Monaco Grand Prix 2008

Sun 25th May

Tonight we have the satisfaction of falling asleep knowing that we'll remember this day for the rest of our lives: our first (and hopefully not last) Monaco Grand Prix.


The morning started off a little rocky. Since we were in secteur rocher, the general admission seating on a cliff face, we knew we had to arrive early to stake out a good spot. Arrive early enough and you'll have out-smarted the rich posers who paid €600 for a grand stand ticket. Arrive a little too late, and you're a dimwit who paid €75 to stare at the back of someone's head. It was a dangerously narrow line to walk.

Everything we read conflicted about the best time to arrive. Some websites said that they opened seating at 12am Saturday night so people could camp out to guard a spot. Others said that arriving first thing Sunday morning was plenty early. One report that didn't conflict was the weather forecast: heavy rain.

Taking our chances, we opted to arrive first thing Sunday morning, assuming most people would probably do the same due to the weather.

At 4am the alarm went off. The first train to Monaco was at 5:51am and we had a 3km cycle in the pitch dark and pouring rain ahead of us, not to mention huge crowds to fight. By 5:15, we were peddling down the road, grateful that the heavy rain hadn't started yet.

5:30am We locked up our bikes, purchased train tickets and felt mighty proud of ourselves that no one else had arrived at the train station yet.

5:55am We wondered why the train was late, and why we were still the first people at the train station.

5:58am We noticed that the train sign now said 6:28 suprime. Hmm... next train must be at 6:28. Damn...

6:30am we wondered why the 2nd train was late, and why we were still the first people at the train station.

Around 6:35am a few Swedish tourists arrived on the platform carrying huge amounts of luggage, obviously bound for the airport. After we established that no trains had arrived yet, one of them asked me what "suprime" meant in French. "Oh - it must mean it's a very large train... you know like 'supreme'. The Monaco Grand Prix is on today," I explained.

God I can be a right idiot sometimes. The Swedish tourist pulled out his French phrase book and our faces turned pale as he translated suprime to mean "cancelled". Our memories jogged back to Wednesday when we'd heard about train strikes, but had assumed it was a one day ordeal. Oops.

Panic ensued, with much running between train and bus stations. Thankfully a train turned up at 7:22am, but our hopes of a clear view were quickly fading.

8:3oam and we arrived at the top of Secteur Rocher, peering down the steep cliffside into a sea of umbrellas and tents. The twisting queue down the wall was at a standstill and the people around us started to give up, climbing further up the cliff or pulling a chair out on the spot.

Secteur Rocher

My best advice - whatever you do just keep looking for a spot! We pushed past the crowds and wandered to just behind the front rows where we found a small gap on a very steep slope with a perfect view of a turn, straight-away and a TV. It was horrifically uncomfortable, as everytime you sat down your butt just slid down the rocky muddy slope on the plastic bags, but the pain was worth the view.

Video: Our view in secteur rocher

The races started at 9:45 so there was barely any waiting time before the excitement began. First up was the Porsche Super Cup - basically some really flash cars getting you warmed up for the big event that afternoon. The rain was bucketing down, but the driving was intense, followed shortly by the Formula Renault 3.5 at 11am.

Around 12:45am, the fanfare really kicked into full swing. A huge flat-bed truck carrying all of the drivers pulled on to the circuit like a ticker-tape parade. The crowds went wild while celebrities and sports club owners poured off the yachts (all viewable on the big screen TVs) to watch the Formula 1 teams prepare. It was like an international superbowl, but with everyone in white suits and sunglasses on floating box seats.

Formula One drivers parade the circuit. Lewis Hamilton is 2nd from the top, upper left corner.

As the drivers warmed their tires with a few opening laps, the rain got heavier. Keeping your footing became impossible on the muddly slopes and I started to check my watch for how much longer we'd be enduring such bad weather. My bum was covered in mud, my hands were covered in mud, my feet were covered in mud... misery was starting to settle in despite the upcoming race.

Two laps in and a Formula 1 car spun out on our turn, smashing into the wall. (No I didn't catch it on video, but I proceeded to video nearly every lap the rest of the race hoping it'd happen again.) Somehow the driver recovered and carried on, but I found myself on my feet hooting and hollering. Now I understood the weather factor... this was going to be a good race!!

Video: Several cars cornering in front of secteur rocher

Long story short, it was an incredible day and I do hope we'll get back to the Grand Prix again. I was worried it'd be a bunch of rich wannabe's showing off - and they were definitely there. But the crowd in secteur rocher was brilliant, the atmosphere was humming and hearing the roar of the cars through your ear plugs and smelling the burning rubber just can't be conveyed on TV.

Formula One cars in the rain

If we went back again next year, I wouldn't change a thing -- except maybe checking the news for train strikes first.

Lewis Hamilton's victory lap

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Photos & Video

View all Monaco Grand Prix photos

Note: I'm still waiting for some of these videos to finish uploading, so I'll update the links as soon as they're done. Video quality isn't great, but hopefully it gives some sense of what it was like to be there!

Video: GP Porsche Super Cup 2008
Video GP Renault 3.5 2008
Video: Pit teams practicing for Sunday's race
Video: Rain starts early in the race
Video: Several cars cornering in front of secteur rocher
Video: 360 degree pan of the secteur rocher crowd
Video: Lewis Hamilton in 3rd place
Video: Spectators across Monaco
Video: Our view of Lewis Hamilton's win