try and do an actual
lap of the circuit. An actual flying lap of the
circuit. This might not pay off, so apologies
in advance, everyone. But if it does, it might
be fun. All right. Do you want turn one or turn
two? I'll go two. You lead us off the line. So
off the line, it's a slight right -hand bend
until the first proper turn, which is Sandovot.
which is a right -hander prone to lock -ups and
early race incidents, mostly due to how it acts
as a bottleneck early on, especially with the
width of the cars now. Two don't go into one
through there. There are a lot of incidents early
in the race there. It's named after the 11th
century chapel dedicated to Monaco's patron saint,
Sainte -Devote. Nice. And then that'll lead you
into turn two, Beau Ravage. More of a bend in
the road rather than a conventional turn. Lovely
viewpoint of Monaco from here, though. And that
is where its name comes from. It basically means
beautiful shore. Turn three is Massonet, which
is a sweeping left -hand corner near the Opera
House. This is one of the great things about
Monaco. Near the Opera House, just casually mentioning
that. And that is one of the highest points on
the circuit there. Yeah, and turn four needs
virtually no introduction. Casino Square, very
glitzy backdrop of the Monte Carlo Casino, famously
featured in the movie Goldeneye. James Bond throwing
a bone there to our film lovers. And it's emblematic,
really. It's just, yeah, Monaco's opulence in
a single building, a single location. Turn five
is Mirabeau Hot, which means Mirabeau High. It's
just the high part of the Mirabeau turn. named
after the old Mirabeau Hotel which was torn down
for apartment blocks as much as Monaco has been.
Drivers used to take the tight inside line there
but it's down the hill and modern cars are too
large for that and will probably end up on three
wheels if they tried that now. And then I hand
over to you Ben for probably the most famous
turn in all of Formula One. Yeah, the hairpin,
turn six, the slowest corner in F1 as well. Coming
down the hill, you're going to be hard on the
brakes here. Known originally as the station
hairpin, later as the Lowe's hairpin, after another
hotel, and then... variously at different times
uh the grand the sun casino and now the fair
mont hairpin as the hotel continued to change
hands and therefore names name changes belie
the fact that it's probably the most recognizable
corner on the circuit and arguably in all of
f1 as you said uh you go get down to speeds of
40 miles an hour which illustrates just how fast
this sport is if it's the slowest corner um in
formula one 40 40 mile an hour is still pretty
quick extreme steering lock and precision usually
a bad place to overtake yes then you're into
turn seven which is mirabeau bass which is the
base of mirabeau and that's all that needs to
be said about it and then turn eight portier
another famous another famous turn some of these
names are probably resonating with any conventional
f1 fans we have near the sea it's a right -hand
turn that goes into the tunnel I've seen some
major incidents, including Ayrton Senna's 1988
crash and the 2017 collision between Jenson Button
and Pascal Wehrlein, whose head reportedly touched
the barrier, which is terrifying considering
how fast they go through that tunnel. Sergio
Perez also crashed out there during the 2022
qualifying. And last season's coming together.
of the alpines when ocon tried to overtake gasly
um and uh yeah like a lot of these corners also
has a very nice view if you've got time to take
it in and it used to be a place where if you
got it wrong you'd end up in the sea not anymore
though portier leads into turn nine which is
the tunnel which is a gentle right -hander within
the tunnel you'll all have seen the tunnel you'll
know it it sounds incredible in there uh the
change of lighting and the change of aerodynamics
when you're in there because obviously you don't
have the wind the air pressure is slightly different
in there, can make an effect when you're going
into the tunnel and when you're coming out of
it. And speaking of coming out of it, Ben? Yeah,
you come out of it into turn 10 and 11, and this
is also another one of the most iconic parts
of the Monaco track, the Nouvelle Chicane. It's
probably the best, if not the only, overtaking
spot in the circuit. Would you agree with that?
It's certainly the only one anyone really ever
tries it at nowadays. Or at least if they're
sensible, unlike Esteban Ocon. Yeah, it gets
very tasty in the wet as well in this area, but
it was reprofiled in the 1980s and renamed in
1986, having previously been the Chicane du Port.
And yeah, it's a very high stakes braking zone.
It's the fastest part of the track, decelerating
and downhill, as we say, into a chicane. And
yeah. The light change is coming out of the tunnel,
as you said, about going in. It is unsurprisingly
one of the most dangerous parts of the course.
And it's the only place on the circuit where
there's ever been a fatality as well, which we'll
come to. So turn 12 is Tobacco, which is named
after a tobacco shop. In 1950, a wave flooded
the corner, which caused a mail pileup. But generally,
other than that, it's fairly unmemorable, save
for the random cigarette shop that happens to
be there. Oh, that is random. I'm getting very
lucky here with some of the iconic turns. I was
going to say, you're getting the best ones, yeah?
Another good one now. Didn't even mean to. Turns
13 and 16, the swimming pool section. Again,
iconic. A tight technical series, including the
Louis Chiron and the Piscine Chicanes. Piscine
meaning swimming pool. in French, of course.
Drivers risk suspension damage if they clip turn
15. Mick Schumacher split his car in two here
in 2022. The second time a Haas has been split
in two in 18 months, but obviously the less dramatic
of the pair by far. Yes. Mr Grosjean basically
turning himself into a fireball by accident.
Yes. Miraculously surviving, which is a story
for another day. Definitely, and still the most
incredible thing I've ever seen in my time watching
Formula One live. So into Turn 17, Rascasse,
named after a local restaurant. I love the naming
of some of these, just like restaurants and hotels.
Rascasse is most famous for 2006, where Michael
Schumacher decided to park his car there during
qualifying, which he didn't get away with. He
got a penalty for that and got sent to the back
of the grid. I remember that. Yeah, yeah. The
old deliberate runoff. Yeah, and that leads you
into Turn... 18 and 19, Virage Anthony Noges,
named for the GP founders. The final corner of
the race, basically, used to be another hairpin
named Gazza Mitra until the 1970s when it was
redesigned into a right -hander, which kinks
slightly to the left into the pit and then straight
to the end of the lap. And then you are back
to turn one. There you go, Monaco, everyone.
I hope you enjoyed that. But yeah, I guess we've
got Monaco, we've intro'd it. I guess the opportunity
is to just take us down memory lane, Jack. As
we like to do in the beginning. So the very first
Monaco Grand Prix was held in 1929. This is obviously
before the Formula One World Championship. The
Formula One World Championship came along in
1950, but the Grand Prix had been going on a
few years intermittently before that. It stopped
for a few reasons. Obviously, the Second World
War and some financial reasons as well skipped
a few years, but most years between 1929 and
1950, it was run barring those war years. The
inaugural Grand Prix was in 1929. The idea came
from Anthony Nose, as we said, president of the...
automobile club de monaco who proposed a race
through the winding streets of principality just
for the basis of earning monaco international
recognition so it was approved in late 1928 and
the event was first run in on april the 14th
1929 over 100 laps of a 3 .18 kilometer street
circuit twisted through the harbor casino and
hairpins of monaco one of the most picturesque
and treacherous courses ever designed as it remains
to this day it was designed by charles and cars
had to navigate tight corners, tram tracks, tunnels,
and sheer cliffside drops, which is incredible.
