In Monaco, as any Formula One fan knows, there is no track action on Friday. But who knows the reason behind this quiet day?
While the sponsors continued their onslaught with all sorts of commemorations and demonstrations, the paddock is practically empty of drivers on Friday.
So I decided to walk around the paddock and ask if anyone knew why.
The first person I asked was a poor freelance journalist.
“It’s so all the hotels can charge a six-night minimum stay and make sure we all go broke,” he said.
I told him I thought he was onto something, but that I recalled it having something to do rather with Friday being market day or something and they didn’t want to close down the businesses.
He said, no, it had to do with the public holiday of the Ascension Day, which was Thursday, and which commemorates the bodily ascension of Jesus into heaven.
All right, but how is this connected? Doesn’t it make more sense to abandon a city during a religious holiday than to fill it up with paying spectators? No clear response.
So I asked a team sponsorship coordinator.
He said it had to do with Monaco always wanting the race to be on the religious holiday so that, in fact, they could get more business. But he said that a few years ago Formula One finally managed to talk Monaco out of doing it on the religious holiday once and they found they did just as much business.
I still wasn’t entirely convinced, so I decided to ask one of the young woman who checks our offical passes as we enter the media center. She is Monagasque, and I’ve noticed her often reading books, so I thought she was probably well-informed.
She said she didn’t know. But the man who stood opposite her and who worked for the Monaco Automobile Club and who was also checking passes said it definitely had to do with the religious holiday, so that the daily life in Monaco on the Friday would not be so interrupted and so that more people would come to the race on Thursday. (Remember, if they close down all the streets for the race cars on Friday, they close down circulation throughout the city and affect some businesses too.)
The woman interjected that fewer people were on the contrary likely to come on a religious holiday and that in any case, the French all like to make a “bridge” out of such holidays and take the Friday off as well.
It turns out that many of the stores remain open on the Ascension to service the visitors, in fact, so the Thursday is almost just like any other day anyway.
They suggested I ask someone from the FIA. I could find no one from the sport’s governing body in the paddock – not even in the media center, where the press delegate’s office was closed. (It was a bit late, too.)
So I then decided to ask the hard working assistant at the offices of the FOM, the sport’s commercial promoters.
“Sorry, don’t know,” she said, also in French like the other track workers.
There was no point in trying to find a driver. I had only seen two drivers all day, both third drivers – Anthony Davidson of Honda and Robert Kubica of BMW-Sauber – and I’d lost sight of them and figured they’d left.
So I then thought that probably the spectators would have a better idea of what is going on – as is often the case – than the people inside the paddock. I went outside the paddock and over to the famous Rascasse restaurant (where that tight corner is before the main straight and the pit lane) to ask some spectators if they knew the answer as to why they had come to the track and saw no action.
A temporary beer garden has been set up outside the Rascasse and it was overflowing with race fans. I saw a couple of guys who looked approachable standing at a table just outside the door.
So I asked if they were spectators, and they said, yes, they’d come all the way from Canada just for the race. Their names were Bruce McKay – from Nova Scotia – and Jamie Hatzis – from Ontario. They said they’ve been going to the Canadian Grand Prix every year since 1988 and decided to come to Monaco for the first time. They’re loving it.
But did they have any idea why the practice session happens on Thursday and not Friday and that Friday is a day off?
“No idea,” said McKay. “It’s just a tradition, I think.”
“I think it has to do with a religious thing,” said Hatzis.
As I left, I realized that the Rascasse was doing great business. And so were the sponsors. And so were the other businesses that were open, and the crowd was having a great time living it up. And so I thought I really did understand why Monaco has always insisted on having the race during the long weekend of the Ascension. And the best part of the deal is that no one really realizes why they are spending more time, and money, in Monaco.
7 Comments
The only thing is that Ascension Thursday is always 40 days after Easter, which comes at different times during the year. For example, in 2005 Ascension Thursday was on May 5 and in 2004 it was on May 20. While the Grimaldi’s have been good Catholics they’ve also been astute at business. My guess is the answer has more to do with Market Day and vacation days.
In either case, it’s a quirk of the Monaco Grand Prix and all the more reason to love it.
