Monaco.

The jewel in the crown.

If there's one GP that everyone has heard about, it's Monaco. If there's one GP that anyone wants to go to, it's Monaco. If there's one GP that a driver wants to win, it's Monaco - even Ferrari drivers.

It's also the circuit that everyone loves to hate.

Every year as the Monaco GP comes around, out come all the old pieces. We get told all about how Monte Carlo was founded, how the Grimaldi dynasty was set in place, how it's THE place to be seen, how it's THE place to have your boat in the harbour, and we hear about the rich, the glamorous and the... why am I telling you all this, you must have read it plenty of times?

The point is, it's really easy for all the journalists to be able to justify their huge expense accounts for Monaco, because all they have to do is to dust off their old articles, re-cast them a little, send them off, and them join the rich, famous and glamorous in some frivolity.

Makes you sick, doesn't it? And, wouldn't you just love to be there in the middle of it all? You BET! Well, that's the way I was thinking when I sat down, a few weeks later, to watch a video of this year's race.

For the teams and the drivers, we're told that it's all a bit of a nightmare: the endless round of sponsors' parties and functions; the so-called pits for the lower teams; the tight, archaic track; and so on. Damon Hill, I think it was, said this year that really the best thing a team could do would be to build a car especially for Monaco each year, because the track is so different to every other circuit.

Meanwhile, being realistic, if you're an F1 fan, the only decent way to SEE the Monaco GP is to stay at home and watch it on the dreaded TV. That way, at least you get to see more than a second or so of each car each lap.

Each year, the same old questions come up about why there is a Monaco GP at all? And then the same old answers come out about the sponsors loving it.

Personally, I like the Monaco GP. The race. Not the boats in the harbour, not the people. Just the race.

Some people have suggested that if the circuit was lifted up and dumped down in the middle of a desert, there wouldn't be a Monaco GP.

Sorry, but I disagree totally. Sure, there's the danger of a car plunging over the wall into the sea - but at almost any other circuit, there's the danger of a car smashing into a wall. Different circumstance, horribly same result.

But, there's more to it than that, isn't there?

You see, there's no room for error at Monaco. We hear about the Armco walls being just millimetres away from the cars as the drivers hurtle around the track, and all they have to do is to brush it and they're out of the race.

There's quite a few points in my answer to that. First, Monaco, by its very nature is much slower than any other circuit. Surely, if a driver was just to tap the Armco, the car isn't going to fall to pieces. Aren't the cars just a little bit stronger than that? Perhaps not, but I've already done a Ramble on that subject.

Second, while F1 cars are difficult to handle, surely the drivers are just about the best there are (note, I said "just about the best", please, no arguments about CART or IRL or NASCAR drivers being better). So, surely, they can keep the car off the Armco? If not, what are they doing in the car?

And this leads into my third point, which is that, if the driver is having troubles with the car, then the information he passed onto the team and the way the team put that information into action were wrong.

If everything was perfect, then the driver would drive within millimetres of the Armco without even thinking about it because he would know that the car would do what he told it to do, and because he knew what he was doing.

It's another of those old Monaco sayings, one that I used myself just a little while ago: "There's no room for error." In other words, everything has to be perfect for Monaco.

Which to me, after quite a few Monaco GPs, means that the Monaco GP is the supreme test of driver and car and team. It means that you could take the circuit and put it down in the middle of a desert. Provided all the curves and bends and Armco and hills and weather were somehow maintained, it would still be the jewel in my crown - the best single race in the F1 calendar.

Simply because there's no room for error. One error and you're out. No errors and you're in. What better race is there to see the harmony between driver, car and team?

We only have to look at Michael Schumacher, said by many (including me) to be the best current F1 driver. This is a driver who very rarely makes mistakes. On the rare occasions that he does make a mistake, there is enough latitude in the car and the circuit that he is able to recover and go on.

But, don't we all remember the 1996 Monaco GP? That was the year that Olivier Panis won the race. The first time since 21 June 1987 that a team other than Benetton, Ferrari, McLaren or Williams (in strictly alphabetical order) had won a GP.

And it was also the time that Schumacher stuffed the Ferrari into the wall between Loews and Portier. And you might also remember that Schumacher claimed responsibility - quite simply, he'd made a mistake and hadn't been able to recover.

Also quite simply, at any other circuit he probably would have got away with it... except at Monaco.

The Monaco circuit beat the world's greatest (arguably) driver. THAT'S what a circuit should be all about. And that's what Monaco is all about.

But that's just me.