Sent packing

Sir,

In response to Bill Pack’s request for an explanation of the continued presence of the Monaco GP on the modern Formula 1 calendar (Letters, August), I am quite frankly dumbstruck. So much so, that I could almost imagine Mr Pack in his Monaco apartment, sitting in front of his laptop with a mischievous grin on his face, mug of coffee resting on his race ticket stub. However, assuming this not to be the case, I would like to put forward the following argument. As great circuits like Imola and Estoril are replaced by soulless concrete jungles hosted by uninterested countries, Monaco represents one of the few remaining opportunities for Fl drivers to appear from the smoke screen of DRS-induced artificial racing to remind us why they are some of the best drivers in the world. Hill Sr, Prost, Senna and Schumacher collectively won 16 World Championships, which included 20 Monaco wins. The correlation is no coincidence. Monaco rewards the best of each generation, which surely is the very raison d’être of any sport, at any level.

If Mr Pack wants non-stop overtaking, I would advise him to go and watch NASCAR (or, as he suggested, Superbikes). If he wants to understand why overtaking is not the be all and end all of Fl, then I would like to share with him Nelson Piquet’s analogy of driving at Monaco, and ask him to try riding a bicycle around his living room. Maybe then he will understand why Monaco isn’t going anywhere, nor should it.

Tom Cowie, Harrogate, North Yorkshire