Jewel in the Crown Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1929

The first Grand Prix de Monaco was organised in 1929 by Anthony Noghes (the final corner is named after him) and the Automobile Club de Monaco. Interestingly enough, his father, Alexandre, had helped organised the first Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo (Monte Carlo Rally) in 1911.

The race was won by William Grover-Williams, at the wheel of a Bugatti Type 35B. Bugatti would win four of the first five races in Monaco.

Answer: Eau Rouge

Sainte Devote is the first corner of the circuit, a right-hander which has been the scene of many first lap incidents over the years. La Rascasse is the double right-hander prior to Anthony Noghes. Portier is the right-hander before entering the tunnel, where Ayrton Senna famously crashed during the 1988 race. Eau Rouge is perhaps one of the most famous corners in motor racing, though it is part of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

Answer: Yes

Louis Chiron was the first Monegasque driver to win the Monaco Grand Prix, taking his one and only victory at the event in 1931. Starting 11th, he completed the 100 lap event in a little under three hours and forty minutes. He rarely missed a race in his home country either before or after the war, finishing second in 1948 and third in 1950.

In his final race in 1955, he finished sixth in Monaco, as he failed to start in 1956 and did not qualify for the 1957 event. For that last event, he was 57 years old.

Answer: Juan Manuel Fangio

The Monaco Grand Prix was the second event of the 1950 season. Fangio dominated the event, taking pole by over two and a half seconds from Farina, and leading nearly every lap in the process on the Sunday. The race was marred by an enormous pile up at Tabac corner, where a freak wave flooded the track, causing numerous cars to spin off. Surprisingly, it was one of only two victories for Fangio at the circuit, as Monaco did not hold a race in 1951, 1953 or 1954.

Answer: Lotus

New engine regulations for 1961 resulted in the British constructors being left with an underpowered Coventry-Climax engine while Ferrari were well prepared with their new Ferrari 156, dubbed the 'Sharknose'. Driving a privately entered Lotus 18 for Rob Walker, which was inferior compared to the newer cars introduced for the 1961 season, Moss showed all his skills as he held off more powerful cars for lap after lap, leading nearly the entire race after passing Richie Ginther on lap 14. To combat the hot conditions, Moss had removed the side panels of his Lotus to help with cooling.

The win was also the first for Lotus as a constructor in Formula One, though Team Lotus would not win until the United States Grand Prix at the end of the year.

Answer: Graham Hill

Graham Hill is synonymous with Monaco. His first win at the event was in 1963, driving for BRM, and he would take two more wins driving for them in 1964 and 1965, the first driver to ever win the race three times in succession. Further victories followed in 1968 and 1969, driving a Lotus-Ford.

His victory in 1969 was his last in Formula One, his last race in the principality in 1974, as he attempted but failed to qualify for the 1975 event. His record of five wins would remain a record for nearly twenty-five years (when Ayrton Senna won six: 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993).

Answer: Jack Brabham

In his final season, Brabham had a return to form, winning the first race of the season in South Africa, and arrived in Monaco, the third race of the season, only behind Jackie Stewart in the standings. Brabham qualified four for the race, making his way up to third after the start, sitting behind Steward and Chris Amon, who he passed on lap 22. When Stewart entered the pits on lap 27, Brabham assumed the lead and began to build a comfortable lead.

When Amon retired on lap 62, Jochen Rindt took second place and began to close on Brabham in the lead. The cars were barely apart coming into the last lap, and entering the final turn, Gasworks Hairpin, Brabham covered the inside line. But the track was dusty, resulting in him locking up and sliding off, Rindt slipping by to take the win. Brabham had to reverse and eventually took second place. Brabham would finish on the podium two more times before retiring at the end of the season.

Answer: Jean-Pierre Beltoise

After spending six years driving for Matra, Beltoise joined the BRM team for 1972. BRM had been around since the early days of the Formula One World Championship, but by the early 1970s, they had begun their slide towards the back of the grid. BRM and Beltoise arrived in Monaco, the third race of the year, having failed to score a point. However, things looked better in qualifying, Beltoise qualifying a fine fourth. The Grand Prix itself was held in atrocious conditions, Beltoise proving to be a rain master as he led the majority of the race, setting fastest lap, as he took his first and only Formula One victory, and the last for BRM.