— DennisIt’s rather a tradition in Monaco to get people to spend as much money as possible, so I say, live it up while you’re there – it’s all part of the Monaco experience. Probably explains why so many people are so happy despite the siphoning of their wallets. Just remember, despite the heat and the expense, it could always be worse: you could be stuck in the States like me!
— HeatherWashington, DC – Racer in training, Ferrari
I don’t claim to know how the tradition started, but I’ll give my two cents as to why it continues. Monaco is far and away the race where sponsors want to experience the race and have the access they expect. Plus, it is the place where potential sponsors like to meet with teams and teams think they can put their best foot forward to show what sponsors get for their money besides all the worldwide exposure. Eddie Jordan had a yacht that was said to have more than paid for itself by the deals made on board at Monaco.
It is also a time when the teams can reward their own rank and file by allowing them a little merriment and a morning to recover. Monaco is also the race with the smallest potential for ticket sales and thus least likely to care that fans will forego two extra days to see qualifying. Plus, the race promoter is a very longtime associate of Bernie Ecclestone and it’s said (Hey Brad, how much of F1 reporting is based on hearsay and rumor?) Monaco is the most profitable of races because of the small investment needed. Presumably the Principality of Monaco pays for most of the ‘track’ improvements. Imagine being able to set up ticket booths to charge people just to get to the building where their balcony is located. Who cares if qualifying day is too early for the ‘average fan’ to show up?
— Toof www.F1NGers.comThanks Heather! I didn’t mean to look like I wasn’t happy to be here, though, just amused. Monaco is the greatest – although Istanbul and Shanghai are also close contenders for fun Grand Prix of the year now.
But if you’re a racer in training, maybe you’ll be here soon too!
— Brad SpurgeonToof, that’s a good question about how much F1 reporting is based on hearsay and rumor. Perhaps it is only natural for me to respond in a way that makes it look as if what I try to do is not hearsay and rumor and what the others say is based on that. But I must admit that in the early days of reporting on F1, I was very surprised at what I thought looked like a lot of reporting of hearsay and rumor. Now I’m used to it. I try not to use any hearsay and rumor in any of the work I do, or if I use it, then I say so – but I rarely do that. That also has to do with the nature of the stories I do, which is usually more feature than news. Generally, I think it all depends on the media outlet and its standards and rules.
A lot of F1 writers spend a lot of their time chasing down rumors and trying to separate the hearsay and rumors from the truth. There does seem to be an inordinate amount of time spent trying to predict the future based on seeing the movement of driver managers from one motor home to another.
But the reputable journalists in the paddock do go to the source when they hear a rumor, and they chase it down. Sometimes rumor and hearsay begins to look so close to truth, that it becomes accepted as such by many until it is shown by the real news to be otherwise. What of Raikkonen’s signature with Ferrari for next year, for instance? We’ve all heard many times that the deal has been done. But I heard someone say the other day in Monaco that they spoke to Ron Dennis and his response was categorical that he knew nothing of any signature Kimi might have made on a Ferrari contract. As far as he was concerned, it had not yet happened. But the person who said this to me added that it would certainly be a more valuable statement had it come from Raikkonen’s manager. We must not forget that Flavio Briatore was apparently unaware that Alonso had signed for McLaren.
I generally avoid all of these things and try to write about what has happened, not what might happen.
So the short answer is that I think it depends on the newspaper, magazine or broadcast media you hear it coming from.
— Brad SpurgeonBrad – Thanks for the reply, and you can bet I’ll be there next year, just not as a racer. As much as I love F1, I know I’m not that good. No, next year once I’m up and moving again, I’ll be in Monaco to cheer them on, but I’ll stick to what I’m doing with Ferrari now, or will be soon enough.
One request: more pictures, please! I’d love to see The Iceman’s ice McLaren from a few posts back.
Washington, DC – Racer in training, Ferrari
— HeatherThanks Brad. One of the reasons I asked you was that your writing stands out for its lack of rumor chasing. It is frustrating for fans to read a story only to get to the end and realize that no single fact had been revealed. Any article with a headline punctuated by a question mark is automatically not worth the time it takes to read it. On the other hand, I will read one of your articles even if I have seen the news elsewhere. Thanks for taking the effort to do the job right.
— Toof www.F1NGers.com