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It takes a certain level of bravery to compete at the iconic Monaco Grand Prix, and it’s a major part of why winners at this race are often made immortal in the motorsport realm.
Today, we’re taking a closer look at nine of the greatest victories at the Monaco Grand Prix, centering specifically on the era where the race has been included on the Formula 1 calendar.
Which Monaco Grand Prix win stands as the greatest of all time? 🇲🇨
1982 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Riccardo Patrese
The Monaco Grand Prix is the Formula 1 race every driver wants to win, yet in 1982, it seemed as if no driver wanted to take victory!
One leader after another fell out of contention: Rene Arnoux and Alain Prost crashed into the wall, Didier Pironi and Andrea de Cesaris ran out of fuel, Derek Daly’s gearbox seized. So absurd was the situation that it prompted former F1 champion turned BBC commentator James Hunt to cry, “We’re all sitting by the start-finish line waiting for the winner to come past, and we don’t seem to be getting one!”
Ultimately, the win would go to Riccardo Patrese, who’d had ample problems of his own. On lap 75 of 76, he spun on a slick of oil and stalled his engine. Thankfully, he managed to bump-start the car by rolling it downhill and hopping inside to eke out the final few turns for his first-ever F1 victory.
1961 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Stirling Moss
By the time he lined up for the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix, British icon Stirling Moss was in the later stages of his career, and he’d vowed to select his race cars with national pride in mind. The Lotus 18 he intended to drive for the Rob Walker Racing team was outdated and underpowered compared to 1961’s breakout Ferraris. Yet it was as if Moss hadn’t noticed.
Moss qualified on pole position; while the Ferrari of Richie Ginther nipped by him at the start, the Briton moved back into the lead on lap 14. The entire Ferrari team, composed of Ginther, Phil Hill, and Wolfgang von Trips, proceeded to gang up to chase down Moss, forcing the British racer to push his Lotus to its absolute limits for all 100 laps. And when the chequered flag flew, Moss still managed to secure a win by 3.5 seconds.
READ MORE: How every corner at the Monaco Grand Prix got its name including Sainte Devote and Rascasse
1965 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Graham Hill
Graham Hill was known as Mr Monaco thanks to his stunning performances at the notoriously difficult track; in his 17 starts at the track, he won five Grands Prix, secured pole twice and repeatedly set the fastest lap of the race.
Having qualified on pole for the race in 1965, he was a natural favourite. Yet Hill and fellow BRM teammate Jackie Stewart both ended up spinning; Hill’s spin came after he ran over parts shed from a car ahead of him.
The fight for the race lead then moved to the Ferraris of Lorenzo Bandini and John Surtees. But there was just one problem: Hill was still in the race, and he was closing in.
The Briton made the pass for the lead on lap 65 of 100; after that, he’d build up a gap of over one minute on the competition en route to victory.
1997 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Michael Schumacher
Wet weather conditions at the start of the 1997 Monaco Grand Prix allowed Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher to put on an absolute masterclass of a performance. Starting from second, Schumacher discovered during the rainy warm-up lap that he had pace that held right through into the start. By lap 5, he’d built up a 22-second lead.
It was as if the rest of the field simply didn’t exist. Schumacher lapped the full field up through fifth place before he crossed the line over 53 seconds ahead of the next-nearest driver, Rubens Barrichello, after two hours elapsed.
Schumacher’s 1997 win at Monaco was his first of three in the principality. It put Schumacher in the lead of the championship hunt, and it would be Ferrari’s first victory at Monaco since 1981.
1992 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Ayrton Senna
Britain’s Nigel Mansell, one of F1’s most fearless and hard-charging racers, was a clear favourite for the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix after he qualified on pole and proceeded to lead the first 70 of the race’s 78 laps.
Yet as he neared the end of the race, he sensed that something was wrong. That ‘something’ turned into a loose wheel nut, which transformed into an unexpected pit stop for fresh tyres.
Mansell was in second place when he returned to the track, fast and furious in his efforts at chasing down Ayrton Senna, who’d secured the lead. The lap record fell time and again, and Mansell could practically smell the Brazilian’s gearbox. But he simply could not find the space to pass before the chequered flag flew. Senna would go on to take his fifth Monaco GP victory.
1950 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Juan Manuel Fangio
The first-ever Monaco Grand Prix to be included in the Formula 1 championship was also one of the most compelling and chaotic.
