GRAND PRIX MONACO 1973 FORMULA 1

WINNER : JACKIE STEWART - TYRREL FORD Like many European races, the Monaco Grand Prix predates the current World Championship. The principality’s first Grand Prix was organised in 1929 by Antony Noghès, under the auspices of Prince Louis II, through the Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM), of which he was president. The ACM organised the Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo, and in 1928 applied to the Association Internationale des Automobiles Clubs Reconnus (AIACR), the international governing body of motorsport, to be upgraded from a regional French club to full national status. Their application was refused due to the lack of a major motorsport event held wholly within Monaco’s boundaries. The rally could not be considered as it mostly used the roads of other European countries. To attain full national status, Noghès proposed the creation of an automobile Grand Prix in the streets of Monte Carlo. He obtained the official sanction of Prince Louis II, and the support of Monégasque Grand Prix driver Louis Chiron. Chiron thought Monaco’s topography well-suited to setting up a race track. The first race, held on 14 April 1929, was won by William Grover-Williams (using the pseudonym “Williams“), driving a works Bugatti Type 35B. It was an invitation-only event, but not all of those invited decided to attend. The leading Maserati and Alfa Romeo drivers decided not to compete, but Bugatti was well represented. Mercedes sent their leading driver, Rudolf Caracciola. Starting fifteenth, Caracciola drove a fighting race, taking his SSK into the lead before wasting 4½ minutes on refuelling and a tyre change to finish second.] Another driver who competed using a pseudonym was “Georges Philippe“, the Baron Philippe de Rothschild. Chiron was unable to compete, having a prior commitment to compete in the Indianapolis 500 on the same day. Caracciola’s SSK was refused permission to race the following year, but Chiron did compete (in the works Bugatti Type 35C), when he was beaten by privateer René Dreyfus and his Bugatti Type 35B, and finished second. Chiron took victory in the 1931 race driving a Bugatti. As of 2019, he remains the only native of Monaco to have won the event.