F1 Monaco Grand Prix | Ferrari flies to Monte Carlo for a GP suspended between two eras

It is the anti-circuit par excellence, the enemy of overtaking, the denial of aerodynamic efficiency (not load!). But it is also full of history, tradition, charm. The only way to truly appreciate the Monaco Grand Prix - we are talking about the car race and not the glamorous side - is to find yourself, at least for a day, at the side of the track and enjoy the dizzying disproportion between the width of the track and the speed of the single-seaters . There are thousands of memories and anecdotes from this race and many concern Ferrari. From the first victory in the 1952 edition, which was not titled for F.1 but for racing with sports cars, to Ascari's "dive", to Bandini's drama in '67, passing through Villeneuve's feat in 1981, the magical years of Michael Schumacher, up until last year's Vettel-Raikkonen double.

It is the track where, they say, anything can happen, even if many times, at least in the race, nothing happens at all. The only route whose distance is less than the "regulation" 305 km. A close trip, but still a logistical puzzle, even if the new garages inaugurated in 2004 have simplified the teams' tasks. And this year there will be other innovations in infrastructure. The tires are also new, with the debut of the Hypersoft compound. And the times are new, even if the start at 15pm is closer to the tradition of a race which, until not too long ago, started at half past three in the afternoon.

What's "old", or rather historic, is everything else: the magical surroundings and the passion of the fans (not all of them billionaires) who come to witness a unique weekend, even in terms of duration. Because Friday is sacred in Monaco, and the track reopens to traffic for a day, before the grand finale.