There is no sporting theatre like it, no backdrop so ravishingly unfit for purpose, no place so overtly, rub-your-nose-in-it pleased with itself, no audience so absurdly polished and no race on the grand prix calendar that captures the Formula One essence quite like Monaco, not least because half the grid can fall out of their own beds on to the start line. No-one would think to organise an automotive shindig in a place like this now and no track architect would ever conjure from his imagination a design like Monaco. In truth the cars are just too quick and powerful. It's a little like driving your Lambo through Chelsea, an act of cruelty to an engine that needs to work at 200 mph not 10. Except they do race here because both the hosts and Formula One's stakeholders understand the brand power of the event. To win here carries more prestige than just about anywhere, and arguably more concentration. You try negotiating a layout as tight and twisting as this at an average speed of 160mph while one of the best parties on earth is raging all about. Cars have been racing along this coastal outcrop since 1929. It is one of only four circuits alongside Silverstone, Monza and Spa that featured in the inaugural world championship in 1950 and has been ever-present since 1955, returning this week for the 65th time. The configuration was largely unchanged until 1972 when a public swimming pool was constructed on the harbour front requiring a re-routing of the track around it as the cars rip out of Tabac.

SINGING IN THE RAIN

The entry to the swimming pool section provides a viewing point that shakes your fillings from their mountings, the cars snapping in and out of shape as they dance on the edge of balance and grip while dicing with the concrete wall that separates the track from the sea. The weather is often the defining feature, a wet surface providing no end of opportunity and entertainment. This, of course, is a double-edged caviar knife for the Prada army sipping Cristal on rented balconies or bobbing about on boats, who would take a hot sun and a dull spectacle over sea squalls since, as we know, designer clobber does not react well to downpours. Relax yacht people, the forecast this weekend looks a belter, which places the usual premium on pole. The Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull driver that hooks up the best lap on Saturday has, barring error or random variable, the absolute best chance of shaking the hand of Prince Albert on Sunday afternoon. For the second time in this compelling opening blast to 2018 the championship leader comes to a grand prix with a 17-point lead. The beauty of this Formula One campaign is that it is not the same pilot. The narrative thread has thrown one four-time world champion out of the driver’s seat in favour of another.