A massive wave from the harbor actually swept onto the track at Tabac on the very first lap of the race, and in this era before radio communication, the full field was caught by surprise. Polesitter and eventual winner Juan Manuel Fangio managed to avoid the chaos, but 10 cars were collected in a first-lap incident.
Fangio didn’t know the field had wrecked, though. He had picked his way through the damp track without issue and, heading into his second lap, he was barreling toward the site of the pile-up at top speed.
That’s when the Argentine driver noticed something peculiar. The spectators lining the track were not looking at the race leader, as they normally would. Instead, their necks were craned in an effort to spy something happening on the track ahead. Fangio reasoned that the only thing fans would care more about than the leader was a wreck, so he slowed down heading into the blind Tabac corner.
It was a good thing he did. Cars were strewn all over the track as drivers and marshals thronged the racing surface trying to clear the way. Because Fangio had slowed, he was able to carefully pick his way through the debris.
He’d go on to win the race, the only driver on the lead lap.
2024 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Charles Leclerc
During the first 80 runnings of the Monaco Grand Prix, only one single Monegasque driver managed to secure victory at his home race. That man was Louis Chiron, one of the track’s founders, all the way back in 1931.
That stat changed to accommodate a second Monegasque winner in 2024: Charles Leclerc.
The race itself was unfortunately not the most interesting one in Monaco’s history; for the first time in Formula 1 history, the top 10 drivers in the race finished in grid order, meaning there were no major passes for position at the front of the field. Yet the emotional celebrations for Leclerc made it one of the most magical wins in recent history.
2018 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Daniel Ricciardo
The 2018 Monaco Grand Prix was destined to be Daniel Ricciardo’s day… until suddenly, it all looked like it would go wrong. Ricciardo held the lead from pole position until he began complaining about a loss of power on lap 28.
As it turned out, he suffered a complete MGU-K failure, which left him with 25 percent less horsepower than usual. Sebastian Vettel hunted Ricciardo down, threatening to overtake the less powerful car, but the German champion couldn’t make it happen. Ricciardo held onto the lead and took victory at the Monaco Grand Prix.
1996 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Olivier Panis
The 1996 Monaco Grand Prix was very much like the 1982 running of the race in the sense that every driver who snagged the lead seemed to come to disaster.
Yet again, it was a wet race, and the clear favourite was Ferrari polesitter Michael Schumacher; his machine may not have been as powerful as the competition, but everyone expected the German’s race craft to make up for it. Then he crashed on the very first lap.
Damon Hill inherited the lead and built up a 40-second gap over the field when his engine exploded. Jean Alesi moved into the front, and his suspension failed.
When the chequered flag flew, it would be none other than Olivier Panis at the front of the field. The race, flagged because it had crested the two-hour mark, was a test of endurance that two other drivers finished. Panis celebrated in high style as an unlikely victor. It would be his only win.
2019 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Lewis Hamilton
The 2019 Monaco Grand Prix looked to be a repeat of the same song F1 fans had grown accustomed to during that Mercedes-dominant era: Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole position and held that into the lead until a safety car emerged on lap 11 to throw the race into strategic disarray.
Hamilton and the three drivers chasing him down pitted for fresh tyres; the competition opted for hards in hopes of lasting the rest of the race without a second stop. Mercedes, however, put Hamilton on mediums. It looked like he’d have to stop again.
Behind him, chaos reigned. Max Verstappen had moved up into second place, but he’d smashed into Valtteri Bottas to do so and had earned a five-second penalty. Both Verstappen and Bottas had to pit for fresh tyres yet again, and Verstappen began chomping at the bit to try to pass Hamilton for the lead, then build up the five-second gap required to insulate him from his penalty.
All the while, the tyres of both challengers for the lead began to disintegrate. On lap 76, Verstappen threw a last-dash move trying to pass Hamilton into the chicane and actually hit the other driver, but it wasn’t enough. Hamilton, on balding tyres, came home with the win.
Bonus: 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, won by Alain Prost
No, Ayrton Senna did not win the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix; that honor instead went to his future McLaren teammate and rival Alain Prost. Yet his second-place finish was so stunning that it could have been considered a victory in and of itself.
The race was run in treacherous conditions; heavy rain forced a 45-minute delay to the start of the race, and when the race got underway again, drivers slipped and slid off the track and into one another left and right.
One driver holding his own was a rookie named Ayrton Senna. He’d qualified his Toleman down in 13th yet seemed to be racing on rails, even as the pouring rain wiped out more experienced competitors.
Prost’s win would be the Frenchman’s first of four at Monaco, but Senna’s second place stole the show.
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