Beltoise remained with BRM until the end of the 1974 season, when he retired, while BRM soldiered on until 1977, where chronic underfunding eventually led to the team leaving Formula One. Their last appearance in a race was the 1977 South African Grand Prix. Their last appearance at an event was the 1977 Italian Grand Prix, Teddy Pilette failing to make the grid.

Answer: Patrick Depailler

Depailler made his Formula One debut for Tyrrell in 1972 before joining the team on a full-time basis in 1974. He remained with the team for five seasons, taking numerous podiums, but that first win proved elusive. It finally arrived at the 1978 Monaco Grand Prix, where after qualifying fifth, he outlasted Reutemann, Hunt, Watson and Lauda to comfortably take the chequered flag.

Depailler would win one more race in Formula One, the 1979 Spanish Grand Prix, driving for Ligier. In 1980, he joined the new Alfa Romeo team. He never saw a chequered flag, and in testing for the 1980 German Grand Prix, he was killed after his car suffered suspension failure, his car vaulting the armco in an accident where he suffered fatal head injuries.

Answer: 4

To be honest, before the crazy last few laps, the 1982 race wasn't particularly thrilling. Rene Arnoux, driving a Renault, had taken pole position and easily led the first 14 laps before he spun off at the swimming pool section. Alain Prost, driving the second Renault, assumed the lead, leading comfortably until lap 73, where he crashed just after the chicane.

Then the madness began. Riccardo Patrese took the lead for Brabham, but spun at Loews Hairpin on lap 75, stalling the car at the same time. Didier Pironi then assumed the lead for Ferrari, but he ran out of fuel in the tunnel on the final lap. Andrea de Cesaris would have taken the lead had he not run out of fuel, while Derek Daly would have been next in line, but he'd damaged his car and suffered gearbox problems. James Hunt, commentating for the BBC, then stated "Well, we've got this ridiculous situation where we're all sitting by the start-finish line waiting for a winner to come past, and we don't seem to be getting one!"

Finally, Patrese had managed to bump start his Brabham and he led the 76th and last lap, taking his first Formula One win in the process. Pironi and de Cesaris were classified second and third respectively despite not crossing the finish line.

Answer: Alain Prost

Hoo boy, you could write a novel about what happened at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix. Held in atrocious conditions, it was the first win in Monaco for Alain Prost, the race stopped before 75% distance, so only half points were awarded.

That doesn't tell the whole story. The race was delayed for 45 minutes due to heavy rain. Prost led the early laps before being overtaken by Nigel Mansell, driving a Lotus, leading a race for the first time. But he crashed on lap 15, handing the lead back to Prost, who remained serene out front as car after car crashed behind him.

Coming through the pack was a young Brazilian driver in his first year of Formula One, Ayrton Senna, driving for Toleman. He was soon closing on Prost at a rate of knots, passing the likes of Niki Lauda to take second place and closing in on Prost. By lap 29, Prost was waving at the stewards to have the race stopped due to the conditions. He waved again on lap 31. At the end of lap 32, clerk of the course Jacky Ickx held out the red flag to stop the race. Senna insisted for years afterwards that he was robbed of his first win, though Toleman mechanics admitted that he would have retired with suspension failure shortly after the red flag.

Originally in third place was a young German driver called Stefan Bellof. Starting 20th and last, he was driving the only non-turbo car in the field, and by the time of the red flag, had been closing in on both Prost and Senna, with the possibility of passing both and taking victory. Unfortunately for Bellof, he was later stripped of the position due to a technical infringement by his Tyrrell team. He would be killed at Spa during a sportscar race in 1985.

Answer: 5

Ayrton Senna set the record for the most records at six, and also the most consecutive victories at five. His first win was driving a Lotus-Honda in 1987, after qualifying second, taking the lead from pole-sitter Nigel Mansell after he suffered turbo problems. In his first race at Monaco for McLaren-Honda, he dominated the event, taking pole by nearly 1.5 seconds and leading by over forty seconds when he inexplicably crashed on lap 67, handing victory to Alain Prost, the Frenchman's fourth and final victory at Monaco.

