Why there was more to Monaco than Leclerc’s Lauda Ferrari crash

The accident that befell the current Formula 1 world championship leader, which was caused by a brake issue, certainly stole the headlines. But there were also eight races, seven for grand prix cars dating back to before the Second World War and one for sportscars of the 1950s, and several past masters competing.

The historic event around the famous streets normally takes place once every two years, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020 event to be postponed. That meant competitors returned just over 12 months after the 12th Historique, which was the scene of another incident involving an F1 driver and a classic Ferrari…

GT ace Stuart Hall was one of the undoubted stars this time around, scooping a double with McLaren machinery in two of the races for 1970s F1 cars.

Dominant poleman Hall made a poor getaway in the race for cars of the 1966-72 era, allowing the screaming ex-Chris Amon Matra MS120C of Jordon Grogor to lead as far as Tabac. There, Hall sent Roald Goethe’s M19A down the inside before heading off into the distance.

Grogor then came under pressure from the BRM P153 of ex-F1 racer Esteban Gutierrez. Wearing a Pedro Rodriguez tribute helmet, Gutierrez channelled his fellow Mexican despite a relative lack of power with his V12.

Sadly, Gutierrez soon dropped out with gearbox trouble, briefly causing a full-course yellow. Grogor was penalised for a jump-start and dropped to third, handing second to the Surtees TS9 of regular historic frontrunner Michael Lyons.

Atmosphere

Photo by: Olivier Caenen / ACM

Hall also took pole for the 1973-76 F1 race, which had arguably the finest grid of drivers in the meeting. Brazilian veteran and 41-time world championship GP starter Roberto Moreno qualified second in an Embassy Lola T370 and three-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner was third in a Lotus 76. They were followed by Lyons (McLaren M26), winner of the contest and two other races in 2021, and Goodwood favourite Nick Padmore (Lotus 77). The field also included ex-F1 driver Jean-Denis Deletraz and Le Mans legend Emanuele Pirro in Shadows.

Moreno moved before the lights went out, checked himself and made a slow start. As he fell to fourth, Werner chased Hall’s M23.

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Hall weathered Werner’s early attack and edged away with a series of fastest laps, though the tenacious German kept up the chase and sometimes closed in traffic. He finished just 1.5 seconds adrift.

Lyons, Moreno and Padmore battled hard for third, Lyons just holding on and Moreno being demoted from fourth to fifth thanks to censure for his start keenness.

With poleman Miles Griffiths non-starting in the unfancied Fittipaldi F5A, Lyons led the 1977-80 F1 contest all the way. Startline contact between Williams drivers David Shaw (FW06) and Mark Hazell (FW07B) helped the Hesketh driver’s cause as Lyons repeated last year’s success and left Mike Cantillon’s Tyrrell to take a distant second.

The 1981-85 race was a new addition for the event, albeit without the turbocars that dominated much of the era. Three JPS-liveried Lotuses led the way, Werner (87B) from Lyons (92) and the twin-chassis 88 of Padmore.

Marco Werner in action

Photo by: Michael Holden

Werner always looked in command of the Lotus 1-2-3, while a race of incident and penalties helped the versatile Frank Stippler finish fourth in an Alfa Romeo 182.

Another experienced GT racer starred in the pre-1961 front-engined grand prix stanza. Claudia Hurtgen hurled the 1960 Italian GP-winning Ferrari Dino to pole, just 0.252s ahead of Tony Wood in the Tec-Mec. Wood was jumped by Joaquin Folch-Rusinol’s Lotus 16 at the start but blasted into second as the lead trio started lap two.

Wood shadowed the Ferrari but had not been able to get within striking range when Michael Birch’s Connaught spun at Antony Noghes and was hit by Marshall Bailey’s Lotus 16.

The leading duo made it by, but the trio battling for third – the 16s of Folch-Rusinol and Max Smith-Hilliard, and Maserati 250F of Guillermo Fierro-Eleta – did not. The ensuing traffic chaos brought out the red flags, with Fierro-Eleta (a double winner in 2021) awarded third.

Hurtgen only qualified fifth for the 1952-57 front-engined sportscars encounter in a Maserati 300S and couldn’t make progress despite being part of an early top-five breakaway.

Poleman Fred Wakeman (Cooper-Jaguar) kept his nerve in the face of late challenges from 300S pair Lukas Halusa and Fierro-Eleta to win, with Niklas Halusa fourth in the family’s 1954 Le Mans Jaguar D-type.

Last year’s victor Mark Shaw was under intense pressure from poleman Joe Colasacco’s Ferrari 1512 when he carried too much speed into Ste Devote on the penultimate lap of the race for 1961-65 GP cars.

A lunge down the inside into the same corner had given Shaw the lead but, with the Lotus 21 in the barriers, Colasacco was left to take victory by 31.1s over Christopher Drake’s Cooper T71/T73.

Start action

Photo by: Michael Holden

Mark Gillies (R3A) and Nick Topliss (R4A) formed an all-ERA front row for the pre-war GP car and voiturette encounter. Topliss swept around the outside to lead into the first corner as the duo soon left the rest behind.

Topliss initially built a small cushion but fell back towards a charging Gillies in the closing stages. Going onto the penultimate lap, Topliss attempted to dive down the inside of Thierry Chanoine at Ste Devote to lap the Riley Dobbs. Contact was made, Topliss retired with a damaged left-rear corner and Gillies was left to win.

The Maserati of Anthony Sinopoli and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards in the Goodwood race-winning Frazer Nash Monoposto completed the podium more than a minute behind after Ewan Sergison’s Maserati wilted.