Original subtitles

CHURCH BELLS RING

It was one of her favourite places.

Princess Grace had the cinema built in the heart of the palace.

My mother loved beautiful stories.

She didn't believe in fairy tales, but she did believe that everyone

could turn their dreams into reality.

When I was a child, she often said to me, "Nothing is impossible.

"Trust your instincts."

My mother was born in Philadelphia in 1929, the same year

as another Monegasque legend.

And if there is one beautiful story which embodies instinct and not

taking no for an answer, it is that of the Monaco Grand Prix.

How long do you have?

To tell a story about Monaco is like a long story.

Monaco - it's so special. It's nothing to do with the size.

It's glamorous. It's colourful. It's exciting.

Everybody is there because it's a party.

Monaco, you know, is very much a part of what defines Formula 1.

It's the Grand Prix that all the drivers want to win.

If you make a slight mistake or error,

game over.

The story of the Monaco Grand Prix is unlike any other.

Nothing predestined my country, a country half the size of New York's

Central Park, to host the world's greatest Formula 1 race.

It all began when the leaders of the Monaco Cycling Club decided

to become an automobile club.

This new local club wanted to be affiliated with the prestigious

Automobile Club de France.

But when the club's young commissioner, General Antony Noghes,

travelled to Paris, Place de la Concorde...

..his request was rejected.

France is our great friend, but we are an independent state.

The new Automobile Club De Monaco decided to go a step further

and become acknowledged internationally by the predecessor

of the FIA.

But once again, even though we thought we met all the admission

criteria, they told us "non", on the pretext that we didn't

have a race on our soil.

Sainte Devote.

The casino.

The station hairpin.

The tunnel.

The tobacconist.

The Monaco circuit was born.

But only on paper.

The race still had to be organised.

While the obstacles seemed insurmountable, the Automobile Club

overcame them all.

All that remained was to start these mechanical beasts...

ENGINE REVS

..and let them loose on the streets of the principality.

We'd reached the point of no return.

Against all the odds, was this first race in the city

going to be a success or an utter fiasco?

The pressure was terrible.

The international press were very sceptical.

Some journalists claimed that at every lap,

three to four cars would end up in the port.

MUSIC PLAYS

REPORTER SPEAKS IN FRENCH

ENGINE REVS

This crazy idea was not so crazy after all.

It's not because we're small that we can't do big.

In 1931, Louis Chiron became the first Monegasque driver

to win a race.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

In those years, everything needed to be done to improve motorsport.

Monaco, therefore, sought to innovate.

For example, starting grids...

..had been randomly determined by a

The pole position was born.

The start of the race was now based on merit, not luck.

WATCH TICKS

I remember when I passed the finish line the first time I won

here and saw the chequered flag.

I went on the radio to the McLaren team manager and said,

"Can you confirm I've won the Grand Prix?" Because I, you know, you get

mesmerised by this race, and to win this Grand Prix was a realisation

of a racing dream.

The race in the city was interrupted for 11 long years until 1948.

In 1950, the Formula 1 World Championship was created.

That year, the great Argentine driver Juan Manuel Fangio,

unrivalled in his understanding of racing, avoided the biggest

pile-up in Monaco's history.

Rear Window. To Catch A Thief.

At this time, Grace Kelly was Hollywood's brightest star.

My mother crossed the Atlantic to marry my father, Prince Rainier,

and became Princess Grace of Monaco.

I'm always moved by these images.

It was, in a way, a new chapter in the story of the Grand Prix.

The winner's podium changed,

taking on the appearance of a red carpet.

Super people come to Monaco.

All the superstars, particularly at the time of Princess Grace,

because of her being a very successful movie actress.

She had connections with all the best people.

Everybody came - the Beatles came, the Rolling Stones came, Rod Stewart

came, Elizabeth Taylor had come as my guest one year.

In 1965, I was seven years old.

Only then I realised what a race was like.

The noise, the smell.

It really was a revelation for me.

REPORTER: Here we are. Look out. That's Graham Hill, the leader.

Oh, and he had the escape route at the chicane.

You can't make mistakes in Monaco. And the chicane

is the only place you can make a mistake usually and get

off with it.

Jackie Stewart, who took over the lead, spun and he dropped

back in the pack.

That left the two Ferrari. Graham Hill is going after

Surtees right now.

Headed down along the short strait and into the Mirabeau turn.

He's trying to take him.

Hill's got him.

Graham Hill has moved into second place as they go

around the railroad station hairpin.

And Graham came back through the field.

Looks like he's making his move now again at the Mirabeau turn.

He's got him. He's got...

Graham Hill's taking the lead.

That was one of Graham Hill's best races.

So...

..Graham won five times in Monaco, but he did it because he had a huge

amount of experience there.

He was over-driving when he shot past the chicane, but he learned

by that, and he never did again.

CHEERING

Monaco is also a small, friendly town with bars on the circuit,

just like Rosie's.

There's Rosie's. Rosie!

Oh. She must be asleep.

Anyway, haven't got time for that, so

we'll see you at the top here.

Now, the car is very light.

Hello. How are you?

Are you well?

Hello, Rosie...

THEY CHAT

THEY CHEER

THEY SHOUT EXCITEDLY

There we go... I call.

Oh, boy!

3km and 340 metres.

Monaco is the shortest and slowest circuit of the season.

But for most drivers, it is by far the most exhausting.

Lorenzo Bandini was what I would call a typical

glamorous Italian man.

And the tunnels, you know?

Why is the sun...?

Night, sun, more.

That's good. The tunnels? Oh, yeah.

Going into the tunnel, you can't see any sun... Then night...

For second place, Lorenzo Bandini, and Hulme has now led

for the past 24 laps. That's...getting close to 50 miles.

