F1 Fanatic

Discussion area for people going to the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix.

Hi, I am looking to go to the Monaco GP next year, this will be my first time in Monaco. Can you give me an idea of which Grandstand has a better view? I was thinking of Grandstand B …
Any ideas are welcome… :)
Regads
Amanda

Just so everyone is aware, tickets have now gone on sale with ACM for 2013.

Hi Steve

The old town in Nice is good in the evenings, it has a really nice vibe to it and there are loads of restaurants to suit all pockets, plus the Casino does entertainment some evenings so you can have a meal etc whilst there. If you have never been to Nice before there is a bus that runs from the Promenade Des Anglais which goes all around Nice and you can get on and off at the various stops, have a look around and then get the next bus and move on. The market square in Nice is lovely during the day with the flower market – but also has specialist stuff as well and if you wander down the back alleys you go through a maze of backstreets etc. We love Nice. If you fancied an evening in Monaco then there are certain boats that have parties on (Ed is your man for that) but you need to factor in getting to and from Monaco as the trains I believe don’t run particularly late.

Hi Amanda

I cannot comment on B as we have never sat there. All I will say is that K1 and K2 upper are, in our opinion, the best view of the circuit. You can see the tops of the cars go up the hill out of St Devote and then coming out the tunnel, down the hill, along the front of the harbour and into the swimming pool.

The only comment I would make re your stay in Nice if you are near the airport is that you will find yourself a little bit out on a limb as the majority of the buzz is in the centre of Nice, although you can get a bus up to the central area. As I am not sure of your exact location unable to comment re transfers to Monaco. There is a bus from the airport to Monaco, depending how far you are out of the airport, or if you can get to the train station there are regular trains to Monaco. We have never had problems going in on the train until last. The trains went on strike on the Thursday so we decided to take a taxi in which our hotel arranged. The roads were in utter chaos – some friends risked the train and although intermittent they did get into Monaco in pretty good time, we went by road and missed all the morning action, spending most of it in a traffic jam!

Hi Caroline,

Many thanks for the info, sounds really great, we will probably mix it up between Nice and Monaco. I am planning to take my camera with a zoom lens, are there any restrictions on camera equipment? I thought Thursday practice would be a good day for photos as I think we can roam to a certain extent.

Best Regards

Steve

Hi Steve

No restrictions that I am aware of re cameras, but Monaco on a Thursday is only “roaming” on the grandstands you have tickets for – it is not like some of the other races where you have a roaming ticket and can go into other grandstands etc to see what the view would be like. However if you are on K grandstand you have the full length of the K grandstands to go and have a look at as opposed to qualifying and race day when you are restricted to your allocated seat/grandstand. We made friends with a couple from Australia this year and they worked their way up and down the K grandstands on the Thursday – they got a really good feel for the different views from all the different parts of the grandstand. Monaco have also ensured that you cannot get sneak previews if you don’t have tickets -barriers and screens are put up so you cannot see into the circuit.

Hi Oscar

If you are lookimg simply for grandstand tickets then the nest and cheapest place to buy them is direct from the ACM (the Automobile Club de Monaco) at http://www.formula1monaco.com or http://www.acm.mc and follow the online ticketing procedure. On this site you can also check out the view from the various grandstands which should help you decide where to sit.

A lot of the better grandstands will already be selling/sold out, e.g. K1 high, but you will still get good seats booking now.

Unless an agent or hospitality company, like ours, is offering you additional value (transfers, hotels, extras, etc.) then don’t buy just grandstand tickets from them, it is not fair to add margin to something unless you are adding value in my opinion.

For hospitality on yachts, balconies, hotel terraces, etc. there are lots of companies offering what they will tell you is the best of the best of whatever. The simple truth is that the best location for race viewing in Monaco depends on what you’re looking for and the needs of your party and each location has good points and bad points depending on your point of view, for example:

- if you’re not really interested in getting absolutely the best race view but want to be close to the action and have a great atmosphere and experience then yachts are excellent, but if you want to leave them during race sessions you need to leave by tender so if you’re with someone who is not really interested in spending all day watching the action it’s not so easy to just take a break from the racing and go wander the streets;

- if you want to see as much of the track as possible and don’t mind being above the track a little further from the cars then a high floor or rooftop balcony in the middle of the start finish straight is the best spot and you can come and go as you please (on any of the start / finish straight terraces / balconies regardless of height);

- if you want to get more of a track view than a yacht but don’t want to be too far from the cars then a mid floor balcony might be the best option where you can still see over the trees to the harbour sections of track for a more extensive view than yachts/grandstands/ground level facilities but you are closer to the cars;

- hotel terraces, if you want to be in an iconic location with a famous name but not really the most extensive race view or the atmosphere of a yacht. E.g. fairmont hairpin (Loews Hairpin), very iconic, very famous, but the slowest point on the track so really quite dull;

etc. etc. etc.

You will find an array of options with hotels, transfers, viewing/hospitality, extras, driver meets, parties, etc. etc. and you should be able to choose any element that you want to put together the perfect package, for example you could book your own hotel and flights but take hospitality and transfers or any combination like that.

I hope that helps, if you have any other queries let me know.

All the best
Ed