Let’s get one thing straight: the Monaco Grand Prix is just as special as everyone tells you it is. The history, the prestige, the European glamour - it’s absolute magic. For decades, the 78-lap race around the streets of Monte Carlo has been unmatched in spectacle and status. It’s long been the event for brands and sponsors to show up and show out - whether on land or moored aboard a superyacht in the harbour.
But over the past few years, under Liberty Media’s stewardship, Monaco’s once-unrivaled status has started to feel a tad shared. Enter Miami and Las Vegas: glitzy additions to the calendar designed to grow F1’s American footprint. These races are characterised by luxurious hospitality offerings, A-list musical acts, fashion collaborations, celebrity partnerships, and far too many brand events and parties to count.
So when I jetted across the Atlantic for my first Monaco Grand Prix, after years covering races in the US, I braced myself for a whirlwind of off-track buzz. But the week felt surprisingly quiet.
The week kicked off with a screening of the F1 movie, attended by drivers, team principals and select paddock personnel. The event was highly-publicized, and though we weren’t in attendance, we asked every driver for their thoughts the following morning. The film dominated early-week chatter, making it feel like a prime opportunity to lean into the hype - invite Brad Pitt and his cast mates, keep the momentum going. But there was no follow-up, and by Saturday, the movie had vanished from the conversation.
Promotion is expected to ramp back up in Canada early next month, ahead of the film’s June release, but it came as a surprise that F1 - for whatever reason - opted not to use Monaco as a tentpole moment for the movie’s promo. Especially after Miami’s massive rollout just weeks earlier, which featured a dedicated garage and appearances from top-tier talent tied to the soundtrack.
On the celebrity front, footballers Kylian Mbappé, Kevin Trapp and Thibaut Courtois made appearances on Sunday in Monaco, along with Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, model Naomi Campbell and pop star Dua Lipa, though the latter only appeared during the Porsche Supercup grid as part of a sponsor commitment.
But several A-listers expected to attend were no-shows—suggesting, perhaps, that they simply opted out last-minute. I know, I know, cue the ‘we don’t care about celebrities’ comments. But this point is actually quite indicative of the Monaco Grand Prix’s place in culture.
When I asked a few in-the-know people in the paddock about the slight lack of sparkle I was witnessing in Monaco, many said the exorbitant costs and logistical nightmare that is navigating the Principality made hosting large numbers of guests a headache without significant pay-off. The paddock - a three-person wide slip road - is a hike from the pit lane. Most VIPs are split between the small viewing area above the garages, and other suites situated trackside or on yachts moored nearby.
Don’t get me wrong, there were still plenty of billionaires on boats and a handful of glitzy parties celebrating sponsorship announcements. It’s no secret that F1 teams need big money to go racing, but many of these sponsors are now looking to the US where they can speak directly to more consumers and hope to have a bigger impact. From a VIP hosting perspective, races like Miami and Las Vegas simply have more space, and the logistics are far less headache-inducing.
Now, how does LVMH fit into this? The French luxury conglomerate inked a billion-dollar, decade-long deal with F1 at the start of the 2025 season and quickly made its presence known in all areas of the sport. In Monaco, it was all about the company’s watch maison TAG Heuer, which became the first title sponsor in the race’s history.
The watchmaker hosted a star-studded bash Saturday night aboard its mega yacht, with guests like Patrick Dempsey and Lee Jung-jae, and performances by Lola Young and Naomi Campbell (in her global DJ debut). It was the party of the weekend - perhaps the only one that felt on par with the half-dozen headline events thrown in Miami.
To be clear, none of this is necessarily a bad thing. Monaco will always be able to stand on its own without all the marketing bells and whistles, but as Liberty Media continues its push for American expansion, it will be interesting to see whether that continues to impact the look and feel of the storied Monaco Grand Prix weekend.
