Monaco GP: The Crown Jewel of F1 under threat?


If you were to read about Ayrton Senna, one of F1’s greatest-ever drivers, chances are that the first five prompts on Google would be about his exploits at the Monaco Grand Prix. Even today, Monaco continues to be the Crown Jewel of Motorsport, bringing in visitors of the highest stature. Moreover, Monaco has been associated with dropping iconic pieces of commentary such as “The grandstands he saw built as a kid growing up now rise for him and for the first time in 93 years this fabled race is won by one of their own. Charles Leclerc wins the Monaco Grand Prix to achieve his dream.”

Called the ‘Fabled Race’, Monaco has always been F1’s fulcrum, but as F1 evolves and new markets emerge, will Monaco always retain its status as the ultimate jewel—or is its reign at risk?

How did Monaco gain such a legendary stature?

Monaco’s legendary stature comes primarily from two aspects. First, its tight and narrow layout, filled with many elevation changes and sharp turns makes it one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar despite not seeing high speeds. Second, the glamour and glitz it brings to Formula 1 is unparalleled, with celebrities across industries, including sports, fashion, cinema et al being a constant feature at every Monaco GP. The opportunity to view the race from the comfort of one’s own yacht and establish new contacts further pulls rich and successful businessmen to Monaco during the race weekend. Additionally, the effort it takes to organise a successful Grand Prix in a principality of just 2.08 km2 is something deeply appreciated, so much so that the FIA, the world’s premier motorsport regulation body, awarded the First FIA Gold Medal for Motorsport to Prince Rainier of Monte Carlo.

Why does Monaco want to be a part of F1’s calendar?

Monaco GP started off as the principality’s primary endeavour to possess a full-fledged national motorsport club, elevating the existing Monte Carlo Club from its regional status. Yet, even as almost a century passed since the inception of the Monaco GP, the principality continues to strive to be a part of the racing calendar. Until 2022, Monaco GP’s promoter, the Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM) paid no hosting fee and was allowed to keep 100% of the race weekend’s revenue to itself, making the Grand Prix a very lucrative source of income for the tax haven. Despite F1 imposing a 20 million USD hosting fee on Monaco’s current contract cycle from 2023-2025, it still remains the lowest hosting fee paid by a promoter on the calendar, with newer tracks such as Lusail and Las Vegas paying well over 50 million USD as hosting fee. Monaco also has one of the pricier tickets for the weekend, with a 3-day pass ranging from 1280 euros, all the way to 7800 euros, which compensates for the lower fan attendance, and thus maintains the high total revenue. Being a part of the race calendar further acts as a promotional tool for the principality to market itself as the ideal destination for the super-rich, leveraging its tax haven status, along with its reputation as an elite location. Monaco does not wish to risk losing its status as F1’s crown jewel, which could lead to a massive drop in the tourism revenue generated by the principality. In essence, the principality sustains itself on the tourism sector and the sector devoid of F1 could see itself crashing.

Why does F1 want Monaco on its calendar?

Monaco GP is dubbed as the crown jewel of F1 and for valid reasons. It is one-third of the unofficial ‘Triple Crown’ of motorsport, which is considered as the greatest achievement for a driver in racing.  Its sheer difficulty brings out the highest skill and aura out of every driver on the grid which can be backed up by the performances of some of the greatest drivers of all time, such as Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. For F1 as a business, Monaco is a lucrative option that helps sustain its global operations in the long run. How exactly?  Monaco brings F1 into the spotlight for some of the world’s ultra-rich people, which is extremely helpful for both F1 as a brand, as well as participating teams to secure sponsors for their operations. Secondly, F1 wishes to acknowledge the historical contributions of Monaco across the history of motor-racing and regards it as an indispensable part of F1 for the foreseeable future. However, Liberty Media, F1’s promoter has made some shrewd demands to the ACM for it to remain on the track, including paying hosting fees, providing advertising and television controls to Liberty Media; thus challenging the indomitable ‘Crown Jewel’ status of Monaco, something which the race organisers, i.e, the ACM has tended to depend a lot on for its negotiations.

What would happen to F1 if Monaco is out of the calendar?

F1, post the Bernie Ecclestone era has taken a more business-oriented approach and has considered commercially viable options, including shelving Monaco if it is possible to replicate the glitz and glamour associated with the principality. The exploration of the American markets is primarily driven by this approach to try and capture the exponential growth of F1 in America. Particularly, organising races in Miami (which is centred around the iconic Hard Rock Stadium) and Las Vegas (which includes the historic Las Vegas Strip) seeks to create glitz and glamour, synonymous with that of Monaco. Las Vegas in particular, seems to be F1’s best option, for F1 is its own promoter for the race, and the profits and revenue in its entirety will go to F1 solely. With respect to filling Monaco’s space on the calendar, the race to be a host city has intensified recently, with many new cities as well as former hosts expressing interest in hosting a race. Existing circuits, such as Kyalami in South Africa and Sepang in Malaysia wish to capture the growing popularity of F1 and boost tourism in their respective countries, while prospective hosts such as Thailand and South Korea are also showing interest in organising a street circuit race, similar to Monaco. With F1 seeking to diversify itself from European markets into Asia and Africa, this provides a perfect opportunity for the above-listed nations to enter the world of motorsport. The proof of government interest in organising an F1 race was cemented when former Thai Prime Minister, Srettha Thavisin attended the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and met with the organisers as well.

What are the options available to F1 if Monaco is out of the calendar?

While the historical aspect of Monaco, in no way can be replicated in any other Grand Prix, F1 can only leverage better racing and more fan engagement in the replacement circuit. It is universally understood that race days in Monaco tend to get a bit boring because of the extreme scarcity of overtaking opportunities. As long as the replacement circuit allows for better racing, it would lead to a better net-positive case for F1, attracting more viewers and ticket sales, along with a considerably higher hosting fee. The glamour and glitz associated with Monaco are also being replicated at the Las Vegas and Miami GP, centring the track around exotic locations like the Las Vegas Strip and the Hard Rock Stadium respectively. With both the Grand Prix seeing record high viewership and ticket sales in America, as well as attracting celebrities across various industries, the goal of replicating the glitz and glamour of Monaco seems to be coming to fruition. In a nutshell, while F1 is trying to keep the historical value of Monaco on the track for many years to come, it has decided to move out of the Monaco bubble and prepare for life without Monaco, if it were to ever arise, through strategic host selection and a tactical business approach.

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