Why Monaco remains F1's biggest challenge

Seventy-eight laps around the narrow streets of the Principality of Monaco. At just over two miles the temporary Formula 1 circuit in Monte Carlo is the shortest on the calendar, but surely one of its most insanely difficult.

Is there a greater challenge in Formula 1 than Monaco? In a modern motorsporting world of ten-a-penny Tilkedromes, with their bland layouts, smooth surfaces and expansive runoffs, Monaco is a throwback to F1's daredevil past - bumpy, difficult, incredibly narrow. Dangerous.

Monaco will never be a great spectacle in the conventional racing sense. Overtaking on such a track always comes at a premium. But the venue has an extraordinary capacity for high drama.

Recall the final laps of the 1982 race here, where Alain Prost (crash), Didier Pironi (fuel), Andrea de Cesaris (fuel) and Derek Daly (crash) all took turns at losing the lead in worsening weather before Riccardo Patrese, recovering from a late spin of his own, came through to claim an unlikely victory.

Or Nigel Mansell's fruitless hunt of Ayrton Senna 10 years later; hounding and harrying on fresher tyres after an unfortunate puncture, but unable to force an opening.

More recently we've had the escape road controversy in qualifying that set up the second of Nico Rosberg's three consecutive Monaco Grand Prix victories in 2014, and the Mercedes strategy blunder that robbed his team-mate Lewis Hamilton of a nailed-on second Monaco triumph last season.

Hamilton has suffered more than his fair share of disappointment at this race, as has Haas star Romain Grosjean, who has been involved in collisions in three of his four starts.

"There are a lot of things," says Grosjean. "First of all you have to be confident with your car, then you have to set it up right, then you have to drive fast in qualifying.

"You need to get no yellow flags and no people stopping at the last corner to get your laptime done, especially in Q1 and Q2.

"Q3 is a bit easier [but] whenever I did a good Q3 I didn't make it to the first corner!"

To hook things together on this circuit is extraordinarily tough. A lap of Singapore's Marina Bay circuit is longer and certainly hotter, but that track is also wider and more forgiving in many places.

In Monaco there is almost no room for error.

"The easiest part is maybe Ste Devote, because you have the space and if you lock the wheels you can go straight and still come back," says Williams driver Felipe Massa, who has qualified on pole position but never won in Monaco.

"When you drive on the limit in qualifying you are always at risk of crashing - you are so close to the guardrail everywhere. To do an amazing lap in Monaco you risk a lot."

So many things need to come together at the right time for a driver to enjoy success in Monaco. It is the kind of circuit that can catch drivers out when they least expect it. Things can be looking so good, then all of a sudden bam! One mistake and it's all over.

Esteban Gutierrez endured "the most painful mistake of my career" when he crashed his recalcitrant Sauber out of eighth place with 19 laps to go of the 2014 race, after tagging the inside barrier at Rascasse.

"In Monaco, when you are really focused, it's like a tunnel," he explains. "All your focus becomes at a certain point like an obsession, and when obsession is there is when you open a little gap - where you can make just one single little mistake, and then it's the end of the game.

"It's the toughest circuit to race at because it requires a lot of concentration.

"It has no room for a mistake."

Monaco can be so unforgiving. The driver needs to be aggressive to turn fast laps, but the tight confines mean an innocuous mistake can easily turn into a big crash in the blink of an eye.

You need a car with a strong front end, great ride and traction, but equally the driver needs to be fastidiously disciplined in building up speed - reading the way the track evolves and managing risk at a place where the technical makeup of Formula 1 simply does not fit.

"That is what makes it a challenge - taking a car you are designing for flat, sweeping corners and throwing it around the city streets is difficult," says Williams technical chief Pat Symonds.

"I respect Monaco. It is a great thing to have as part of our championship. It is an anachronism. Can you imagine if it did not exist and someone said 'let's go and do it now?' It would be absolute outrage.

"It is so far from being flat. You have this enormous crowning on the road, picking wheels up, so your camber angles are not what you think they are.

"Your [simulation] model will tell you, 'this is your dynamic camber', but it thinks you are driving along a flat road. You get all these sort of things.

"You need to have a car that the guys can trust - they need to have real confidence in the car. Those cars that are quite benign are no longer benign in Monaco, but they are better than the ones that are not!

"A lot of it is about getting a car that is stable. But at the same time if you have a car that is stable in the classic sense - has a bit of understeer - it is not the way to go quickly around Monaco.

"That is why Ayrton and Michael Schumacher were so good in Monaco - they could keep their cars on that stability limit, which is more important on slow tracks than it is at the fast ones, and still had the confidence to take it to within another millimetre of the barrier.

"It is a damn good test for the drivers, because it is so unforgiving. It takes a special kind of driver."

A unique spectacle, a unique challenge, a unique race where only unique drivers thrive. Is there a greater challenge in Formula 1 than Monaco? Not likely.