That is incredible. All protected with, and I'm
sure you'll agree these are suitable protections,
sandbags and wooden barriers to stop you falling
into the sea. God, it's come a long way, hasn't
it? Like, that is absolutely insane. I mean,
obviously the cars were very different too, and
blah, blah, blah. They were still quick. They
were slower, but they were still quick. Yeah.
There's a reason that this sport has a... A long
history with death. But yes, sorry. And we will
come into that more later. So the reward for
taking the risk were a prize of 100 ,000 francs,
which was a lot back in the day, and obviously
prestige as well. And as a result, it drew top
talent from across Europe. So participation was
invitation only. So it was 20 cars who entered
and 16 who ultimately started due to withdrawals
from crashes, logistical issues. And the battle
on the day was between the nimble 2 .3 litre
Bugattis and the fearsome 7 .1 litre Mercedes
-Benz SSKs. How is that that different? It's
incredible. Exactly. So Formula One, as regulations,
has been around since just after the war, which
obviously specifies the size of the engines or
limits on the size of the engines, the weight
of the cars, various other things. Very strict
regulations nowadays. Very strict. Prescriptive
almost, but yeah. At this point, none of that.
So you've got, as I say, 2 .3 litre Bugattis
and 7 .1 litre Mercedes, which are massive. So
that was the head -to -head belt. The main Mercedes
was driven by a man called Rudolf Caracciola.
Well tried. But I did my best. Apologies in advance.
There's a lot of French and Italian names in
this, and I'm probably going to butcher some
of them, but I'll do my best. Here's one I can
get right, though. A British driver officially
named only Williams arrived late, but managed
to practice on the eve of the race and was given
special permission to compete. When Sunday arrived
with clear skies and warm sunshine, tens of thousands
flocked to the circuit, lining rooftops, balconies
and hillsides to watch racing thunder through
their town. The race itself was an instant classic.
Williams, as he was known, driving a British
racing green Bugatti with full factory backing,
took an early lead and dueled fiercely with Caracciola's
powerful Mercedes. Though the German briefly
snatched the lead on laps 30 and 50, a lengthy
pit stop for fuel and tyres pushed him down to
fourth. Williams seized the opportunity, pulling
ahead and ultimately maintaining his lead to
claim victory in front of a roaring crowd. Second
place went to his teammate, a Belgian driver
called Georges Buriano, also in a Bugatti, with
Caracciola recovering to finish third. The remaining
finishers were all in Bugattis, highlighting
the car's dominance on the tight technical circuits.
The heavy Alphas, Maseratis and others just couldn't
keep up with the pace. Though some other less
well -known races had already taken place in
that year, the Monaco Grand Prix was immediately
hailed as a spiritual start to the 1929 season.
Its daring layout, high -stakes glamour and thrilling
competition establishes it as one of the sports
crown jewels, a status it would maintain for
nearly a century to come. That's a cool first
story. It is a cool, that's a good way of which,
you know, like it enters the fray, so to speak.
Yeah. And like Formula One, like you've already
alluded to, it didn't really exist until like
post -war. Yeah. Like in its modern framework,
I guess, for want of a better phrase. So yeah,
like the pre -war is just very much dotted races.
fairly dysfunctional very disorganized like the
sport playboys yeah boys yeah in their big cars
some very talented drivers still though some
legends yeah whose careers started before the
war but ended up racing in formula one after
the war yeah and like i mean since we're on the
war indeed you know what we like to do jack and
i'm hoping you've come i'm hoping you've come
prepared there's there's two things we like to
do on this podcast firstly we like to go back
to the beginning and tell you about how an event
started which we've just done and secondly we
love to unearth a cracking world war ii story
now normally you have to work through the years
to find a competitor whose story needs to be
told because i mean what are the odds that the
guy who won the very first monaco grand prix
would turn out to be a complete freaking madman
of a war hero Oh, really? What are the odds,
Ben? This chap Williams? So the year's 1942.
A British spy operating deep in occupied France
under the code name Sebastian has helped set
up a spy network within the country, helped rejuvenate
the French resistance, and made a real name for
himself. Wouldn't you know it, that spy Sebastian
was none other than the man who'd once danced
through Monaco's most elusive clubs, raced Bugatti's
first street, and won the inaugural Grand Prix.
under the name Williams. His real name was Willie
Grover Williams. And honestly, that scratches
the surface of this story. But hold on a second.
Is this geezer just like, is he using like effectively
like a code name so that his real identity isn't
known? I'll go through it. But yeah, essentially.
So his name, his name was Charles Frederick William
Grover, known as Willie. He was born to a French
mother and an English horse breeder father who
settled in Paris. He was raised mostly in Monte
Carlo. He got his first motorbike for his 15th
birthday, learned to drive in his sister's boyfriend's
Rolls Royce. So far, all very Monaco. Yes. In
his early 20s, he was competing and winning in
motorcycle races and rallies, lying about his
age and using W. Williams to keep his participation
secret from his parents, who did not approve.
Okay. So a slightly more benign reason for...
It is, yeah. But nonetheless, he ends up being...
Carry on. He was fast, stylish, and already turning
heads. In between races, he worked as a chauffeur
in Paris for the famous artist Sir William Orpen.
Through that job, he fell in love with a woman
called Yvonne Aubic, who was actually Orpen's
mistress, which is very south of France. Orpen
seemed to approve, though, and gave the couple
his blessing. And even more than that, he gave
them a house on the Rue Weber in Paris and a
luxury open -top Rolls -Royce as a wedding gift.
Grover at that point also changed his name to
Grover Williams due to the recognisability of
his pseudonym and presumably by this point the
fact his parents probably didn't care so much
now he's in his late 20s. So as his driving career
took off he was known for his mechanical genius
and his fearless racing style. In 1927 he made
headlines by keeping pace with world champion
Robert Benoit in an underpowered Talbot at the
French Grand Prix winning the crowd over as he
did. By 1928, he was winning the same race outright,
behind the wheel of a second -hand Bugatti. He
talked Ettore Bugatti himself into selling him
at a discount, the founder of Bugatti. Monaco,
1929, the first Grand Prix held in the Principality,
as we mentioned, winning that. He carried on
racing until 1936, winning multiple Grand Prixs,
befriending his old rival Robert Benoit in doing
so. More on him later. Honestly, this story.
On his racing retirement, he and Yvonne split
their time between Brittany and Monaco and were
famed for often driving two cars around the principality
at high speeds, William leading Yvonne. Whenever
Yvonne was inevitably the one who was stopped
by the police for speeding, she'd ask them why
they'd let her husband off. He's Williams, they
said. We don't stop Williams. That must be slightly
embellished, but I'm going to buy in so hard.
