The premier race on the Formula One calendar, the jewel of the crown of every Grand Prix season, the Monaco Grand Prix is a different event, and always full of glamour and excitement. Atlas F1's Craig Scarborough previews the seventh race of the 2003 Championship and all the teams ahead of the race

Round seven of the 2003 World Championship brings the F1 fraternity to their jewel in the crown event - the Monaco Grand Prix. Unlike any other race on the F1 calendar, the race has been always been seen as the premier race on the calendar, and has been a permanent fixture for decades. The event is truly unique and sees the governing body and teams throw away the rulebook on circuit requirements and calendar juggling, giving the small principality the same slot consistently on calendar, and the teams get minimal facilities in return. The new pit complex is under construction, but the teams have had to work out of tents and underground car parks for years in order to operate at the event. The draw for this event and its longevity is the location it provides for sponsors, suppliers and guests. Set on a natural harbour with more and more land reclaimed from the sea, this tax haven on the French Riviera contains plenty of the money that drives modern F1. Glitz and glamour are often associated with F1, but in Monaco F1 comes to a world where glitz and glamour is a part of every day life.

The track and its numerous landmark corners are amongst the most well known in the world of motor racing; such as Rascasse, the tunnel, Casino square and the swimming pool complex. In fact Monaco has almost every sort of corner, and even the straights are curved in order to fit within the tight confines of the streets. At the end of the race there are no high rise podium or dignitaries climbing up stairs to greet the drivers; the cars stop on the start/finish straight and the drivers walk up the Monegasque royalty in the royal box to claim their prizes, with many drivers not having the energy left to stand by this stage of the weekend.

Monaco is not universally loved, with some merely accept its inconveniences in return for the rewards. It is one of the motoring world's most prestigious races, up there with Le Mans and the Indy 500. For all its rewards the race extracts a heavy price; two practices days (the first uniquely on Thursday) and the 78 lap race require inch perfect precision, and coming fresh from the expanses of tarmac run off in Austria the drivers are now met by solid walls and Armco inches off the racing line. Errors, however small, are instantly metered with punishment, from a bent wheel rim to a written off car. Even Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost have come to grief here.

Strategy

The race at Monaco is a misnomer; there are almost no overtaking opportunities, and passing can only be done with either an error or concession from the leading driver. Driver/car superiority only gets a chance to shine if the weather turns to rain. As a result qualifying sessions have always been the focus of the teams offensive; the teams push hard in order to get as close to the front as possible so that in the race they can go on the defensive. Coulthard won the race last year in this fashion, and this year the teams will be looking much more at a weekend long strategy than simply a race strategy. With the front rows of the grid so coveted race strategies will be heavily compromised in order to maximise qualifying speed. Short opening stints on the race, or slow paced laps to conserve fuel while holding back the traffic are the obvious options.

This element of strategy will have been considered by the teams for weeks ahead of the race, along with the what ifs the race can throw up. For example: what if the engine goes pop on Friday, or what if the driver louses up his Q2 lap? Losing track time or vital tenths in qualifying will demand flexible strategies from the teams in order to react to problems. Then watching the others teams, some cars may not suit the track, the tyres may not be working or oil may go down late in a qualifying session; running last for Saturdays qualifying session may not be the best slot for track conditions. If you add rain to the variables the strategy headache only grows.

Maximising track time in order to get the ideal set up for Saturdays session will be the key aim from the whole team, while during the race running cleanly and reliably will invariably bring the best possible weekend for the car and driver.

Set-Up and Layout

It goes without saying that Monaco is a tight slow circuit. Its demands on cars are unique compared to all the other street based circuits or slow permanent circuits, with its layout having evolved but remaining largely unchanged over the years. The narrow start/finish straight leads into the even tighter St Devote right hander, then the circuit flows through a fast uphill sequence before turning blind into Massenet and the barrier lined crest of Casino square, powering over the bumps to end Sector 1 before back into first gear for Mirabeau, which leads into the hairpin and the tightest turn in F1. Immediately onto the power out of the hairpin, the cars then have another tight turn before being released on full power into the tunnel and ending sector 2 as they reappear into daylight at the far side. Up to 300kmh before braking into the new chicane at the edge of the harbour, then riding the kerbs through Tabac and the swimming pool complex before the last two first gear corners, flicking the car to turn in through Rascasse.

