This weekend is the greatest weekend in motorsports on account of three major races: The Indy 500, the Coca-Cola 600, and the DTM race at the Lausitzring. Just kidding! It’s the Monaco Grand Prix, which is one of the most beautiful races in the world, though rarely one of the more interesting races… unless someone lets a boat loose.
If there’s one race on the calendar that feels like it upholds the concept that Formula 1 is now just a party for the rich, it’s the Monaco Grand Prix. Set on the narrow streets of the tiny principality, the race is often determined by some mix of whoever manages to get up front in qualifying, with passes for the lead often happening in the pits and not on the race track.
Being set in Monaco also allows for ‘Billionaires Row,” which is the collection of yachts in the harbor of the race. Think of it as a grandstand for the grandest of all. The prices for the yachts vary, but the biggest yacht is owned by the Ritz-Carlton and you pay $10,000 to $100,000 for a room on a mini cruise around France that ends in Monaco.
Ok, but let’s get back to the boat. Here’s the video:
This might be the most expensive crash of the #MonacoGP weekend pic.twitter.com/mfaqbwWR9F
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) May 25, 2024
It’s not clear what exactly happened here, but a boat (possible a tender used to move people from massive yachts to shore) clearly got loose without a driver. This means the unmanned boat was still on and the boat’s driver, presumably, didn’t have an engine cutoff wristband or other way of killing the power. Oops.
In this video, you can see it getting loose and scraping the ever-lovin’ crap out of one of the yachts, and jumping a floating pier. Thankfully, the people walking down the pier manage to avoid getting hit and no one else was injured according to social media reports. Here’s what an alleged eyewitness had to say:
F1 Monaco Qualifier Boat Crash, saw it live. Scraped three yachts, hit 3 boats. Manless Vessel, purely lazy and chaotic.
Firemen on seen checking up a few visitors, check out the CCTV angle. This was when it was being towed out by authorities. #Monaco #monacogp #Formulaone pic.twitter.com/W5dKtXRo0N
— Logan Burek (@LoganBurek) May 25, 2024
Other social media reports indicate that the golden-colored yacht there was the worst to get hit out of about three vessels that were struck. It may be the “Golden Fight” if this image is correct. Either way, it seems to have landed on the charter yacht Lady Jersey, which costs about $56,000 a day.
Hopefully, the race is more exciting than this moment.
Topshot: The Qualified Captain.
what race? the top 10 finishers had qualified in exactly the same order they finished, under team orders to back off. The pit stops occurred under red. It was an incredibly boring parade, a waste of high-priced machinery and brilliant drivers. The historic setting is wonderful, but not worthy of a modern F1 “race”.
I’ve been to Monaco GP a couple of times, it is a far more enjoyable experience live than on the TV (I would argue the Silverstone race is the exact opposite). Live you fully get to appreciate the F1 drivers skill levels threading through the swimming pool section just millimeters from the barriers (or not in Stroll’s case). The cheap seats on the hill (known as Sector Rocher) are surprisingly affordable and give some of the best views of the circuit from the tunnel exit to Anthony Noghes. Also afterwards you’re in the middle of a town for a night out rather than spending 6 hours trying to get out of a muddy car park.
“Hopefully, the race is more exciting than this moment.”
Narrator’s voice: It was not.
I know this is an F1 thread, but you guys gotta see this save from O’Ward at Indy. I just saw it, and I am blown away by the insane reaction time. There are like 4 counter-steer corrections in 2 seconds. Simply…wow. (not click-bait, lol. For reals some crazy stuff.) 🙂
https://x.com/IndyCaronNBC/status/1794861471748497536
Click bait because X, but I saw that and ???? agree it was a fantastic save
Hilarious that you would take that stand on an auto site about clickbait (lol), but you do you. Odd because you watched the Twitter link.
You are choosing to be a bummer. Pick your own moral battle. It ain’t here. It’s OK to have fun.
It’s pretty friggin’ cool, either way. Have a fantastic Monday 🙂
As a full-on Euro snob, today’s 500 made me clap my hands and laugh out loud, it was such a good race. 16 different leaders, 87 passes for the lead. 200 more laps to go at Charlotte, more likely than not it will also be a blast. F1 has lost me forever.
I agree about all of it. F1 can do them, It clearly is working.
Like I said before.
Neat.
Was there a single pass made between lap 2 and the finish on lap 78? It seemed like a single file parade for 77/78ths of the “race.” But the first half lap was exciting.
Max Verstappen agrees, “I just tried to follow George and we were so off the pace trying to manage the tyres. That is of course quite boring out there, driving literally half-throttle on the straights in some places, a gear higher than you would normally do and four seconds off the pace, so that is not really racing.”
Couldn’t tell you. After interminable minutes of some broadcaster wandering around trying to get past bodyguards so that he could interview various VIPs and influencers I switched it off, not to return. F1 is now thoroughly for the Kardashians and their paid subscribers, no longer for me.
Yes, there were several at the back end of the grid.
Because Logan Sargeant is a Formula 1 driver there will always be a chance to pass someone.
I must share my story of similar stupidity. I am not a regular boater these days, but generally capable and am pretty good at maneuvering boats so reasonably confident. However one day I was about to dock a 22 foot fishing boat in our slip while wearing regular gym shoes. I was slowly idling up the channel and about to make the turn into the slip when I went to grab a line or something. Just then I slipped hard on a tiny splash of water and while falling, instinctively grabbed for anything. My hand found purchase on the throttle and pushed it all the way forward. Pure terror flooded my brain while I desperately scrambled to get up while the boat lunged upward then forward. Luckily I was just able to grab the throttle while still on my knees and yank it to full reverse. Somehow I managed to just miss three or so other boats and piers while looking like a complete moron to anyone wearing proper boating footwear. I’ve rarely been so panicked and definitely learned a valuable shoe lesson that day.