Who cares? It's a story. If the glamour of pre
-war motorsports shaped his legend, it was wartime
courage that made him a hero, though. When the
war broke out, Grover Williams answered Britain's
call. Despite living most of his life in France,
he was a patriotic Britishman. Initially serving
as a driver for a general, as you'd expect, he
pulled off a daring escape with the general from
Brittany in 1940 after they were cut off from
Dunkirk. But more than that was to come. When
on the general's recommendation, his cool head,
his fluent French, and his intimate knowledge
of the country, earned him a place in Churchill's
shadowy Special Operations Executive, the SOE,
the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare himself,
as a spy. Nice. So, after brutal training, at
01 .30 on the 31st of May 1942, Grover Williams,
co -named Vladimir at that point, later Sebastian,
parachuted into France to help rebuild the shattered
resistance network, after the previous one had
been compromised and annihilated by the Gestapo.
The job was simple. The job was simple to describe
anyway, but it was nearly impossible to execute.
Build an underground army under the noses of
the Nazis. As you do. Nice and easy. There's
your briefing. Off you go. Here's where it gets
even more extraordinary, Ben. The first people
he contacted when he landed in France, his wife
Yvonne and Robert Benoit, the same driver he'd
once pushed the limit on racetracks. Benoit,
who was codenamed Lionel, had been a First World
War pilot, so naturally didn't hesitate. with
a call, nor did another old rival whose name
was Jean -Pierre Wimille. So three former race
drivers now attached to the French Resistance
and building a network. I mean, this could be
a Hollywood movie, honestly. I was about to say,
why has no one made a movie out of this? These
guys are absolutely bonkers. And also, for anyone
who's not familiar with World War II, the people
in the French Resistance were seriously hardcore,
brave people. But anyway, carry on. So obviously
it was their job to arm train and coordinate
resistance fighters. in preparation for D -Day.
Benoit's cover was working in a Bugatti showroom
in Paris, with Ettore Bugatti himself providing
the documentation that allowed him to freely
travel around France. That also allowed him to
borrow trucks from Bugatti to move weapons around
as they coordinated the resistance. They carried
out sabotage missions, most notably at the Citroën
factory, and ran entire underground networks
of intelligence and logistics. They were the
reception committee for new agents parachuted
in, and their lives were in constant danger.
Yeah, this is probably the thing that's a good
place to take. Sorry, I didn't emphasise this
clearly enough. If you're in the French Resistance
in your court, you're dead. You're dead. You're
not being imprisoned. Probably tortured first.
Yeah, but you are dead. It's very dangerous.
But anyway, sorry, go on. Speaking of torture,
operatives were captured and one of them was
Benoit's own brother, Maurice, who unfortunately
under torture betrayed them to the Gestapo, something
that none of them ever blamed him for. in the
situation. The net closed on them and Robert
Benoit himself managed to enact two hair -raising
escapes, once by hurling himself and a Gestapo
guard from a moving car, another time slipping
through a building surrounded by eight armed
men again. Why is this not a movie? Before he
eventually made his way back to Britain for now.
Benoit returned to France twice before eventually
being captured in Paris in June 1944. was sent
to Buchenwald, and unfortunately he was executed
there. Wimiel survived the war, but died in a
ball of flames during a practice run for the
1949 Buenos Aires Grand Prix, unfortunately.
That's insane that you'd survive all of that
and then that happened to you. It's a very dangerous
sport, so it's not actually that surprising.
What I mean is it's just weird the way... It
feels like the more dangerous part of your life
is over with. And then you go back and race cars
in the 1940s. But there we go. Some people are
made for adventure. Our hero, Grover Williams.
War records show he never made it back to Blighty.
He was captured, tortured and sent to Saxon housing
concentration camp. Starved and beaten, he is
said to have been executed by firing squad alongside
legendary British agent Francis Sutil. just weeks
before the war's end. Except, that's not the
only version of events that people say. Rumours
persist to this day that Grover Williams survived,
that the British staged his death, that MI6 exfiltrated
him from Berlin to the United States in 1947,
that he continued to work in espionage after
the war. One theory claims he reappeared eventually
in France once his duties were done under the
name Georges Tambal. a man who shared Grover
Williams' birthday, mechanical skills, and even
his injuries, and quietly moved in with Yvonne
in Evero. They lived like husband and wife. When
Tambal was asked to register officially with
the mayor, the police intervened, and the requirement
was mysteriously waived. Yvonne lived until 1973,
and in 1983, that man, Georges Tambal, was killed
in a cycling accident in the town of Agen. He
was struck, ironically, by a German tourist driving
a Mercedes. Some say fate is a sense of humour.
However, again, going back, a research done by
a group of historians by the Bugatti Trust and
by William's own brother Frederick have upheld
the official story. They were shot in Sachsenhausen
as a spy. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking
on the part of racing fans, or on our part for
that matter, that make the alternate story persist.
Or maybe there's more to it. Either way, an incredible
man amongst incredible men and women in the French
Resistance. And an incredible story. I'm going
to choose to believe that he survived and disregard
the facts. It's a nice story. It would be the
ending of the movie, wouldn't it? Put it that
way. How is that not a film? There's so many
layers to that. I'm not even going to try and
deconstruct it. I just think that was cool. I
don't know where you found that, Jack, but thank
you. I literally found it because I was like...
Well, let's see if these guys have any stories.
Let's click on this Mysterious Williams fellow.
Oh my God, he was in the SOE. This is ridiculous.
Because I texted you in the week and I was like,
this shouldn't be this easy to find a story like
this. Yeah. This is the first time I told you
the story, but I'd given you a heads up that
there was a good story and it was incredible.
The very first winner. Yeah, very first winner
and just generally just a really interesting
bloke regardless of his links to Monaco. So how
is that guy's life not... more documented um
it was it is it is a well -known story like within
um motorsport circles but a lot of the articles
i found on him were quite it's it's not like
i was looking at the guardian or any major newspaper
to get these stories it was sort of i think autosport
perhaps maybe had a story on him but um yeah
generally speaking yeah it's it's a little bit
underground this story more than you'd expect
it to be because that's that's a i mean given
the modern age of like These long -form series
and stuff. Obviously, you've got SAS Rogue Heroes,
things like that. I mean, this is everything.
It's right up there. Yeah, that's a really good
story. I guess we should try and get back on
track to the Monaco Grand Prix specifically.
But that is a wonderful little tangent and rabbit
hole to have ventured down. So it's really post
-war where it really establishes itself in the
Formula One calendar and in motorsport generally.
Yeah, it was after the war that motorsport went
global, essentially. There was motorsport in
America, there was motorsport in Europe. The
FIA, as it was renamed after the war, really
their aim was to go global. Their aim was to
incorporate every continent or all the continents
under a single world championship. which they
did. They formed the first Drivers' World Championship
in 1950 under, as I mentioned, Formula One regulations
that were agreed upon in 1946 and the F1 World
Championship was born, which Monaco was a part
of, in 1950 and then not in 1951, 1952, 1953
and 1954 because they couldn't agree on the regulations
or couldn't settle on the regulations relative
to Monaco compared to the rest of the Formula
One season. But the first Monaco Grand Prix,
as part of the World Championship, was won by
Juan Manuel Fangio, a legend of the sport. Quite
famous. Went on to win five Formula One World
Championships, which was a record until Michael
Schumacher overtook him with seven. Lewis Hamilton
also overtaking him later, also on seven. The
inclusion of Monaco originally was a recognition
of prestige, but that prestige grew exponentially
after 1952. Sorry, after 1955. So 1952 was the
only time, 1951 to 1954, the event was held.
