Monaco GP historical weirdnesses

[Yousuf Khan]

Some things have puzzled me about some historic Monaco races. In 1981,
when Gilles Villeneuve won the race, he seemed to be the only driver on
the podium, no 2nd or 3rd place drivers beside him. Also there were no
Monaco royal family was on the podium that year. It was only Gilles, his
wife, and a bunch of F1 officials to celebrate. I assumed that maybe the
royals didn't show up because maybe they were morning the passing of
Princess Grace, but she didn't pass away till 82, in fact she passed
away after Gilles did in 82!

Then in 84, when we had that epic battle between Senna and Prost, we did
have a lot of royals on the balcony, including Prince Rainier and a
young Prince Albert. However, at the celebration, they only had Prost
and Senna on the steps, but no 3rd place finisher, who happened to be
Stefan Bellof that year (although that place was taken away by the end
of the year when Tyrell was excluded from the championship).

So the question is what was the procedures back then? They didn't have
all three podium finishers on the steps all of the time?

Yousuf Khan

[Brian Lawrence]

Post by Yousuf Khan
Some things have puzzled me about some historic Monaco races. In 1981,
when Gilles Villeneuve won the race, he seemed to be the only driver on
the podium, no 2nd or 3rd place drivers beside him. Also there were no
Monaco royal family was on the podium that year. It was only Gilles, his
wife, and a bunch of F1 officials to celebrate. I assumed that maybe the
royals didn't show up because maybe they were morning the passing of
Princess Grace, but she didn't pass away till 82, in fact she passed
away after Gilles did in 82!

Denis Jenkinson, MotorSport magazine, "This year none of it happened,
for the Prince and Princess were away in America with more important
things to attend to, among them the graduation from College of their son."

Post by Yousuf Khan
Then in 84, when we had that epic battle between Senna and Prost, we did
have a lot of royals on the balcony, including Prince Rainier and a
young Prince Albert. However, at the celebration, they only had Prost
and Senna on the steps, but no 3rd place finisher, who happened to be
Stefan Bellof that year (although that place was taken away by the end
of the year when Tyrell was excluded from the championship).
So the question is what was the procedures back then? They didn't have
all three podium finishers on the steps all of the time?
    Yousuf Khan

[Brian Lawrence]

Post by Brian Lawrence

Post by Yousuf Khan
Some things have puzzled me about some historic Monaco races. In 1981,
when Gilles Villeneuve won the race, he seemed to be the only driver
on the podium, no 2nd or 3rd place drivers beside him. Also there were
no Monaco royal family was on the podium that year. It was only
Gilles, his wife, and a bunch of F1 officials to celebrate. I assumed
that maybe the royals didn't show up because maybe they were morning
the passing of Princess Grace, but she didn't pass away till 82, in
fact she passed away after Gilles did in 82!

Denis Jenkinson, MotorSport magazine, "This year none of it happened,
for the Prince and Princess were away in America with more important
things to attend to, among them the graduation from College of their son."

Post by Yousuf Khan
Then in 84, when we had that epic battle between Senna and Prost, we
did have a lot of royals on the balcony, including Prince Rainier and
a young Prince Albert. However, at the celebration, they only had
Prost and Senna on the steps, but no 3rd place finisher, who happened
to be Stefan Bellof that year (although that place was taken away by
the end of the year when Tyrell was excluded from the championship).

Bellof stopped on the circuit during his final lap, before the race was
stopped. He was probably unaware that he was classified 3rd until later.
It would have been his only 'podium visit'.

Post by Brian Lawrence

Post by Yousuf Khan
So the question is what was the procedures back then? They didn't have
all three podium finishers on the steps all of the time?

I think that Monaco pretty much did what they liked, but the two
examples above seem to have explanations.

[Brian Lawrence]

Post by Brian Lawrence
Bellof stopped on the circuit during his final lap, before the race was
stopped. He was probably unaware that he was classified 3rd until later.
It would have been his only 'podium visit'.

Some additional info.

I based the above on the ForIX lap chart, which shows Bellof stopping on
lap 31, but that could mean that pitted and retired at the end of that
lap. ForIX historically used the FIA official lap charts to generate
png images for display.

