F1 heads to Monaco, a race akin to 'riding a bicycle around your living room'

Formula 1 heads to the streets of Monaco for the next round in the 2023 championship.

With the Imola Grand Prix being cancelled in the wake of damning floods in the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy, Monaco now hosts Round 6 of this year's races as the calendar is trimmed from 23 races to 22.

The Monaco Grand Prix has been a mainstay on the F1 calendar since 1955, forming part of the inaugural season in 1950. Though the race is not one of the most exciting to watch, it's a challenge drivers relish as they make their way around the 3.337km street circuit.

Still, not everyone is a fan of the race, with F1 Brazilian legend and three-time champion Nelson Piquet famously quipping: "To tell you the truth, I hate Monaco. It's like riding a bicycle around your living room."

Then again, Piquet never won the race.

Unique challenge

The first race staged around the streets of Monaco was in 1929, when Anthony Noghes, a cigarette manufacturer, staged a race for him and his friends from the Automobile Club de Monaco. Though it was never for a championship, the event is widely and unashamedly regarded as the first time that engines roared around the Principality.

In its 94-year history, the circuit underwent minimal changes with the drivers being inches away from the wall at any moment. And given the track layout, overtaking is sometimes tricky, as proven by the 2003 race when zero passes were executed.

READ: Formula 1 must act as Imola after-effects, French riots threaten to spill over to Monaco GP

The Monaco Grand Prix makes up a total race distance of 260.286km over 78 laps. Lewis Hamilton holds the outright lap record, posting a 1:12.909 in 2021.

Throughout the race, drivers shift gears more than 4 000 times.