Bandini.

He crashed!

Good Lord, look at that... The car...

It looks like it's upside down, Phil.

Tremendous fire. This is gasoline, remember,

they use in these automobiles.

Terrible fire.

And that is one of the other cars going through...

The race is continuing. There's somebody coming out.

There are firemen stationed around the course here...

Driving through when the car was there and flames,

we knew it was Lorenzo because he was missing and the lap chart,

he was missing, and the car was going round the circuit.

That accident was probably one of the nastiest.

In those days, the sport was considerably more dangerous.

If you were a Grand Prix driver, the chances were that

one out of three of us were going to die.

My father, Prince Rainier, asked for everything to be done

to improve safety.

This led, among other things, to the creation

of the first marshals unit.

Allez, poussez!

Each year in spring, my country is transformed.

It takes about eight weeks to build the circuit.

Because of the constraints of where it's located, although,

I must say the facilities have got better over the years.

The facilities are pretty compact. We have fairly constrained garages.

All mechanics are working on top of each other.

When you're stood in the garage, you have to watch where you stand

cos there's very little space.

It's a very difficult environment from what they used to,

because in a normal circuit, everything is very well laid out,

with lots of space.

Monaco, the fans are in your face all the time.

When you face up to that challenge and you do it better

than anyone else, you're going to win.

And the people, is not really interesting about car.

Is interesting for the party, for...Monaco, you know?

When the people see in television, Monaco is amazing.

All the girls in the boat.

80-metre boat, 90-metre boat, 120-metre boat.

It's a dream, you know?

The '80s was a period of magnificent jewels,

both on and off the track.

Ayrton Senna was first revealed to the world in Monaco in 1984...

..although the Brazilian prodigy didn't have

a good enough car to win.

Numero quatre...

..jamais participe...

Every time that it rained, in Formula 1, everybody was,

"Yeah, so Ayrton's gonna win."

And obviously his first debut here

in Monaco in '84, it was pouring rain

and he did a fantastic job overtaking so many

good drivers, champions,

and I think he would have won the race

if they hadn't stopped it earlier.

The Monaco Grand Prix seems unfaltering, unshakeable.

Yet, on several occasions, it has almost disappeared.

First of all, with the evolution of the cars.

The Monaco Grand Prix is part of the F1 World Championship

and the relationships between the Automobile Club, the Monaco

and F1 bosses have not always been a smooth ride.

MICHEL BOERI:

The sport regained its rights.

And in '87, the champagne also flowed

for Ayrton Senna's first victory.

He had this job to throw champagne, water, anything, you know,

like, it's...fun that we have in the family.

And he decided to shower the prince and the princess

and so it was crazy.

The next year, he got a letter saying that he couldn't, if he won,

he couldn't, you know, shower the champagne on anyone, you know,

on the podium.

In '88, here in Monaco, he felt like he was above his

concentration level and he was just lapping, lapping, lapping.

He was in a different dimension, really.

And then when he tried to go back,

that's when he hit the car.

COMMENTATOR: Ayrton Senna ne gagnera pas...

He was really pissed off

because it would have been a very great win for him.

..avec 55 secondes de l'avance, Ayrton Senna a...

And then he went directly to his house, he used to live here,

and it was funny because he didn't have the key,

obviously, because he was, you know, in his racing overalls.

And then, his maid, which is a Portuguese woman,

she's like fantastic, she was... Someone was knocking on the door,

knocking on the door. And she's like, "Who is that?"

And then suddenly she opens the door and said, "What are you doing here?"

So it was a funny story, yeah.

Among the many drivers who've made their mark on the Grand Prix,

the Kaiser, Michael Schumacher.

It was very incorrect

because the Michael done the time and effort for the car.

..stop the car, he's parking the car, in the Rascasse.

David?

David? Are you OK?

David?

The team knew that it was me that had crashed

and Karen was in the pits at that time.

And then, of course, uncertainty is the worst thing in life.

And I think they spoke to me on the radio,

but I was already out...the car, as far as I recall, so...

Yeah, I think it gave her a little bit of a scare.

I don't remember saying that, but I...probably did.

In fact, I'm sure I did...

..because we were talking about finance.

I think THEY knew we couldn't do without Monaco,

and I knew we couldn't do without Monaco.

But I wanted to get a few more dollars if I could.

I can't imagine Formula 1 without Monaco.

I can say that quite happily now cos I'm not having to negotiate

a contract with them.

Actually, what I did say, to the prince, in the first place,

that we could race...

..and would race in Monaco, without any payment.

But, please, don't try.

The drivers also can't imagine F1 without Monaco.

A large number of them live here in the principality.

Several have even grown up here.

For me, it's so special. It's my home.

Yeah, it's my home and it's the most legendary motor race in the world.

I grew up on the streets here, and Senna was driving,

Schumacher was driving, Hakkinen was driving,

and suddenly I'm dominating this place, like, unbelievable.

That's the Monaco track. You don't have time to relax.

There is no other place in the world where you need that level of focus,

level of concentration, able...to challenge this track

in a perfect way.

If you make a slight mistake or error - game over.

It's not just the challenge, it's the history.

And in many ways, Monaco is Formula 1.

Alfred Hitchcock once confided in my mother, Princess Grace, his secret.

According to him, scenes of murder had to be filmed

like scenes of love.

And scenes of love like scenes of murder.

The art of contrast.

The Monaco Grand Prix -

savage racing in a sophisticated environment.

Wild beasts unleashed in a city.

And that's the magic behind this unique Grand Prix.

The Monaco Grand Prix.

The legend continues.

Dans une heure, une heure et demie,

vous verrez a Monaco une epreuve importante qui etonnera...

..le mond entier.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media