There is a discussion about the missed podium in the Autosport Forum
which was started 5 days ago.


<https://forums.autosport.com/topic/215185-stefan-bellof-missing-the-podium-monaco-%E2%80%9884/>

There is this comment which may be relevant, "Bellof did rapidly change
to dry clothes and was whisked off."

[Yousuf Khan]

Post by Brian Lawrence
There is a discussion about the missed podium in the Autosport Forum
which was started 5 days ago.
<https://forums.autosport.com/topic/215185-stefan-bellof-missing-the-podium-monaco-%E2%80%9884/>
There is this comment which may be relevant, "Bellof did rapidly change
to dry clothes and was whisked off."

That's amazing how people can be thinking alike at almost the exact same
time. Two totally different forums, and totally unrelated people are
asking the exact same questions!

Yousuf Khan

[Brian Lawrence]

Post by Yousuf Khan

Post by Brian Lawrence
There is a discussion about the missed podium in the Autosport Forum
which was started 5 days ago.
<https://forums.autosport.com/topic/215185-stefan-bellof-missing-the-podium-monaco-%E2%80%9884/>
There is this comment which may be relevant, "Bellof did rapidly
change to dry clothes and was whisked off."

That's amazing how people can be thinking alike at almost the exact same
time. Two totally different forums, and totally unrelated people are
asking the exact same questions!

There are 40,000+ photos from Monaco GPs here:

<https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/photos/monaco-formula-one-grand-prix?family=editorial&phrase=monaco%20formula%20one%20grand%20prix&sort=best>

It's possible to search for specific drivers, royalty, year, etc.

[Yousuf Khan]

Post by Brian Lawrence
Bellof stopped on the circuit during his final lap, before the race was
stopped. He was probably unaware that he was classified 3rd until later.
It would have been his only 'podium visit'.

Post by Yousuf Khan
So the question is what was the procedures back then? They didn't
have all three podium finishers on the steps all of the time?

I think that Monaco pretty much did what they liked, but the two
examples above seem to have explanations.

Okay, but in the 81 race, I now understand why the royals weren't there,
but why weren't there any other drivers?

BTW, I'm on 85 now, and all three podium finishers were on the stand
with the royals. Prost, Alboreto, and De Angelis. I think in 85, they
were starting to standardize on a lot of procedures that we're used to
by now.

Yousuf Khan

[Yousuf Khan]

Post by Brian Lawrence

Post by Yousuf Khan
Some things have puzzled me about some historic Monaco races. In 1981,
when Gilles Villeneuve won the race, he seemed to be the only driver
on the podium, no 2nd or 3rd place drivers beside him. Also there were
no Monaco royal family was on the podium that year. It was only
Gilles, his wife, and a bunch of F1 officials to celebrate. I assumed
that maybe the royals didn't show up because maybe they were morning
the passing of Princess Grace, but she didn't pass away till 82, in
fact she passed away after Gilles did in 82!

Denis Jenkinson, MotorSport magazine, "This year none of it happened,
for the Prince and Princess were away in America with more important
things to attend to, among them the graduation from College of their son."

Ah, so Prince Albert was responsible! ;-)

Yousuf Khan

[D Munz]

Post by Yousuf Khan
Ah, so Prince Albert was responsible! ;-)
Yousuf Khan

Phone call to tobacconist: "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?"
Reply: "Yes we do."
Response: "Well you better let him out!" - HANG UP

Sorry. Very old, juvenile prank from the days when you could get away with that sort of thing (and the phone went "clickey-click" with each number dialed...)

FWIW
DLM

[Sir Tim]

Post by D Munz

Post by Yousuf Khan
Ah, so Prince Albert was responsible! ;-)
Yousuf Khan

Phone call to tobacconist: "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?"
Reply: "Yes we do."
Response: "Well you better let him out!" - HANG UP
Sorry. Very old, juvenile prank from the days when you could get away
with that sort of thing (and the phone went "clickey-click" with each number dialed...)

“Is your house in the Edgware Road?”
“Yes.”
“Well I should move it quickly, there’s a lorry coming!”
:-(