Andre D’Cruze took a McLaren 720S around the Monaco Grand Prix circuit this week and the lap made one thing plain: this is still the most unforgiving stage in Formula 1. The car threaded past the harbor, the yachts and the tight paddock at speed, but what stood out was how little room Monaco gives even when the track is closed and the crowd is only watching.
The experience matters now because Monaco remains one of the sport’s most searched-for weekends in 2026, and it is the rare place where a lap at speed still feels like a privilege. Formula 1 has run hot laps with Pirelli since 2018, but Monaco only joined the program last year, giving fans and passengers a chance to see why the track is so hard to master. D’Cruze’s run also came with a speed that would feel modest on most F1 circuits, even if the McLaren’s four-liter V8 engine can deliver 710 bhp and push from 0-60mph in less than three seconds.
That is part of the point. Monaco is often sold as the crown jewel of the championship, a street race hemmed in by real estate, where the walls leave no margin and overtaking is notoriously difficult in modern cars. Yet Ollie Bearman pushed back on the familiar criticism of the racing, saying he does not like when people dismiss Monaco and arguing that people should expect a street track built into the city. His point was that the real show is not Sunday’s procession but Saturday afternoon, when qualifying drivers attack the lap knowing one mistake can end in the barrier.
On the hot lap, the passenger reached 120mph, a reminder that even a road car can make Monaco feel fast without making it feel easy. F1 cars have already hit 220mph on other tracks so far in 2026, but straight-line speed is not what defines this place. Monaco’s challenge is carrying speed through a course that can only be opened to road traffic and pedestrians each evening, which is why hot laps there were once thought too awkward to fit into the schedule. That limitation is also what gives the lap its bite: the circuit has to stop being a race track and become a city again, and then turn back into a test of nerve the next day.
For now, that is what Monaco still offers that nowhere else can. The lap was not just a ride along the harbor; it was a reminder that the value of the weekend lies in the precision it demands and the spectacle it reserves for Saturday, when the walls are closest and the stakes are highest.
