1960's Monaco, The True Definition Of A Street Circuit.

The Monaco street circuit is famed for its medium speed, high danger corners. In the modern day the circuit is extremely safe for the drivers and spectators due to the new barriers, automated flag systems and the cars being designed to take a large impact force. Max Verstappen's crash in 2015 shows this.

1960 Classic Monaco - 3.145 km (1.954 mi)

- 100 laps, 314.500 km (195.400 mi)

- Lap Record:

- Qualifying - Stirling Moss's 1:36.3 (Lotus - Climax)

- Race Lap - Bruce Mclaren 1:36.2 (Cooper Climax)

As you can see the circuit was extremely tight, making the 2018 circuit look wide in comparison. It makes racing fans wonder what thoughts went through the drivers minds while racing at this circuit. Also to add that the circuit was not modern and there was large bumps and holes in the track which in some areas replaced by some wood paneling/decking!

But in 1960, driver safety and spectator safety wasn't really thought about. Spectators could still walk on the paths around the circuit, most famously at the hairpin. Also the drivers cars were not designed to take a large impact just speed. The 1960 Monaco Grand Prix was the beginning of the circuits design phase. You can already see above that the layout has not changed an awful lot in its history since 1960.

Above - The differences in driver safety are considerably different nowadays than the 1960's. You can now see no more spectators on the inside of the hairpin, a wider circuit, barriers and no pathways. This has been changed over along period of time, most of these design and safety changes happened in the 1970's with more improved systems coming in the 1980-2000 period. With the latest addition of the new TECHPRO barriers in 2010 onward to furthermore improve driver and spectator safety.

In 1960 Bruce Mclaren won the race, with a fastest lap of a 1:36.2! Which was 0.1 tenths faster than Stirling Moss's qualifying lap of a 1:36.3. Meanwhile in 2018 the lap record was beaten in qualifying to a 1:10.810 by Daniel Riciardo. That is the difference of 58 years, in car prefromance and minor circuit layout changes.

Owein Iveson

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