Only two drivers have finished their race in the port of Monaco in F1, including world champion Alberto Ascari, with troubling coincidences.
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The Monaco Grand Prix is one of the most iconic events on the Formula 1 calendar, held in the narrow streets of the Principality since 1950. Among its most iconic images is obviously the Port Hercules, ever-present as a backdrop… but also, on two occasions, involved in spectacular incidents.
In over seven decades of racing, only two drivers have ended their trajectory in the water after going off track. Among them is a former world champion, Alberto Ascari, whose accident remains one of the most memorable episodes in the history of the Grand Prix.
Ascari’s tragedy in 1955
World champion with Ferrari in 1952 and 1953, Ascari joined Lancia for the 1955 season. During the Monaco Grand Prix that year, he found himself leading the race after Stirling Moss retired, but was trapped by a mistake in the final part of the track.
In what would later become the port corner area, the Italian driver missed his braking and ended his race in the waters of the port of Monaco. Fortunately, Ascari managed to quickly get out of his single-seater and reach the surface, avoiding the worst.
A fate tragically linked to that of his family
This accident was however only one episode in a tragic end to his career. Just four days after this episode, Ascari lost his life during a private test at Monza driving a Ferrari sports car.
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His death is part of a series of macabre coincidences, notably the fact that his father, Antonio Ascari, also a driver, had also lost his life in a car race several decades earlier. Both men died at the age of 36, under different but strangely similar circumstances.
Paul Hawkins, second driver to finish in the port
Ten years after Ascari, another driver experienced the same fate in the Monaco race. In 1965, Australian Paul Hawkins lost control of his Lotus and also ended his race in the port, after missing the chicane.
Like Ascari, he managed to get out of the car before it sank. But his fate was also tragic: a few years later, Hawkins lost his life in a racing accident in the United Kingdom.
A strong symbol of the danger of Monaco
These two incidents remain unique in the history of modern Formula 1, reminding how the Monaco track, despite its prestige, was for a long time one of the most dangerous in the championship.
Today deeply modernized, the circuit still retains this special aura, where every mistake can still turn a race into a legendary story… or a dramatic memory.
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