Autosport Plus

Autosport: There's something about Monaco

In our series of Best of 2006, this is Mark Hughes' column from Autosport Magazine, which was published on June 1st 2006.

Autosport Magazine Dec 6, 2006, 1:17 PM

The palace high up on the hill looks down on the cars as they fly around the tight little track below, indulging Formula 1 and trading off it too, the bringing together of two fairytale lives. The image and profile of these two entities - Monte Carlo and F1 - mark them as heroic glamour survivors in a toned-down age, when men no longer walk the moon and Concorde no longer flies, an age when 'jet set' can otherwise only be used with an ironic post-modern raised eyebrow.

But Monaco and F1, they're full-fat jet set, aren't they? Their annual coupling, greased by money, recharges the batteries of each, adds lustre to the respective images.