It was held as a sports car race, which is mainly
notable because it allows classic car races now
to take part at Monaco around the same time as
the Formula 1 because it takes so many weeks
to set up the Formula 1 track and so many weeks
to put it away. It's like six weeks to set up,
three weeks to put it away. So they pack a few
races, like the E -Prix goes in there, the classic
cars race, and obviously Formula 1 as well. nice
that's fun yeah that is fun i mean we've just
sort of entered now that we've entered the modern
era of f1 we are entering the era that me and
you were talking about um earlier with respect
of uh a relatively subpar i say relatively why
am i qualifying that an extremely subpar safety
record so so jackie stewart did some maths once
And he worked out that if you were to start racing
at the same time he did, so in the 1950s, you
had a 66 % chance of dying before the end of
your career, which is staggering. And then the
amount of legendary drivers killed in that period,
such as Jim Clark, two -time Formula One world
champion, who never won at Monaco, funnily enough.
British drivers dominated the early years. It
was Sterling Moss, Jackie Stewart, and obviously
Graham Hill as well, who did that dominating.
Amazingly, Jim Clark never won one. The closest
he got was he came fourth in 1961, but his notoriously
unreliable Lotus 25 failed on him again. And
unfortunately, he missed out on a chance of top
spot on the podium, Graham Hill winning, as he
often did at that point. So Graham Hill is known
as Mr. Monaco, which is a good name. So Graham
Hill, he won two Formula One world titles, but
his links to Monaco are vast. He's known as a
charismatic, witty, charming and immensely talented
man, which obviously the era it was with the
rise of celebrity. Princess Grace, famously,
Grace Kelly, the mixture of celebrity and racing
at this time. Graham Hill won the Monaco Grand
Prix five times, 1963, 64, 65, 68, 69. Quite
a few times. His driving style was smooth, precise
and daring, which is exactly what you need to
succeed at Monaco. And his signature moustache,
cut glass British accent, witty personality made
him the embodiment of 1960s British charm. Just
think James Bond, but driving a racing car. And
that's Graham Hill. He's probably the inspiration
for the likes of James Hunt and people that came
after him. He was. the original the original
poster boy like playboy charming bastard basically
yeah he's almost a stereotype because of himself
like he's he's formed this sort of stereotype
of the the british gentleman racer um he was
a former he was a former rower as well his helmet
was famously in the colors of the london rowing
club which is a helmet he shared with his son
damon hill who was also a formula one world champion
who won in 1996 and they were the first father
and son to both win the world championship followed
by uh nico and kk rossberg after nico won in
2016 damon hill probably only a world champion
because of an untimely demise event in senna
arguably yeah yeah i i think that's that's fair
i think we'll come to that a bit more when we
talk about senna but um i think damon hill definitely
deserved to win his championship when he did
he had michael schumacher who was up against
as well as his teammate and he He drove superbly
to get there in the end. Oh, yeah, sorry. He
was obviously benefited. Yeah, a moment. Senna
died, therefore he became Williams. Oh, yes.
Senna would have been the team leader, absolutely,
at Williams, and probably would have added to
his championships significantly had he stayed.
So Graham Hill famously is the only driver to
win the Triple Crown in motorsports. He won the
Indianapolis 500 in 1966, the 24 Hours of Le
Mans in 1972, and as mentioned, he won five Monaco
Grands Prix and two World Championships. And
to some people, the triple crown of motorsport
is the Formula One World Championship, not the
Monaco Grand Prix, depending on who you ask.
So it doesn't matter. He's won it. Although he
would not be the only one, right, if it was the
World Championship. Is that right? No, no, he'd
be the only one in either case. Everyone's got
a gap in their CV except him. I thought Jim Clark
got close, but I don't, maybe that's... He never
won Monaco. Oh, for the championship, yeah. He
didn't win Le Mans, maybe. I don't think he won
Le Mans. Yeah, Le Mans. Sorry, not Le Mans. I'm
mispronouncing it. My girlfriend will be unhappy
with me if I mispronounce it. Your French girlfriend.
Unfortunately, in 1975, while piloting a private
plane, returning from a testing session at Paul
Ricard, Hill crashed near Arklay in London, killing
himself and five team members. Devastating blow
to the sport, 46 years old, cut short, a post
-racing career where he'd built his own team,
Embassy Hill, which was beginning to show some
promise. And as I said, yeah, his son Damon went
on to become Formula World World Champion. Funnily
enough, Damon never actually won the Monaco Grand
Prix. He missed a good opportunity in 1996, which
we'll go over briefly soon. But equally, his
dad never won the Silverstone Grand Prix, which
Damon did. So, you know, swings and roundabouts.
But yeah, that's Graham Hill. Yeah, that's really
cool. He's an iconic name, an iconic figure.
I think we probably summed him up as best as
we can in an introductory episode to the Monaco
Grand Prix, but if anybody's interested, just
Google him, Wikipedia him, you'll find an awful
lot more information. We'll probably talk about
him a bit more in two weeks' time. at Le Mans
as well, speaking probably a bit more about the
Triple Crown then. I think we were going to talk
a little bit about the safety record in Formula
1, and it's linked to Monaco, really. So in Monaco,
there's only ever been one death, as I mentioned,
which was Lorenzo Bandini in 1967. Funnily enough,
he was the 1963 Le Mans winner, and he was going
for the second leg of the Triple Crown at this
point. He was actually leading, but he crashed
at what is now the Nouveau Chicane. His car overturned
and it burst into flames. The accident was televised
as well and was marred by, as was so often the
case at this point, a slow response and inadequate
firefighting capabilities. So there was a famous
and infamous accident in 1973 at Zandvoort. This
is six years after Bandini's death, bear in mind,
where a driver named Roger Williamson was trapped.
It's horrible. He was trapped inside his car.
There have been incidents in the past where cars
are burnt up with drivers inside, but most of
the time the impact was so hard that, fortunately,
if you can call it that, the driver probably
didn't feel a thing. Roger Williamson. Unfortunately,
that is not the case. Another driver tried to
get him out, failed to do so. The reason another
driver had to intervene to try and help was because
none of the marshals, and bear in mind, this
was six years after Bandini's incident. None
of the Marshalls had fireproof gear. So the other
driver had to take the fire extinguisher off
a Marshall. He didn't know how to use it. He
had to get shown by the Marshall, wasting time,
wasting effort. And this was six years after
Bandini's death. I think this just goes to show
the problem with Formula One at the time. It
was so slow to change anything. Drivers weren't
mandated to wear fireproof clothing until I think
1963, somewhere around there. um for marshalls
not to have i think it was 1975 um in the in
the wake of roger williamson um that's that caused
that from that point marshalls had to wear fireproof
gear but it's just it is incredible and horrible
that it had to come to this um so it was david
pearly was the other driver um try try to get
him out you got you got the george cross yeah
the highest civilian award that can be given
by the british government and thoroughly deserved
it it's a horrible video And he did everything
he could possibly do. Which the FIA or Formula
One, whoever was running it, making the safe
decisions, didn't. Six years after it happened
to Bandini. It was horrible. I mean, Bandini
died three days later from his severe burns.
