The Triple Crown of motorsport is an unofficial moniker denoting the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Monaco Grand Prix. Only one driver in history has won all three, as Graham Hill won Indy in 1966, Le Mans in 1972, and five times won the Monaco GP across the 1960s. When Hill accomplished the feat all three races were incredible crown jewels in the world of racing, but in 2024 only two of the three still carry a level of competition worthy of inclusion in the trio.
As of last weekend, the three events have been completed for the 2024 season. This year’s Indy 500 was one of the best in the event’s 113 year history with two last-lap passes for the lead. Last weekend’s Le Mans 24 was another incredible event with nine top-flight cars finishing on the lead lap for the first time in history, and racing going down to the wire after a full day of wheel-to-wheel battles. Contrast those events with this year’s Monaco Grand Prix where the top ten racers finished in exactly the same place they started the race, with zero on-track passing. That race has been a processional shitshow for as long as I’ve been alive, and it only seems to be getting worse.
Monaco still has all of the pomp and circumstance of a world-class racing event, and the setting could not be more history-filled and eye-wateringly beautiful. Street circuits are incredible, and often produce some wonderful racing, but it’s time to admit that Monaco is washed, and there isn’t much that can be done to revive its greatness shy of shaking the F1 rules and regulations etch-a-sketch and starting over.
The current F1 regulations specify a car that is too long and wide to make passing a reality along the principality’s tight and winding seaside circuit. There are a few ways that the race could be made better, less predictable, and potentially more fun, but the only real permanent solution is to make the cars smaller, less dependent on aerodynamic downforce, and more difficult to drive.
Hopefully the 2026 F1 regulation changes will make the race a bit more enjoyable, and I’ll wait until then to pass judgement, but I fear the changes won’t be enough.
So if Monaco isn’t saved in the near future, what race could possibly replace it on the Triple Crown roster?
As it stands the Triple Crown shows a driver’s skill at multiple formula in a wide variety of formats. Sports car endurance racing on French streets is about as different from IndyCars on a banked rectangular oval, and both are quite disparate from F1 cars on the tight jeweled city circuit at Monaco. So if we’re replacing Monaco with a similarly historic race that has a wildly different type of car, I think it can really only be one. It’s time for the Bathurst 1000 to assume Monaco’s position in the Triple Crown of Motorsport.
An added benefit of this would be that two of the legs of the triple crown don’t happen on the same damn day, and drivers could conceivably race in all three in the same year.