Monaco Grand Prix 2008

The weekend of May 24, I went to the last qualifying day of the Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday. I went with one of my work friends who had gotten free tickets from one of her friends who volunteers at the race every year.

(Photos to follow once my friend downloads them off her camera!!!)

We lucked out, because it rained most of Saturday morning, but during the 3.5 hours we were there, the rain held off and the sun even came out. (The race the next day was held in the rain.)

Because Monaco is so small, they are able to block off all the views of the course unless you have a ticket or know someone with an apartment overlooking the course.

We took the train, and it was very well signposted with directions to the various seating areas. It was a carnival atmosphere. The streets were all decorated with signage and various booths selling merchandise. Red was the color of the day. Not only are red and white the colors of Monaco, but red is the main color of the Ferrari racing team, which is well-supported, and I think the McLaren team has red in its colors as well. The streets were teeming with people wearing all manners of red.

I know almost nothing about Formula 1 racing, but it is a huge spectator sport in Europe and very popular to watch on TV. I remember watching it from time to time growing up, but have never really known much about it.

Our seats were fantastic. We were actually sitting on bleachers on one of the quays in the Monaco harbor facing back into the town. We were in the front row of our section, and the only thing between us and the cars were some small boats, 15 yards of water, and a large fence. And it's loud--insanely so. They sell earplugs to the spectators. (We had been forewarned and brought our own, so we didn't have to pay the crazy price of 5 euros.) The cars have this high-pitched whine that echoes off all the buildings. It's like nothing I've heard before.

My friend is Finnish, so we were rooting for Kimi Raikkonen, who is a Finnish driver on the Ferrari team. He drove a red Ferrari car that day, but another of his teammates, a Brazilian called Felipe Massa (who won the qualifying that day), was also in an identical red car. The only way we could distinguish the two was by their helmets. Raikkonen had a red helmet, Massa a yellow one.

Our seats were at a zig-zag part of the course, so we were hoping that they would have to slow down a bit, but no. The cars went by so bloody fast that you could just barely figure out who was who before they were gone. If they slowed down at all, the only way to tell was from the sound of them changing gears slightly.

The qualifying race took place over an hour, where the drivers went out in several groups. I think they did 10 laps or so in each group. After each group, some were eliminated. The remainder at the end raced in the major race on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton, the wunderkind from the UK who drives for McLaren, won the race on Sunday.

After the race, we went to a little cafe and had some rose and watched the people go by for a while. There were all shapes, sizes, colors, and styles. And that's just the sunglasses. We did see this one woman who must have been to the plastic surgeon the day before--her top lip stuck out quite obviously from her face, and not because of an overbite. Yikes.

As we walked back to the train when we were leaving, the noise from the race that followed the qualifying (a Formula 2 race or something) was unbelievable. We were at least 6 blocks from the course, but the sound echoed off everything. And we didn't have our earplugs in. No wonder someone told us that most residents of Monaco go away for that weekend!

All in all, I would say that if you are huge into F1, it would be worth the insane ticket prices to go see it. Otherwise, it's better to watch it at home on TV--you see more of the race that way, although you do miss the atmosphere on the streets.