There were some safety reform discussions, but
they clearly came to nothing significant because
six years later, it happened again. So it just
sums up. It was a horrendously dangerous sport.
not helped by the governing bodies who were just
unprepared to help it took drivers most notably
jackie stewart who is a legend in formula one
safety terms a three -time world champion but
he is his very last race ever jackie stewart
he saw his teammate killed horribly again quickly
at least in this case but but horribly and he
just walked away from the sport at that point
and has spent his life from there because he's
still going, campaigning for safety. He is an
excellent orator. He's excellent at speaking
about it. And his input, as well as other drivers,
Ayrton Senna being a notable example, and many
other drivers, have made a huge difference. And
the sport today is so safe. I mean, we talked
briefly about Romain Grosjean going through a
barrier in Bahrain. there is zero chance that
he would have survived that even 10 years ago.
The modern technology. The halo saved his life.
Yeah, no halo, no head in that case. It saved
his life. The fact that he survived the explosion
and the inferno that followed as well is indicative
of how advanced things are compared to what you're
describing in this instance. The car did what
it's supposed to do. The monocoque protecting
the driver separated. Took him somewhat to safety.
He was able to extract himself from the car because
of the fireproof clothing he was wearing. He
got some burns on his hands, but honestly, for
the level of accident, at the time, I didn't
think he was going to survive it when I watched
it live. To see him climb from the wreckage and
to see him back racing a year later, albeit in
IndyCar, because that was his last race ever
in Formula 1. Not because of what happened, but
just because of... Yeah, the contracts. Haas
wanted to go a different direction. so incredible
yeah i mean like on that on the point of safety
it's uh like after senna's death in 94 uh and
ratzenberger on the same weekend which is often
not mentioned they were you know there's only
been one death since isn't there which is jules
bianchi and that was that led to quite significant
changes in safety that was another oversight
yeah yeah um where he hit the back of a one for
a better phrase a tractor it was a recovery vehicle
that was picking up another car that had been
that slid off in wet conditions and bianchi slid
off and hit hit the back of it and that was pre
halo as well um yeah and so the halo came in
as a as in part as a result of that as well as
obviously recovery vehicles now cannot be on
the track either unless there's a safety car
in place um yeah yeah basically like it's uh
Completely different to the attitude. The changes
have been exponential in safety since the early
90s, really. But yeah, on the more light -hearted
side of safety, want to tell us about some of
these dudes that ended up in the water? Yeah.
So Monaco, as I mentioned, there's a possibility
that you can end up in the harbour in the olden
days because there weren't any barriers in place.
And it's happened twice in the history of the
race. The first time was 1955. It was Alberto
Ascari, who was actually a two -time Formula
One champion, which again goes to show that even
the best people can be caught out by this circuit.
He was the, I think, 1952, 1953 world champion.
He was leading the race at the time. He crashed
in the chicane and ended up in the harbour. He
survived the plunge with a broken nose and a
concussion, but was able to extract himself from
the car because they simply didn't wear safety
harnesses in those days. It was safer to be thrown
from the car than it was to be trapped inside.
a car being flung around and potentially set
on fire. So the drivers took their chances and
said, I would rather be thrown out of this car.
And in this case, going into the water, that
actually was a good thing because I think in
a modern Formula One car, they would really struggle
to extract themselves. They used to have divers.
They used to have divers for the purpose of potentially
extracting the drivers if needed. They don't
anymore. They do have divers, but they're, strictly
speaking, for drunk people falling off yachts
now, not for extracting drivers. I think if a
modern Formula One car was to go in and there
was no one to help, I don't think the driver
would be able to get themselves out. But fortunately,
they've mitigated that with better barriers nowadays.
So yeah, the other driver was 1965. Same situation
without harnesses on. It was Paul Hawkins. So
Ascari, 1955. He got himself out. But unfortunately,
he actually died four days later after that.
And he was a very superstitious man and a very
careful man. He would never drive on the 26th
of the month because that was the day his dad
died on. His dad was also a Grand Prix racer.
And he got out of this car four days later. It
was the 26th of May, 1955. And he went against
all his normal behaviour. He borrowed someone's
helmet, which he never did. He went out without
wearing racing clothes on the 26th of the month
and he died in a test crash at Monza. And they
reckon, in my opinion, his concussion that he
got during this crash at Monaco that caused his...
poor decision making on that case. That's interesting.
That is interesting. Sad. Yeah, the first Formula
One champion to lose his life, I believe. I think
Mike Hawthorne was the next, but yeah, sad. That
is sad. but yeah i mean like also completely
insane that they used to do this circuit with
like without harnesses incredible so like without
barriers without harnesses and then the weird
thing about both of those things is that the
absence of safety features was actually a blessing
if you ended up in the sea in this one in this
one specific case yeah and the addition of um
the safety features in a modern car could be
the death of you now but fortunately of course
they've mitigated it in other ways which is what
you absolutely should do because not wearing
harnesses was a crazy time. The amount of drivers
who died was incredible. Someone like Jackie
Stewart, getting to the end of his career, winning
world championships, walking away when he did
was rare. Really rare. There was a posthumous
world champion in 1970, Joachim Rindt, who died
with a couple of races to go and had enough points
to win the title, but it was given to his wife,
I believe, not him, his widow. I think Joachim
Rindt had nearly... Nearly completed the Triple
Crown. Had he? Yeah. Hold on. I'd be very surprised
if he hadn't won at Le Mans. He might have. He
might be the guy I was thinking of when I said
about somebody who might have nearly completed
it. Joachim Rindt won. He didn't win the Indianapolis.
But he won the Monaco Grand Prix in 70. He was
a Formula One world champion, posthumously, as
you say. And he won Le Mans in 1965. So he would
have been a contender, but for his death. Yeah,
he wasn't that old either. I think he was in
his late 20s when he died. So, I mean, I bet
you anything he'd have gone for it. He was 28,
yeah. Good knowledge. Graham Hill. obviously
Graham Hill died relatively young he was in his
40s but there's a lot of people who probably
could have done what Graham Hill did in terms
of winning the Triple Crown but just didn't live
long enough sadly such as obviously Jim Clark
being one example of that yeah Jim Clark was
a very good example of that incredible dangerous
time Jim Clark having won Indianapolis in 65
and world champion in 63 and 65 but didn't win
as you say at Monaco and didn't win Le Mans yeah
but He would have done, eventually. It was too
good not to. As I said, he would have won, but
for the fact that lotuses were made of cheese
and just fell apart at the slightest breath of
wind. They were small, they were nimble, they
were quick, but they just fell apart. Famously
unreliable. Do you want to know a fun one? I
know these things have a strict criteria, so
we cannot just unilaterally decide that it applies.
Bruce McLaren... Of fame. Of McLaren fame, yeah.
Of McLaren fame, and McLaren being the only constructor
to have completed the Triple Crown. That's true.
Thanks for that. I forgot that. You're welcome.
He himself, as a racing driver, won Monaco in
62, Le Mans in 66, and just didn't win the Indianapolis
500. Did he not die young as well? I think he
died in a Can -Am accident. He died aged 32.
