Monaco GP Preview: Facts & Stats

With exactly one third of the 2006 season completed, the Formula One circus moves on to the jewel in its crown - Monaco.

As you might expect from a circuit unlike no other on the contemporary F1 calendar, the Monaco Grand Prix has served to underline the talent of some of the greats in F1 history, while at the same time giving some more unheralded drivers their 15 minutes of fame.

The inaugural Monaco Grand Prix was held in 1929, based on a suggestion by local cigarette magnate Anthony Noghes (after whom the last corner on the circuit is now named). The first winner was a British driver, William Grover Williams, whose colorful life ended when he was shot by the Gestapo during World War II.

Monaco was scheduled as round two of the inaugural Formula One World Championship in 1950. Scuderia Ferrari made their championship debut, having elected to miss the opener at Silverstone, and they brought three cars - for Alberto Ascari, Luigi Villoresi and Raymond Sommer.

The race was marred by a first-lap pile-up that eliminated seven cars. Juan Manuel Fangio narrowly escaped hitting the wrecked machinery next time by, and he continued on to take victory in what still stands as the slowest championship race in history - the only one ever to average under 100km/h (98.7). Ascari's Ferrari was second.

On the bottom step of the podium was 1931 race winner Louis Chiron, marking the only time a Monegasque driver ever scored championship points, and one of only two instances that a driver in his fifties would climb an F1 podium (Luigi Fagioli at Reims in 1951 is the other one). Chiron, who died in 1979, also has a corner named after him on the modern-day circuit - the fast left entry into the swimming pool complex was dedicated in his name when it was re-profiled in 1997.

It seems unthinkable now, but the Monaco Grand Prix was left off the schedule after that 1950 race and did not reappear on the championship trail until 1955 - it has been ever present since then. The '55 race is most remembered for Alberto Ascari's crash into the harbour in the Lancia D50. He miraculously survived, only to be killed just four days later in a testing crash at Monza. Ten years later, Paul Hawkins became the second (and, thankfully, last) driver to end up in the Mediterranean Sea during a Monaco GP.

The 1956 race provides a unique statistical moment. At the opening round in Argentina, Luigi Musso and Juan Manuel Fangio took one of the three shared driver victories in F1 history, thus sharing the points ahead of Jean Behra's Maserati. Stirling Moss won at Monte Carlo, and second-placed Fangio again took shared points (with Peter Collins), ahead of Behra.

All this left Behra in the points lead after Monaco, and it stands as the only time in F1 history that a driver who never won a Grand Prix has led the championship.

Frenchman Maurice Trintignant made a name for himself by winning in both 1955 and 1958, despite never winning any other race in his career. The versatile Frenchman, who was caught up in the first lap shunt in 1950, was still racing in F1 as late as 1964, and his 82 starts briefly stood as the all-time record, until eclipsed in quick succession by Jack Brabham (Italy 1966) and Bruce McLaren (Holland 1968).

McLaren's name has many statistical relationships with Monaco. The Kiwi arrived for the 1960 race as the youngest man ever to lead the championship (22 years 161 days), a record which still stands. Ten years later, and the 1970 race would be the last of his 100 starts, one month before he was killed testing at Goodwood.

However, it was his 1966 appearance that helped shape the identity of Formula One ever since. Taking a leaf from former teammate Jack Brabham's book, he made his debut as an owner-driver, driving the McLaren-Ford M2B. Pre-dating the Ford DFV V8 by over a year, the enormous USAC-based engine created more noise than power, and the car lasted just nine laps before suffering a terminal oil leak.

Bruce McLaren (McLaren M2B Ford) © LAT

This coming weekend, the team will mark their 40th anniversary, having started over 600 championship races (2nd all-time) and taken 148 race victories - 13 of which have been around the Monaco streets, more than any other constructor. Last year's pole for Kimi Raikkonen also put McLaren ahead of Lotus as the team with the most poles around Monte Carlo, with 10. Lotus had held the record since they became the first two-time pole winners there in 1961.

Of all of McLaren's iconic staff members, such as Teddy Mayer, Ron Dennis and Jo Ramirez, Tyler Alexander is the only man on duty for the team this weekend that was also present for their debut.

For a circuit that sets the great drivers apart unlike any other, it seems absurd that Jim Clark never won this race. He was a four-time pole-sitter, but victory eluded him - most significantly in both 1963, when he crashed while leading 22 laps from the end, and 1965, when he skipped the whole weekend so as to take part in the Indianapolis 500 (which he won). It was the only one of the first seven rounds not won by the Scot, suggesting that '65 was his best opportunity. As it turned out, he was not the only British driver for whom Monaco would be jinxed...

As Clark floundered, Graham Hill established himself as Mr. Monaco. He made his Grand Prix debut for the brand new Lotus team at Monaco in 1958. He then proceeded to win five times between 1963 and 1969. His '68 win came in a race with only five classified finishers, still the joint-lowest classified total ever. 1969 was the last of his 14 career wins, he was the first man ever to reach 150 career starts at the 1973 race, and 1975 saw his last appearance as a driver, failing to qualify the new Hill GH1 chassis. His 17-year F1 career is still the longest in history.