The track is cambered like a conventional road, and features all the same street furniture such as lampposts, manhole covers and white lines. Additional barriers and kerbs are added, and knowing what to use and what to avoid only comes with experience. Setting up a car requires grip from the mechanical package so softer springs, dampers and roll bars will be used. Aerodynamic grip will come from larger wings front and rear, plus Monaco often sees the teams exploit any loopholes in the dimensional regulation; some teams have already being seen with mid wings mounted behind the cockpit for extra grip. Brakes are not heavily abused at the slower speeds, but the engine and transmission do take a battering. Reliability is critical at Monaco as often few cars finish, and points can be easy to pick up. But one of the largest inputs to the car will be from the driver; skill and experience counts for a lot, and this is probably the only circuit that has specialists - Giancarlo Fisichella and David Coulthard are drivers who excel here.

Tyres do not suffer great wear or degradation, but the understeer caused by large amounts of steering lock in slow turns followed by the thrust of the car accelerating can grain front tyres, further reducing their grip. Soft tyres developed specifically for this race are required, and it is these that will partly shape the qualifying order.

A Lap of Monte Carlo with Heinz-Harald Frentzen

Ste Devote, the first corner at Monaco, is like a funnel. It gets narrower, especially in the race when there are cars all around you. And in past years the entry has been bumpy, though some resurfacing there may have changed that. I'll be curious to see what effect it has had. The first person to slide off line there in the race gets on to the used rubber, and then you go into the wall. They clean the track after each practice session, but in the race you have to be really careful here. You have to be very precise every lap. You have to be on exactly the same line, and any slight lapse in concentration can catch you out. There are a couple of corners at Monaco where this is valid, and you need to maintain your rhythm and procedure.

The climb up the hill to Massenet is relatively undramatic, because even though the road winds you just take the one standard line through the curves until you come to the left-hander, Massenet. You have to commit to the apex before you can see it, because it is obscured by the barrier. You have to feel your way in, rather than see your way in. You have to find your way with no visual confirmation, and again you need to be on exactly the same line.

There is also only one line at Casino Square, the right-hander which follows. You flirt with the barrier here on the exit, but there is a big bump in the road and you have a choice of keeping to the left and going over it, or pulling to the right to miss it and maintain downforce. Personally, I like to go halfway! At Casino Square the balance of the car changes as the race progresses. You begin with understeer, but the car ends up oversteering before you change tyres. You continuously have to adapt, lap by lap.

Mirabeau is next, a tight downhill right-hander that leads into an important sequence of corners. The track is bumpy here and you are braking hard while carrying speed downhill, so there isn't a lot of grip. And as you turn in the road drops away and the inside wheel is in the air, so the grip is reduced further. There's a lot of camber change, too. The combination is quite exciting.

You accelerate quickly down to the Grand Hotel Hairpin, a left-hander that became famous under the name Loews. This is quite tricky too, because it's not an ordinary hairpin. If you get good traction out of Mirabeau you can hit 145 km/h before braking hard; but if traction isn't so good you might only hit 135, so you need to be careful how you approach the corner. If the momentum isn't what you expected and the car isn't sliding so much as you anticipated, it's easy to clip the left-hand kerb and to throw the car in the air and lose grip and momentum. Braking and turn-in here is thus critical, and it's easy to lose a couple of tenths.

The unnamed right-hander that follows is another one where you need to be careful about choice of line. How well you get through here is also a product of your exit from the Grand Hotel Hairpin. Portier is next, the 90 degree right-hander leading into the tunnel. You brake a little and then pick up the throttle early. The mistake you can make here is to turn in too early, in which case you can catch the right front wheel on the inside barrier, but you need to be close to it to make the apex.