And he did die in a Cam Allen accident. Mate,
that is quite wonderful knowledge. He crashed
on the Levant Strait just before Woodcock Corner
at the Goodwood Circuit in England in 1970. Been
testing his McLaren M8D when it fell apart at
high speed. Yeah. Jesus. Yeah, that is sad. He
probably would have completed it in his personal
capacity as well as obviously his team going
on to do so. Yeah. Was that again? Yeah. It's
a crazy time. And obviously, drivers nowadays
don't really go for the Triple Crown because
they tend to focus on a single event. Like a
Formula One driver doesn't go off and drive Indy
anymore unless they're Fernando Alonso that one
time. Whereas back in the day, they'd just drive
Mulder and you could probably do it in one year
if you were mad enough and good enough. Yeah.
Anyway, I think we need to plough on because
we could natter. about this all day i was gonna
say do you want to tell us any uplifting stories
i've got a funny story actually i'll go through
this quickly 1982 i did mention at the beginning
obviously um there's been some of the most bonkers
fun races in formula one history 1982 is known
as the race that no one wanted to win so i'll
try my best to go through this because so it
took place just after gilles villeneuve's death
so ferrari only entered one car they hadn't replaced
villeneuve yet And the entirety of Formula 1
was in mourning for the legend that was Gilles
Villeneuve, father of Jacques Villeneuve, of
course, 1997 world champion, and probably a future
champion himself had he not lost his life. So,
let me do my best here. René Arnoux took the
lead, took the pole, and then built an early
lead, but crashed out after lap 14 at the Swimpool
Chicane. Alan Prost inherited the lead, pulled
away despite increasing rain in the final 15
laps, and looked like he was strolled to the
win. Other drivers around him crashed out. uh
derek daly um williams was leaking oil um and
then with three laps to go alan pross crashed
heavily as i mentioned even the best drivers
can lose concentration at monaco so in crashing
he handed the leave to ricardo petraezi there
was only a few drivers left in the race at this
point as well petraezi then spun on daly's oil
he dropped at the lowes hairpin which was on
the penultimate lap of the race and stole this
car ended up facing backwards up the hill excellent
which meant the Peroni and De Cesaris overtook
him to take first and second place. Peroni then
ran out of fuel on the last lap and retired.
De Cesaris then ran out of fuel moments after
him at Casino Square, which then handed the lead
technically back to Patrese, who'd remained in
his car. But had stalled it, obviously. So he's
leading. So Petraeus is leading. Technically.
James Hunt famously said in his commentary, 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. With the help of the stewards, Petraeus
had just barely managed to get his car going
and he nursed it to the finish to take the record
flag. But when he crossed the line, he had no
idea that he'd won because there weren't any
team radios in the day. So he got out of his
car and then got told he'd won the race. So he
had this bizarre podium where Patrese obviously
won it. And then he had Peroni and De Cesaris
who hadn't even finished the race, but had because
they'd lapped the people behind them who'd crashed
out or who had finished the race, but they finished
a lap behind where they were. They were still
technically second and third in the race, bizarrely.
Nigel, even though they didn't finish, but because
the checkered flag is taken. Nigel Mansell finished
fourth, but he was a couple of laps down. So
they had already crossed the line for the next
lap. So they were ahead of him, technically.
So only one car finished the allotted laps. So
only five cars finished, but most of them were
so many laps down. Only one car finished the
allotted laps. Barely. Because he got pushed
off on the marshals to start again. But it's
just a crazy, unpredictable race when it wants
to. I don't think you are right. Did Senna not
get disqualified for that once for getting a
push start? I'm going to say I don't think that's
allowed anymore. I'm sure back in the days where...
It's allowed in MotoGP. They're allowed to help
the drivers back on their motorbikes, but I didn't
think... So I'm sure this is... I'm sure this
is a controversial one. I won't say it's 1989,
Prost versus Senna time. Senna got a push start
and then got later disqualified from a race.
I need to look up the details of that, but anyway.
Maybe the circumstances were different, but...
Speaking of 1 -8 and Senna. Yeah. He's quite
good. Yes. So it seems rude not to talk about
him. He's the undisputed king of Monaco. Not
to doff a cab. Obviously, even anyone listening
who doesn't know anything about Formula 1 will
probably have heard of Ayrton Senna. He is a
legend. As with many of his races at Monaco,
a lot of his wins followed a similar format.
Loewe won away on the Saturday and then reaped
the rewards on the Sunday. His precision was
legendary. I mentioned that story from Dallas.
I think it was Dallas earlier. So, I mean, his
six wins as well that he ended up with could
easily have been eight as well. But for a couple
of unfortunate incidents, he put in in 1988 what
was the most famous qualifying lap in Monaco
history. Back in those days, you used to do two
days of qualifying at the end of day one. He
was two seconds ahead of his nearest rival, which
was his teammate, Alan Prost. So, A, not a slouch.
Yes. A three -time world champion, Alan Prost,
wasn't it? Four -time world champion, yeah. At
this point, twice world champion, I believe.
And he'd win again the following year. So, not
a slouch. And after day two, he was still 1 .4
seconds ahead of him. So, in the same car as
well. So, his teammate, a multiple -time world
champion, in the same car, 1 .4 seconds faster.
That is an eon faster. Yes, light years. However,
during the race, he had an uncharacteristic loss
of concentration at Portier and crashed, as mentioned
earlier. Happened to the best of them. And that
was the only race between 1987 and 1993, the
only Monaco Grand Prix, that Senna didn't win.
He won all the rest. However, I am going to talk
about the other time he didn't win it that he
could have done. Of course we are. Because I
love this story because it's not just Senna.
There's another driver as well who's an absolute
legend here. So 1984. Tell us his name. Introduce
him. I will do. Let me tell my story. So 1984,
Monaco Grand Prix. It was Senna's debut year
in the sport, driving an unfancied Toleman. And
it was famous not just for what happened, but
what was prevented from happening. It was a day
of torrential rain and the emergence of two potential
greats who mastered the conditions where far
more experienced drivers failed to. and at the
centre of it all, a red -flagged wave far too
soon, suspicions of favouritism, and the dawning
of a bitter rivalry between two titans of the
sport. So, at this time, before it even got to
Monte Carlo, Alan Pross and McLaren were the
dominant force in Formula One. Alan Pross and
Nicky Lauda at McLaren, so that's a heck of a
team, spanning two generations worth of multiple
Formula One world titles. No one gave a second
glance to this little team called Tolman. Yet
under the grey skies, that script began to unravel.
The heavens opened and it was in this chaos that
Ayrton Senna was able to introduce himself to
the world, but not just him. There was another
driver called Stefan Belov as well on that day.
And Stefan Belov was starting back of the grid
in a naturally aspirated Tyrrell. So every other
car was turbocharged. The only naturally aspirated
car who qualified that day was Belov in his Tyrrell,
but he qualified last, as I say. So you've got
Senna starting 13th in the Toleman, and Belov
in the Tyrrell starting, I think, 20th in the
last. So when the lights went out, Monaco delivered
its usual drama whenever the rain starts pouring.