Hill took victory in 1969 ahead of fellow British driver Piers Courage, who was driving for another fledgling team - Frank Williams Racing Cars. This would be Frank's first F1 podium as a team owner, in only his team's second appearance. He would have to wait another 10 years before making it into the F1 winner's circle, by which time he had established Williams Grand Prix Engineering with Patrick Head.

The finish of the 1970 race was dramatic, with Jochen Rindt pressuring Jack Brabham into a mistake at the final corner of the final lap. Rindt's victory is one of ten races in history that a driver has won by leading only the last lap (the most recent was Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2003 Brazilian GP).

Jean-Pierre Beltoise took his only world championship win in the pouring rain of the 1972 event, also giving BRM their last ever victory in the sport. His victory took nearly 2.5 hours, after which a two-hour time limit was imposed on all F1 races.

Another man to take his sole F1 victory at Monaco was Olivier Panis, who won a crazy 1996 race for Ligier from 14th on the grid, in a race where only three cars saw the flag. It was Ligier's first win since the 1981 Canadian GP, the longest gap ever between victories for a constructor.

Bizarrely, given the conditions of the day, the '72 event holds the record for most finishers in a Monaco GP (17). It was the last race to be held on the "old" Monte Carlo circuit, before construction of the Loews hotel, swimming pool complex and Rascasse buildings permanently changed the appearance of the harbour front.

Further alterations were made in 1976, when both Anthony Noghes and Ste. Devote were tightened up; in 1986, when the very quick chicane was replaced with a tighter version; 1997, when the walls were moved back at the swimming pool; and in 2003, when the approach to Rascasse was straightened up, along with moving several barriers further back.

Riccardo Patrese (Brabham BT49D Ford) © LAT

The 1982 Monaco GP was one of the most chaotic in F1 history. It came two weeks after the death of Gilles Villeneuve at Zolder, and a month after the FISA/FOCA "civil war" saw only 14 cars take the start at Imola. This time there would be a full field, and just as it seemed Alain Prost would cruise to victory (having led since lap 15), a rain shower just three laps from the end contributed to Prost suffering a heavy shunt at the chicane.

This left Riccardo Patrese in the lead, until he spun in the damp at Loews hairpin, handing the lead to Didier Pironi. The Frenchman then crawled to a halt at the entry to the tunnel on the last lap, out of fuel. The same thing happened to Andrea de Cesaris at the top of the hill before he could capitalize, and Derek Daly's opportunity disappeared when he too fell foul of the damp conditions, breaking off the rear wing.

In the confusion, Patrese had got going again, and completed the remaining lap and a half to take his first career victory. Had he not done so, it would have been Nigel Mansell taking the honours - but as he was a lap behind Patrese, he was classified fourth, behind Pironi and de Cesaris, both of whom were stopped out on the track!

Always the entertainer, Mansell's luck would be at its most wretched at Monte Carlo. He impressed with third on the grid on his debut in 1981, Lotus's best of the year, only to suffer mechanical failure early on.

In 1984, he qualified on the front row and passed Prost for the lead, only to infamously aquaplane off at Massanet. In 1987, he was leading when his Honda-powered Williams lost boost pressure, and in 1990, an early collision with Thierry Boutsen left him 16th. A terrific recovery drive - including catching and passing Boutsen for fourth - was ruined when his Ferrari's gearbox broke (a not-uncommon occurrence in the early days of semi-automatic transmissions).

Above all else, it's 1992 that Mansell will regard as the one that got away. In the midst of his all-conquering season aboard the Williams FW14B, he led the first 70 laps from pole position, when suddenly he felt a rear wheel go loose in the tunnel. Despite being nearly 30 seconds ahead of Ayrton Senna at the time, he emerged from his precautionary pitstop behind the Brazilian, and despite having a much better car on brand new tyres, he couldn't find a way past Senna, who held him off in the closest finish (0.215 seconds) in Monaco's GP history.

It is Senna who owns the record for most Monaco Grand Prix wins, with six. He first announced his overwhelming talent to the world in the torrential rains of 1984, navigating his Toleman up from 13th to a second place finish, while setting the fastest lap, overtaking two previous world champions along the way (Keke Rosberg and Niki Lauda).

His first Monaco win came in 1987 for Lotus-Honda, and it was technologically significant as the first ever victory for a car with active suspension. The Brazilian was just 12 laps away from winning the '88 race when he clouted the barrier at the Portier, but he then proceeded to lead every single racing lap in Monaco from the start of the 1989 race until the end of the 1991 event.

After his dramatic 1992 victory, he broke Graham Hill's record with an ironic win for McLaren in 1993 - ironic, in that race leader Michael Schumacher suffered an active suspension failure, the same technology that helped Senna win the '87 race. Fate decreed that it would be a sixth win for Senna, but having scored five successes of his own here, Schumacher can tie yet another of the Brazilian's lauded records on Sunday.