Monaco Grand Prix

The Monaco GP is my favourite race to photograph: hands down! From your point of view you won’t be attending this race for the racing as it’s nigh on impossible to overtake on the tight and twisty street circuit. BUT, in terms of a spectacle, this is the pinnacle.

The weather is normally glorious and the harbour is packed full of expensive yachts. This draws a monied crowd of business heavyweights, glamourous women, social climbers and motorsport lovers.

Just about every boat has a party on board and you can even purchase tickets to these functions via the likes of F1 Experiences.

On the subject of accommodation, you’ll pay 4 – 8 times the normal rate to stay at a Monaco hotel over the race weekend if you can score a room at all. Most stay in the small towns along the coast and train in each day. Nice is a popular spot to stay and if you have the funds, you can take a helicopter transfer to and from the track.

Like many cities, Monaco restaurants wheel out their special “Grand Prix menus”; jacking up prices by a factor of plenty but there are always punters eager to pay the price to dine in this most elite of F1 cities.

Note that F1 changed to the track days a couple of years ago and it now falls in line with 22 of the 23 races seeing cars on track Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In the past, the Friday practice sessions were held on the Thursday and the event was held over 5 days instead of the normal 4.