So accidents to Sainte -Devote eliminated nearly
a quarter of the field by lap two, and Prost
inherited an early lead after Mansell spun out
from the front. Meanwhile, Senna sliced through
the chaos with alarming ease, dispatching drivers
in vastly superior machinery, including world
champions like Keke Rosberg, Ferrari aces on
his way, en route to taking second place. As
draw -dropping as Senna's progress was, Beloff's
was arguably even more astonishing. The German
rookie, in an underpowered Tyrell, started from
last and picked his way up the order with raw
bravery, overtaken with flair and confidence
in appalling visibility on the day. By lap 29,
both Senna and Beloff were closing rapidly on
Prost. Senna in second, Beloff in third. Senna
gained 4 .4 seconds in a single lap on a guy
in the best car, in the best car on the grid.
And Belov was nearly matching that as well as
he danced past René Arnoux's Ferrari into third
place. Only nine cars still racing in the rain
in test and firing. A showdown was brewing. Senna
was just seven seconds behind Prost and closing
like a missile. And Belov was about 10 seconds
behind Senna at this point. The rain had equalized
anything and for a few glorious minutes it looked
like... formula one was teetering on the edge
of history but then came the twist on lap 31
race director jackie ix himself a former formula
one driver and a very experienced racer waved
the red flag due to the rain bringing the race
to a halt simultaneously michelle burry the head
of the automobile club de monaco ordered the
checkered flag be shown as soon as the checkered
flag was waved the race was over this was despite
rules allowing a race if red -flagged with less
than 75 % of the laps completed, could be restarted.
And more than that, at the French Grand Prix
just three years earlier, the race had been stopped
and restarted, which on that day allowed Alan
Prost to gain his first victory in Formula 1.
The precedent was there, so why was it followed
differently at Monaco? Well, the reaction was
immediate and explosive. To observers, the timing
looked suspiciously convenient. Prost was driving
a McLaren powered by a tag -badged Porsche engine.
The Porsche engine... And he was spared from
the relentless charge of Senna and Beloff by
Jackie X, who was famously a Porsche sports car
driver at that point. The fact he didn't consult
race officials before stopping the race led to
a $6 ,000 fine and a suspension of his license,
which was even then a punitive action against
a race official, which doesn't happen very often,
as we know. And so, yeah, in hindsight, the questions
multiply. Would Senna have caught Prost? Almost
certainly. He was gaining three to five seconds
per lap. He had half the race ahead of him. There
was a cruel irony to that. Senna had damaged
his suspension when muscling past Rosberg and
hitting the kerbs. So the question of whether
the car would have lasted another 46 laps? Maybe.
If it had been red flagged, though, they'd have
been able to repair it and start again. And then
the question goes, would Belov therefore have
caught both of them? Possibly. Here's Pace with
the... His pace in the latter laps before the
red flag was sensational. His light and nimble
Tyrell, with no turbo lag as well, was thriving
in the wet conditions. He wasn't just keeping
up, he was attacking. Had the race been red flagged
and then restarted, Tolman might have got the
chance to repair Senna's car. Belaf would have
started higher up on the restart and it might
have been a three -way battle for victory. But
we'll never know, unfortunately. The chequered
flag was waved too soon and history took a different
path. Senna was understandably furious. His fury
was immediate. He didn't even return to the pits.
Carried flat out and crossed the line ahead of
Prost. Just seconds after the red flag had been
shown, so he effectively overtook him, albeit
after the red flag. But the result was taken
on count back to the previous lap, so obviously
Prost was the winner. It marked the start of
Senna and Prost's legendary rivalry, the biggest
rivalry in the sport. I mean, forget Hamilton
and Rosberg. Schumacher, Hakkinen. Hamilton,
Verstappen, probably. It's really only one season,
though. Really. But what a season. Let's not
go into that again. Can I add some flavour to
the Tolman experience? Tolman only ran in 70
races with 57 starts. They only ever achieved
three podiums. A certain Ayrton Senna is responsible
for all three. Yeah, they only ever achieved
one pole position and two fastest laps in their
entire history. But as a wonderful little link
to the next generation of drivers, which might
lead us on to someone else that you might want
to mention in the context of Monaco, they were
bought out by one Benetton, who went on to give
another extremely successful and famous Formula
One driver his debut. Michael Schumacher, which
is... Well, his first championship. He made his
debut with Jordan. Yeah, true. Yeah, with another
legend, actually. Yeah, wrestling piece Eddie
Jordan. Yeah, the recently departed. Sorry, yes,
that was an error. Not debut, but their first
championship. But that's lovely because it's
giving Senna his debut and Schumacher the first
championship. And then I was just going to very
quickly mention, just because we were doing little
links between this and the Indy, the Indy never
runs in the wet. oh really it's not allowed to
run in the wet probably for the best that yeah
yeah it's because it's because it's so damn dangerous
um because it averages like 220 mile an hour
so if you crash in the india in the wet like
you are you are fucked um In the nicest terms,
yeah. Yeah. And basically they just postpone
it. They postpone it until the showers cease
and or the track is dry. If it can't be finished,
they go to another day sometimes. And this is
kind of fun because it's kind of what you were
talking about with the beneficiary being Alain
Prost on this occasion. Americans don't abide
dud endings very well. So they have a procedure
called the green -white checkered finish. which
is a racing restart procedure in which the race
is always restarted from a caution period with
two laps remaining okay so that you don't get
races finishing under what they would call caution
or what we would call a safety car um so no safety
car finishes yeah uh except you can have that
at the indie but what the indie for some reason
it's just the exception to the rule um But what
they tend to do at the Indy 500, if they think
that is going to happen, is they just red flag
it. Fair enough. And then restart it as if you're
resuming a race after a red flag. But yeah, it
just basically means green, restart the race.
White, last lap of the race, check flag. I see.
Okay, cool. Sorry, tangents. Michael Schumacher.
Just finish this story quickly and then we'll
try and get this done before the two -hour mark.
Never mind. So Beloff never saw his third -place
result unfortunately become official because
Tyrrell would later controversially disqualify
from the championship over a ballast issue, nullifying
his incredible podium. A year later, he was fighting
for the lead in the 1 ,000 kilometers of Spa.
He was at this point the world endurance champion
and he collided going up Eau Rouge with another
car flat out. He crashed head -on into the barriers
without any chance to brake. The driver he hit
ran over to desperately help the marshals in
extracting Beloff. That man was Jackie X, funnily
enough. And unfortunately, it took 10 minutes
to extract him and Beloff was pronounced dead
before he reached the hospital. He was 27 years
old. World endurance champion and an up -and
-comer in Formula 1. One can only speculate what
the future held for such a clearly talented young
driver. That accident has eerie hallmarks of
Antoine Hubert. Same location, collision with
the driver. Not quite the same collision. It
was two cars came together and went into the
barriers as opposed to... One hit in the barriers
and coming out and getting hit. Got hit, yeah.