Senna then won five events in a row, all for McLaren, four with Honda power, one with Ford power, from 1989 to 1993. His win in 1992 was particularly fortuitous, after race leader Mansell suffered a late puncture, Senna holding the British driver off for lap after lap, while his 1993 win took advantage of issues for Prost and Schumacher, to take his sixth and final win at Monaco.

The 1994 Monaco Grand Prix was the next race after the great Brazilian was killed at the San Marino Grand Prix. As a mark of respect, the front of the grid was left empty, a Brazilian flag painted on pole position, an Austrian in second in remembrance for Roland Ratzenberger.

Answer: 3

The 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, held in mixed wet and dry conditions, was chaotic at best. The crashes began before the race even began, Andrea Montermini stuffing his Forti into the barrier during the morning warm-up, meaning he couldn't take the grid.

The track was wet at the start, with Jos Verstappen crashing his Footwork at the first corner, with Pedro Lamy and Giancarlo Fisichella, both driving for Minardi, caught up in the same incident. Michael Schumacher crashed his Ferrari while heading towards Portier, while Rubens Barrichello spun and stalled his Jordan heading into Rascasse. There were further accidents for Ukyo Katayama on lap 2 and Ricardo Rosset on lap 3 for Tyrrell and Footwork respectively, before drivers slowly began to adapt to the conditions.

Martin Brundle then spun his Jordan on lap 30, then race leader Damon Hill retired after the engine of his Williams-Renault blew up heading through the tunnel. Jean Alesi, driving a Benetton, took the lead only for his suspension to fail on lap 60. Through all this came Olivier Panis, driving for Ligier, holding on to take his first and only Formula One win. He'd passed Eddie Irvine's Ferrari at Loews, putting the Ferrari into the barrier, while holding off the McLaren of David Coulthard, Johnny Herbert in third for Sauber. Only these three cars would see the chequered flag. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was classified fourth, but he retired in the pits one lap from the end, while Mika Salo and Mika Hakkinen were classified fifth and sixth, having collided with each other and also Eddie Irvine, after the latter had spun in the same place his teammate had crashed on the opening lap.

Answer: Rubens Barrichello

30 minutes before the start of the 1997 Monaco Grand Prix, rain started to fall. Most teams chose to put wet weather tyres on their car, the track notoriously slippery when wet. Lights out, and Schumacher took the lead. By lap five, he led by 22 seconds as those behind him tripped over each other or crashed out. Through the chaos came Rubens Barrichello, driving for Stewart-Ford in their first Formula One season, and he eventually took second place, albeit over fifty seconds behind the winning Ferrari, the marque's first win a Monaco since 1981.

Third was Eddie Irvine, a fantastic result having started 15th on the grid, with Panis unable to repeat his heroics of 1996 by finishing fourth. Fifth for the second year in a row was Mika Salo, who completed the race without stopping, with Giancarlo Fisichella in sixth. As for Williams, it was a weekend to forget. Despite Frentzen taking pole and Villeneuve third, both cars failed to see the flag, choosing to start on dry tyres, both eventually crashing out of the race after stopping for tyres.

Answer: Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso is a two time winner of the Monaco Grand Prix, his successes coming in 2006 for Renault and 2007 for McLaren. He retired from Formula One at the end of 2018.

Mark Webber is a two time winner of the Monaco Grand Prix, both his victories with Red Bull Racing in 2010 and 2012. He retired from Formula One at the end of 2013.

Daniel Ricciardo won the race once during the decade for Red Bull Racing in 2018, and should have won in 2016 if not for a poorly timed pit stop. He left Red Bull Racing at the end of 2018, joining Renault for the 2019 season.

Nico Rosberg is a three time winner of the Monaco Grand Prix, taking a hat-trick of wins in 2013, 2014 and 2015, all for Mercedes. He retired from Formula One at the end of 2016 having won his first and only World Championship.