Correction: they were a powerhouse a long time ago yet behaved like they were still relevant and important. Just another failed team now.
I was there too watching from a rented balcony (BMW France's) just above ste Devote and found myself with friends in the crush at the train station right after so we might have banged elbows there! It was getting dangerous like the Heysel stadium, I recall the crowd pressure was so strong like sardines in a can I was able to lift my feet and stayed upright without useing my arms... FYI Prince Rainier's last major project before he passed away was the huge current train station bored into the rock, it is several hundred times larger in square meters than the old one we were in that day. One correction though, Monaco is entirely separate from France, no one in MC would ever favor a Frenchman and Jacky Ickx is Belgian, the reason he is strongly suspected to have stopped the race early because of the rain is his massive Porsche connection and the fact that the Mclaren was Tag Porsche powered. Bellof was catching Senna while Senna was catching Prost...
Ha, small world. Yes I was really scared as I was at the very front of the train station gate being pushed into it. I've been back to Monaco and know the new train station, it is fantastic. Best feature is how it easily connects "lower" Monaco to the higher parts. Clever. Didn't know the story about the Porsche connection. I can see that working. That said, I still think that MC is a part of France and Prost would be like one of theirs. At least that's what the newspapers in Europe at the time claimed. Not being from MC of course I could be dead wrong on that.
Yes it was scary it could easily have turned out like Heysel (the tragic Brussels football stadium stampede). That new train station is like an anthill very efficient for crowd flow and control. Well having won Le Mans for Porsche five times Ickx is a major public relations star for Porsche since the 80's, every time there is a big Porsche historic event he is usually there like Royalty. Re Prost and more importantly France and Monaco relationship many including northern European journalists at the time don't know there was serious conflict between de Gaulle and Monaco in 1962, even a blockade with de Gaulle threatening to send tanks, it was about a whole number of things including French people seeking tax shelter there. Things calmed down after a short period, an accord was reached between him and Prince Rainier. Any Frenchman can live there BUT not have tax exemption in France unless he moved there before 1957. The English version of wiki does not have that segment in the history of MC but it is here in the French version, you can copy paste into google translate if you want. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoire_de_Monaco#Crise_avec_la_France_et_nouvelle_constitution_(1962) I have a half American half French friend who has lived in Florida and Monaco for decades, a wine distributor and he hates France so there is enough ill feeling that a Frenchman would not be helped at the Monaco GP...even though Prost was hugely respected as a driver anywhere. If you leave Monaco by car there is no border control (except occasional roaming controls) of course as it is EU but the French police have put speed radars right at the exits of tunnels from Monaco at the French border, Monegasques resent that like other things and French police had to argue for years to get access to the computerized records and addresses of Monaco registered car number plates as they felt that wealthy Monegasques and foreign Monaco residents felt entitled to impunity on French roads being untraceable...and in this case the cops were right. On the other hand one thing I will give you is that Leclerc's popularity is milked by French media who conveniently fail to remind readers and viewers that he is in fact Monegasque not French. Like Grosjean, half Swiss half French, says, his nationality is variable with Swiss and French media depending on his results: the Swiss will say our man is on the podium or the Frenchman finished 13th ;-)
Thanks for all your comments and insights. As a half American, half Swiss I'm quite familiar with the Grosjean story. The Swiss claimed him for themselves until he started crashing too much... Reality is, that he is closer to France than to Switzerland since he is from Geneva (that's about as much Swiss as NY is American) AND more importantly is racing with a French license. Though I can't fault him as there is no real racing ladder in Switzerland he could have climbed to F1. Merci pour le link, je parle Francais, pas de probleme.
Ah that is what you are I thought you were Dutch. True about Romain even though he lives just outside of Geneva (Nyon I think. He was in Cologny before) Yes I am in Geneva all the time (a Swiss peninsula encircled on 3 sides of 4 by France) and occasionally in Zurich...very different, like another country, just like in Belgium the split between French and Flemish speaking or the language wall in Canada etc etc. Anyway sorry for the off topic posts, best wishes to Williams eve though things seem very dire....
There is a clean divide between the cultures in the German and French part of Switzerland. That aside Geneva really thinks it is not part of Switzerland. In fact they tried to become their own city state. Fairly arrogant folks with a huge feeling of self importance, which is only bolstered by the fact that they host a bunch of international organizations and companies.
Back to topic: Now that Williams is for sale, who will buy it and what new identity will it have? I think there will be a fading out way just as it happened with Sauber whose name gradually was eliminated.
The timing is interesting given the ecomomic times/status. I was thinking they have a buyer in mind but this is a public announcement. Many of extreme wealth have some insulation against the current crisis but still many might be cautious?? We may be surprised in time. It is difficult to sense the stature of F1 now. The changes are more 'spec' series than the top level of motorsport. Things feel less than perfect with Formula E growing as much as it has so far. Identity of 'F1' is ambiguous.
How to become a millionaire in F1? Start as a billionaire. I don't think there are that many Strolls around who need a toy for their boy racer son. About the only privateer I could imagine is Penske. He has the $ and just might want to take that final step ...to millionairedom. I rather believe a car manufacturer will step in. Especially now that there is a budget cap, this might be tempting. Hello VW, Audi, Porsche! Oh wait, they still have to pay for their Diesel exhaust scandals... It's tough but I hope somebody will buy them up. Just to have two more cars on the grid. Hey Kubica, how much cash have you left over?
Very true about the divide. I have known Geneva since the seventies and was in boarding school in Gruyeres (Fribourg) in the late 70's. I do love the International aspect, it is very cosmopolitan, the fact that it is not too big, has a great airport minutes from the center (flew GVA JFK non stop) and the lake is great for swimming in summer. Switzerland is of course very expensive but when you know it you are prepared and have choices. I enjoy visiting Zurich but my German is so so, used to speak fluently as a kid but no more...and I get parking and speeding tickets every time in Zh...
Well, in the case of Frank Williams, it's just the opposite. Here is a man of modest means intially who made a fortune thanks to F1. But when his team started to fall on hard times, he refused to plough any of in it, and prefered to let it go adrift instead.
Quite sad how far Williams have fallen and it has come to this. Me, I'd like to see Geely by the team and brand it Lotus...