You are flat on the throttle all the way through the tunnel, but you can't see the clean line in the dark section so it's difficult to see if any oil has been dropped. Going from the dark into sunlight isn't so bad, though. The run down to the chicane is the fastest part of the course; you hit around 280 as you get to the top of the hill, which is where you really need to begin braking if you are going to avoid going down the escape road or running over the chicane. This requires the hardest braking anywhere on the circuit, and you take the chicane in first or second gear before accelerating up to fifth gear to Tabac. The entry here used to be quite bumpy, but it's been resurfaced and is now okay.

I really like the combination of Tabac's left-hander and then the left/right flick that follows at the Swimming Pool. It's really challenging, and there are a lot of possibilities to get it wrong. There are a lot of hidden lines. It's also difficult to judge. It's another of those corners where the apex is hidden, and the barrier doesn't follow a perfect radius so you can get caught out by kinks in it if you try to follow it too slavishly. Not counting the tunnel, which isn't really a corner, the left/right kink is the fastest corner on the track.

The circuit has been changed after the Swimming Pool this year, with a new entry to Rascasse. This has taken away two crucial points where you could have an accident. It used to be very difficult if you over-braked there; you could end up in the wall. Now there is a run-off so you have some margin for error. Now if you make a mistake you lose the lap, but not necessarily the car. You could end up going for a drink at Stars & Bars!

Now you have a straight run to Rascasse but you still need to be careful under braking, of course, because you are carrying more speed. You've lost the risk in two corners, but you must still be aware of a risk in one. I'm going to be interested to see what it's like there now.

The final corner is called Noghes, and it's another tricky one. It's easy to slide the car there and tap the barrier. It's another one where you can't see the apex until you are already on it. You have to turn in while accelerating the car and there is an odd camber change. If you are just a couple of centimeters off line, it's easy to hit the right front wheel on the barrier, and if you oversteer on the exit, to hit the left rear. The pit straight isn't actually a straight, but they have done a lot of work on it this year and a lot of the bumps have been removed. That should make the start a little easier, too.

Team by Team

Ferrari

After three straight wins Ferrari are on a roll, but Monaco is traditionally the circuit that halts this progress. This oddball race does not necessarily disadvantage Ferrari, as the team often does well here, but the variables and level playing field often see a freak result. So far Ferrari have won at conventional race circuits demanding power and poise, but Monaco is more brutal than that, and it is not yet clear if the F2003GA can produce or even cope with large amounts of downforce. As a result the Ferrari wing package is likely to differ slightly from recent races.

With the pitlane fire now sourced to a damaged seal in the refuelling nozzle, Ferrari can be confident there will be no repeat of the problems in the most cramped pitlane of the year. Michael Schumacher has his, and the media's, confidence back again after the season openers while Rubens Barrichello seems to have struggled a little in qualifying and getting to the very front after poor starts. His lack of progress in the early laps with his tyres advantage over his Michelin shod rivals has puzzled me. But Barrichello is a Monaco expert, holding the lap record but never having won the race, and this weekend either driver could win or be on the podium.

Williams

Strangely this circuit never seems to reward Williams, even back in their championship winning years. This year's car has its problems, but some of these could be masked by the track. This year's shorter car and more powerful engine will aid the teams chances, but its lack of downforce may see some extra bodywork pressed into action to stick the car to the track. Their reliability record was also smudged in Austria.

Neither of the team's drivers has excelled at Monaco, despite it suiting their aggressive styles. This weekend Williams will need to resort to a strategy to offset them from Ferrari and McLaren in order to get a jump over the two favourites.

McLaren

After a couple of poor races and an Austrian weekend of mixed fortunes for McLaren, with Coulthard off the pace and Kimi Raikkonen running cleanly to second, McLaren will be glad to have both tested the new MP4/18 and arrived at Monaco. The races recent history has seen McLaren share the victories with Ferrari, with last year's win being a strategic triumph with a less than perfect car. So the race this year holds hope for McLaren; always a team focussed on a strategy to solely succeed in the race, and with the top of the Monaco specialists in Coulthard, this weekend almost sees us expecting them to win. But tempering this has been the driver's more extrovert and sideways style in qualifying, plus some reliability issues. Raikkonen's race last year was not one he would be proud of, although his driving has improved since then and this weekend could be seen as a good test of his progress.

