Postcard from the Monaco Grand Prix

However out of place they look on the telly, it is nothing compared to reality. There is nothing more likely to make you imagine race horses on a dog track than watching modern F1 cars try to negotiate the streets of Monte Carlo.

It is absurd. When racing first came here in 1929 and cars were slim as blades, neither gripped nor stopped and would lap at around 50mph, it would have made a lot of sense. Today, with cars lapping at over twice that speed, it makes no sense at all. Which, I guess, is part of the charm.

If you have been to Monaco you will doubtless have ‘done’ a lap. How could you not? And if you have you will appreciate more than anyone who’s merely seen it from afar just how incomprehensible is the idea of averaging over 100mph. It’s preposterous. Yet that is what these 1000 horsepower downforce monsters are capable of. And I use the noun advisedly, for in power, in weight (by former F1 standards) and in size, monsters they are.