Which was awful. So the race should have continued
that day. It could have continued. It could have
gone down as one of the greatest duels in Formula
1 history. Instead, we have this controversy,
but there is one side note to this. So Alan Pross
was the beneficiary of it on the day. The controversial
red flag gave him the win, but it also cost him
potentially more than he gained. Because half
points were awarded for the race, Pross gained
four and a half points for his win, rather than
the usual nine points which were awarded at the
time for a win. His teammate and closest rival
for the championship, Niki Lauda, had already
retired from the race. Had the race gone to its
normal finish, more than likely he'd have finished
second behind Senna, as looked the most likely
outcome at the time. If that had been the case,
he'd have got six points instead of four and
a half. He ended up losing the title to Lauda
by half a point, which is the closest title race
finish in history and was Niki Lauda's third
and final world title. So what could have been
all around in this case? Yeah, that is what could
have been for sure. That's a cool story, though,
even if interrupted and intersected by the musings
of my mind and tangents. That's fine. I just
have to bank through some of these a little bit,
but we'll get it done. Well, why don't we finish
on Michael Schumacher then, and we can regale
people's stories of Monaco another time in more
detail. I'll very briefly mention 1996 was another
race with a bit of rain about and only three
drivers ended up finishing that race. And the
winner was Olivier Pannis for his only ever Formula
One win. It was one of the most surprising wins
in Formula One history. Almost every other driver
on the track getting technical issues or crashing
out, including Marcus Schumacher, who crashed
out on the first lap of that one, having taken
pole position. It was a brilliant lap. I can't
remember if I remember this or not. I don't know
if it's like a memory that has been created because
I've watched it so many times, like on YouTube
or something, or whether I actually watched this,
because I did watch Formula 1 in 1996, but probably
wasn't aware anyway, even if I did watch it.
Nevertheless, a very exciting race. We'll mention
Michael Schumacher because, obviously, he's a
legend of the sport. To some people, the greatest
man ever to drive, and I think there's a lot
of... I think the one thing to say about Michael
Schumacher, Well, he did push limits. He left
a winning Benetton team in 1996 to join Ferrari,
who at that time were not a winning team. He
stayed with them through the project and he stuck
with them for four seasons before they became
a winning team and reaped the benefits of that
by winning, obviously, five championships in
a row to win seven in total. I think that's an
incredible achievement. And he was close to winning
other titles too. But he wasn't far from controversy.
Obviously, he got disqualified one season for...
Essentially trying to take Jacques Villeneuve
out the race in the last race of the season.
He's not the only great, though. Our previous
hero, Anne Senna, who we were discussing, he
did the same to Prost in Suzuka. He did the same
to Prost and later just flat out admitted to
it. Yeah, got away with it and then admitted
it later. But yeah, Michael Schumacher. I would
say if anyone wants to watch someone absolutely
bossing Monaco, just watch the first lap. particularly
of the 1997 monaco grand prix so it was in in
changeable conditions and ferrari gambled on
an intermediate setup where other other teams
went dry other teams went wet they went for an
intermediate setup and that's what the conditions
were like at the start and uh there were other
drivers around him on similar setups even so
his first lap you see him sliding around all
over the place he's trying to find grip He finishes
the lap six and a half seconds clear of anyone
else in the field. And by lap five, he was 22
seconds clear. And this wasn't the dominant Ferrari.
This was fairly early days of him at Ferrari.
This wasn't the 2004 Ferrari that won 12 out
of 13 of the opening races. I think Jarno Trulli
actually winning at Monaco was the only thing
that broke that spell. But yeah, nevertheless,
Monaco is a track for the masters. And that was
a master on his day in that case. So yeah. I
think that's Monaco. I think we can probably
just about leave it there. Unless you've got
anything? No, I think we've covered most of the
really important and fun stories and history
just to give people a flavour of what it's all
about if they decide to tune in and watch it
this weekend. Which is good. Certainly on Saturday,
certainly for qualifying. It's always a good
qualifying session regardless of the race. You
always get drama the weekend. You do always get
drama at some point in the weekend. I was only
going to mention, just because it would be remiss
not to talk about our hero, Lewis Hamilton's
won it three times. 2008, 2016, 2019. Two different
teams. Which arguably is probably less than he
could or should have won it, really, when you
think of his record and success elsewhere. But
I should mention one of those times he didn't
win it was the time that Rosberg parked his car
down a side road, which... brought out the yellow
flags. Rosberg was not punished for that, whereas
Schumacher was for parking on Rascasse. So maybe
it would have been four wins if it wasn't for
that. Yeah, yeah. But no, I think we've covered
that very nicely. The Indy 500 is watchable on
Fox Sports in America and on Sky in the UK. Yeah,
and on the Sky Formula One channel after the
Monaco Grand Prix. Yeah, and Sky also have the
Micro Grand Prix, as you've just alluded to,
and Channel 4 have the highlights. The Formula
1 has its own TV channel. For anybody who really
loves Formula 1, probably be familiar with that,
so you can watch it there as well. But that requires
a subscription, although none of it is free to
air, so apart from Channel 4. So yeah, good fun
though. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I always
am looking forward to it. As we say, even though
I'm 90 % sure that Sunday will be processional,
as it often is, you never know. And even last
year, when it was a procession, well, not too
much of a procession, it was decent last year,
but last year was notable because for the first
time since 1931, when Louis Chiron won it. Last
year's race was won by a monogast driver, Charles
Leclerc. Yeah, that was cool. Which was awesome.
Especially because Charles Leclerc has had horrible
luck at that race. He hadn't finished it, had
he? And made mistakes as well. Yeah. Maybe not.
He qualified on pole one year, but then crashed.
Or he crashed, which made him qualify on pole,
because obviously that brought out the red flag
and the qualifying. But then he couldn't start
the race because he crashed so hard. He broke
his car, basically. And if they'd have changed
it too badly, they'd have sent him to the back
of the grid. So they gambled, and then he pulled
out during the formation lap. And Ferrari's strategy,
as it does, had let him down as well. So it was
nice to see him finally stand on the top step.
And the crowds were obviously loving it as well.
And then he walked home. That's the best part
of that story. To be fair, I think most Formula
One drivers probably can walk home from Monaco
because they all live there. But most of them
didn't grow up there. or get the bus to school
there, or walk around the street as a child that
he later went on. So, special story. That is
a nice one. That's a nice way to end, actually.
So, I guess with that in mind, where are we off
to next? So next week, we're back on football
because one week off is far too long for us not
to go back to football. Yes. And it's also the
Champions League final. So we are there. Sore,
but we'll be there nonetheless. Sorry, Ben. That
will be Inter Milan versus Paris Saint -Germain,
which is interesting. Probably the complete opposite
of the final anyway. Well, I wanted, you wanted,
a lot of Arsenal fans certainly wanted, but nevertheless.
It will still be an interesting one, and I imagine
the neutrals will be into fans. Quite possibly,
for similar reasons to why neutrals were Crystal
Palace fans this weekend, or last weekend, for
the FA Cup. Indeed. Cool. Well, yeah, join us
then if you're interested in the Champions League.
But until then, au revoir, Jack. Au revoir, Ben.
Once again, thank you so much for listening to
the Sporting Almanac podcast. I cannot say that
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final. But until then, stay curious. Sport is
nothing without the stories that make it. Goodbye.