Renault

This is one of the races Renault has looked forward to all season; their car displays excellent aero and mechanical grip, but lacks the power to push it all along. Monaco does level this somewhat, but any downforce (and hence drag) added eats up horsepower, so their more powerful rivals can afford to runs larger wings. Renault has already tested a mid wing placed high above the engine cover, and more revisions will probably be seen over the race weekend.

Jarno Trulli likes Monaco and went well here last year, while Fernando Alonso will want to recover from his Austrian qualifying misdemeanour as much as Trulli will from his early race exit. Both drivers need to keep their driving neat and be patient early in the race as a strong result, as a win is possible here.

Sauber

As with Renault Sauber will be hoping the levelling effect of Monaco will help them, but with a 2002 Ferrari engine, Sauber are not thought to be short on power. Instead the chassis and aerodynamics are inferior, and Monaco will not mask that on a dry circuit. Both drivers can go well; Heinz Harald Frentzen had a pole here during his Williams days, and Nick Heidfeld has a similar driving style. Sauber's reliability has been weak too; this will count heavily against them this weekend when a point's finish is easily within reach.

Jordan

If drivers can be Monaco specialists then so can teams, and Jordan have historically got their seasons going from Monaco onwards. Of course this year with the Brazilian winners trophy already in the cabinet Jordan has not had a very bad year, but more has been expected of them. A lot of preparatory work has been done in advance of this race, with Fisichella being an expert here and the improving Ralph Firman having a reputation as a street circuit racer. Points or a podium are realistic this weekend if the Bridgestone's grip and the Cosworth engine holds together.

Jaguar

Jaguar had a poor weekend in Austria, but the fact remains that they have understood and played the new qualifying new rules better than most teams. This will pay dividends in Monaco; a problem free R4 runs well enough to put a good lap in when its Michelins are working well. In the race the car doesn't make the same progress, but Mark Webber can be calm enough to resist pressure. Antonio Pizzonia may not have the same level of resolve, but both drivers have a good history here outside of F1. As has recently been the case, Jaguar can be predicted to have a good qualifying and lacklustre race leading to points only if the reliability can be found.

BAR

As BAR are such a different team this year little can be gleaned from last year's performance, which is just as well. Fortunately recent race performances have shown the car to be quick and capable of race finishes. But reliability has robbed Jacques Villeneuve of finishes and masked the wisdom of his heavier fuel strategy over Jenson Button. Monaco should see the car run well, although like Jordan they are dependent on Bridgestone tyres performance. Even with new wings for this race I doubt Monaco will see the best of BAR, but points could be possible if all runs to plan.

Minardi

Minardi are often optimistic coming to Monaco; last year Mark Webber did well on the Thursday time sheets. This year the car is clearly further from the pace, and Monaco may not turn the tables far enough in their favour to see them challenge. Extreme qualifying fuel loads for the team are often cited in example of how the new qualifying rules could see a team sacrifice their race for a good qualifying slot. It is doubtful Minardi would go too far down that route this weekend; if their new launch control can work as reliably as Justin Wilson's manual starts then the drivers can push the grid from the rear and hope for reliability to get then to a point at the finish.

Toyota

With the team admitting to AtlasF1 that their mechanical grip and aerodynamics are not up to scratch, Monaco will hold little comfort for the team. They lack grip over bumps, and Monaco demands that the car runs over kerbs, manhole covers and all sorts with a high downforce package. For Cristiano da Matta's first trip to the race he can only hope that his undeniable talents can overcome the cars deficiencies and his inexperience. Olivier Panis is no stranger to the track - his sole race win was here - but his luck and race reliability have been left wanting this year. Two race finishes would be a reasonable reward for the team here, but points simply from pace are unlikely.