And no, we never had a wrist strap or any other safety system. If I hadn’t been able to reach the throttle or if it had broken off in my hand it would have been an absolute injurious disaster.
My favorite line about this video that I saw online:
“Mazepin arriving at Monaco”
That will buff out.
Most exciting Gran Prix ever
No worse than some parking jobs I’ve seen at the local big box retailer…
FSD or BlueCruise?
I’m guessing the latter, unless the water in the harbor is really dirty….
I will keep posting this until?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck3Cycrmvcc&t=2s
way too cool.
Actually another driverless vehicle, the Haas car of Kevin Magnusson, caused some excitement in the race. It turns out even a bowling ball can drive a Haas car.
I think Perez was more to blame, he moved from left to right, pushing Magnusson into the barrier. Should Magnusson have breaked to avoid the collision? Maybe
Hulkenberg, after being wiped out by Perez in the rebound, summoned it up pretty correctly “that was totally unnecessary”
“Hopefully, the race is more exciting than this moment.”
Well, if the first lap is any indication…
The red flag that it caused pulled the rug out of all further excitement. Almost everyone directly switching to hard doesn’t do wonders to pitstop shenanigans.
Total snooze-fest, right?
Martin Brundle’s grid walk was more exciting for its unpredictability than the rest of the race.
Oh noes, won’t somebody please think of the poor billionaires?? Good that nobody was hurt, though, and the damage looks to be minimal, likely equivalent to just a quarter, a Kennedy half-dollar, or even a Sacagawea dollar on the ground not worth the effort of stooping to pick up for those billionaires.
“[T]he concept that Formula 1 is now just a party for the rich”
The article by Stef Schrader this linked to was indeed quite a good read; likewise with an article written by Kate Wagner for Road & Track which was quickly and unceremoniously pulled from R & T’s website though it can be found elsewhere: https://x.com/mcmansionhell/status/1766480423045976217?t=OQhXykwcs7L8tfk7uMypUg&s=19
Kates article is a fantastic read. That girl can write! You should sign her up to write for Autopian Matt.
It was well written but tonally all over the place. As I said elsewhere, I’m not sure what my belief in a living wage, workers rights, universal healthcare and reasonably priced housing has to do with the pinnacle of global motorsport, but maybe that’s just me.
Yes, I agree with that assessment. Too much socialist angst for my old sensibilities. Initially thought it was a conscious effort to illustrate the divide, but after rereading, it is an uneccessary distraction. I am chalking it up as a yout thing, like dyed hair, tats, nose rings and tedious protests..
“dyed hair, tats, nose rings and tedious protests.”
Sounds like the 1970’s to me.
Must have been a different 70s from mine. There were tie dyed clothing, biker tats, mood rings and of course tedious protests. Course the 70’s is a bit hazy. Seems tedious protests are a generational meme.
+1. As I read it, I asked myself who she was writing for, because it didn’t seem to be motorsports fans, car enthusiasts in general, or those curious about Formula 1 in particular. Instead, she seemed to be writing for, well, Twitter.
There are plenty of outlets for class politics, including some of the most-read and most prestigious publications out there. I can see why Road & Track pulled it.
I think that’s a different issue. They should have known what they were getting when they commissioned it – or if they accepted it as a pitch. And it definitely would have been read by several editors before publication. So once they published it, they should have left it up and stood by the writer.
Agreed. Clearly it was edited heavily in places – in one paragraph you can see the visible outlines where the terms “Bond villain” and “colonialist” were replaced – but once they did that, if they greenlit the piece they should stand behind it and take the hit from the (quite likely) irate INEOS PR department.
Radcilffe is a spiteful, venomous toolbag but what’s he going to do? Pull their access to Manchester United? Blacklist them from Grendadier media drives? Sadly Road and Track like the other buff books are in thrall to media departments these days. Which is why we’re here.
Like you would know! lol
I cannot possibly comment….
“a living wage, workers rights, universal healthcare and reasonably priced housing has to do with the pinnacle of global motorsport,”
Well, I suppose the deep-pocketed under-taxed participants, audience members, and sponsors are part of why we don’t have those things.
A very tiny part. F1 had always been a sport for the privileged, it’s just until about ten years ago they used to let regular people spectate in person. There are more egregious targets than F1, and this kind of reportage just comes across as shrill performative nonsense for the echo chamber (note I’m not dismissing all the points made, and the very real issues about cost, sustainability and accessibility surrounding F1, I just think there are bigger fish to fry first).
Sounds like a perfect fit for The Old Site, TBH. It would slot in nicely next to the train robbery article that turned into a rant about class politics.
I’m waiting for an article on Polo, the sport where you need to buy multi-million dollar horses to do what you also could do with a $50 golf club and no horse.
The playing playing at the pinnacle of their sport often get paid a lot. F1 is a global thing. The Tour de France is not. That is wasting days of television just to see the best drugged guy win by using his muscles in the most efficient way.
It is more exciting to watch a whole month every day 4 full Marathons than the Tour de France.
As the Orcas say, “fuck them boats”.
Le Unintended Acceleration?
Plus ça spilled Champagne.