Monaco is called the crown jewel of F1, not just because of the glitz and glamor, but because winning in the Principality is one of the biggest feats a driver can achieve in their career. The street circuit on the Mediterranean shores is one of the toughest to navigate on the calendar, and many have been intimidated by it in the past, including Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo‘s name will always be synonymous with Monaco, thanks to his iconic 2018 win. But long before that, when he was just starting out as an F1 driver, the idea of pushing to the limit around the Monaco track got to his head. However, that may not have been the case had Ricciardo not made a simple mistake.
“One of the biggest mistakes I made in Monaco is I watched one of the practice sessions from, I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t even in F1 by that point. But I remember standing on the side of the track…” Ricciardo said in a conversation on the Armchair podcast with Dax Shepard in 2020.
Because of how close he was to the real action, the Aussie driver witnessed first-hand, how fast the cars were traveling on the narrow streets of Monaco. It frightened him, but once he got into the car, he realized he was in his comfort zone and that it wasn’t all that bad. “It feels ok, but it’s intimidating.”
Admittedly, Ricciardo must have overcome his fears because he turned out to be a pretty handy Monaco GP racer. In fact, his most iconic win ever came at that particular circuit.
Ricciardo’s triumph and heartbreaks at Monaco
In 2018, Ricciardo battled in a car with 25% less horsepower due to engine issues to win the Monaco GP, and there wasn’t a smile in the paddock wider than his that day. He was desperate to win, largely because he felt fate owed him, as a dominant victory had been taken away from him in 2016 through no fault of his own.
Ricciardo had secured P1 in qualifying, which in Monaco almost guarantees a victory due to the difficulty of overtaking on the circuit, something he acknowledged in the podcast. The Perth-born driver was also flying in the race, but then, tragedy struck.
A pit-stop error made by Red Bull took valuable time away from him and he ended up finishing P2 on the podium, looking absolutely distraught. That’s why, two years later, nothing — not even a faulty engine — could take the win away from a determined Ricciardo. That iconic dip into the swimming pool following his win became an all-time classic F1 moment.
Swimming pool time #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/BId8uWldZp
— Daniel Ricciardo #3 (@ricciardonews) May 27, 2018
This, however, was as good as things would get for Ricciardo in Monaco. During his time with Renault, and later McLaren, he would struggle at the same track. With McLaren in particular, he endured two of his most difficult races ever, finishing P12 and P13 in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Testing the skills of the very best
Ricciardo isn’t the only driver to have endured a difficult Monaco GP. It has tested the grit, and skills of some of the best in F1 history. The narrow walls mean that drivers must remain constantly alert to avoid making contact and causing a crash.
Additionally, with overtaking being extremely difficult, a single slip-up in qualifying could ruin a driver’s hopes for the race. This makes Monaco’s qualifying one of the most exciting events on the F1 calendar, making the race equally boring from a spectator’s point of view.
Over the last few years, it has been reported that F1 has tried to replace it on the calendar. However, due to its iconic status as one of the original Grand Prix races — having been part of the first-ever Championship and every year since, except for 2020 — it has endured.
