He deserved to drink a cup of Champagne on the podium, he lost it all at the end of a superb race but it was not his fault. He was disappointed but he will be back next year : Jean Alesi was cheered and applauded by drivers in the pits, fans in the grandstands, when he made his way back to the paddock. He had led three quarters of the race in amazing manner, he had resisted all the assaults of a very excited Marco Werner survolté (too optimistic at the end?), and the black Lotus ended up pushing his Ferrari 312 B3 in the wall. A few minutes later, Jean discussed the incident with Toni Seiler, who had just finished the same Race F, and recalled the Monaco GP in 1992, when Ayrton Senna won for the 5th time in the streets of the Principality after resisting until the finish line, and closing all the doors to Nigel Mansell, who could never pass him. Because as Jean Alesi summarizes perfectly, « when there is no space, you cannot pass ! ». Jean will be back for the 13th edition of Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, he promised !

Thanks to the best start possible, on pole position, Guillermo Fierro-Eleta, in his Maserati 250 F which raced at Monaco F1 Grand Prix from 1955 to 1959, paid a vibrant tribute to Maria Teresa de Filippis, a former driver of this exceptional car and the first female driver ever entered in the World Championship. The duel that all fans expected against Max Smith Hilliard’s lightweight Lotus 16 never happened because the British driver missed his start, so that the 60-year-old Spanish entrepreneur could escape safely and lead the whole race. Behind Fierro-Eleta and Smith Hilliard, the podium was completed by Alex Birkenstock in his Ferrari Dino 246. The first three drivers received beautiful trophies from the hands of Michel Ferry, the vice-president of Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM). Martin Halusa took 4th place with his all-white Maserati 250 F that was once driven by illustrious Jean Behra.

The qualifying session for pre-war cars ended with British driver Patrick Blakeney-Edwards on pole, at the wheel of a beautifully maintained Frazer Nash built in 1935. His best lap, in 2 min 9 sec 87/1000 was three seconds quicker than the Talbot-Lago driven by Switzerland’s Christian Traber, who was the quickest on Friday during free practice. Sunday, on the second row of the grid for Race A, Austrian driver Niklas Halusa, in a venerable Bugatti 35B, will start with a Maserati 6CM on his side, lead by British driver Ewen Sergison.

Same story as Friday in the qualifying session for Race B, this morning : the powerful Maserati 250 F driven by Guillermo Fierro-Eleta, finished ahead of the very agile Lotus 16 of Max Smith Hilliard, whose gearbox had been changed on Friday, after the free practice session. However, in order to conquer pole position, the Spaniard had to clock his best lap in 1 min 56 sec 127/1000, four seconds quicker than Friday, because his British rival was in great shape and only finished one second back. The second row on Sunday will be 100% Italian, with Martin Halusa’s white Maserati and Alex Birkenstock’s Ferrari Dino 246, powered by a V6 engine.

Stuart Hall’s superb McLaren M19, built in 1971 and carrying the famous Yardley livery, managed to take pole position for Race E, in the last morning qualifying session, ahead of Michael Lyons’s blue Surtees TS 9 and David Shaw’s special March 721 Eifelland. The same three drivers as Friday at the end of free practice, but in a different order, since Hall managed to go four seconds quicker: 1:34.087 instead of 1:38.711 on Friday, which allowed him to save a three tenths margin on Lyons. Next to Shaw, Sunday on the 2nd row of the grid for Race E, there will be a Brabham BT 37 driven by Jamie Constable and just behind them Alex Caffi, the former F1 driver, in a Ferrari 312 which was not ready for free practice on Friday.

Maserati again finished ahead of the English cars, in the qualifying session for Race C, reserved to front-engine sport cars having raced between 1952 and 1957. Spaniard Guillermo Fierro-Eleta clocked a best lap in 2 minutes 3 seconds and 2/1000, in his powerful 300 S, managing to improve by two full seconds. The second best time was also achieved by a 300 S, driven by Dutchman David Hart, ahead of Niklas Halusa’s Jaguar Type D with its shark wing. He will have the honour and privilege to start the race, on Sunday, next to a very fast young woman : Germany’s Katarina Kyvalova, in her Cooper-Jaguar T33, went faster than 12 male drivers…

Mark Shaw, in his Lotus 21 powered by a Climax engine, built in 1961 and raced by the fascinating Jim Clark, remains the favorite for Race D that he will start on pole, thanks to a time of 1 minute 53 seconds and 121/1000, only one tenth better than his best lap on Friday during free practice.

However, the rivals have improved a lot and Nick Taylor is less than 2 seconds behind Shaw, in another Lotus, a model 18 dating back to 1960. On the second row, on Sunday, Frenchman Philippe Bonny will start in a Brabham BT2 with a Ford engine, alongside yet another Lotus Climax, a model 24 from 1962, driven by Switzerland’s Philipp Buhofer.

Race F, for F1 cars built between 1973 and 1976, will offer a beautiful first row to the thousands of fans expected on Sunday. Starting on pole, there will be a treble winner at Le Mans 24 Hours, Marco Werner, who clocked a very impressive 1:31.261 on Saturday, in his Lotus 77 entered by Chromecars Racing. On his side, there will be a very focused Jean Alesi, who took part in 201 GPs altogether, in six different teams, but 79 of them in Ferraris. He waited patiently for the track to become less slippery and clocked a very good lap right away. The two « old » drivers managed to go faster than two younger drivers, 30-year-old Michael Lyons in a McLaren M26 that James Hunt drove at the end of his F1 career, and Julian Andlauer, who is more used to driving Porsches, in a March 761 which was once driven by Arturo Merzario. The only bad news of the day came from René Arnoux, who hit the wall in his Ferrari 312 B3 when his gearbox briefly let him down.

South-African Jordan Grogor will start on pole, Sunday, for Race G reserved to F1 cars built between 1977 and 1980. Driving his Arrows A3 sporting the golden livery of German brewer Warsteiner, the 39-year-old, a specialist of Historic races and endurance events in the Middle-East, posted a 1:31.417 which was marginally better (2 tenths of a second) than the time set by Anglo-Irish driver Michael Lyons, a 30-year-old in a Hesketh 308 E dating back to 1977. Two Tyrrells 010 will be on the 2nd row, driven by Britain’s Mike Cantillon and young Frenchman Evens Stievenart. This was the last qualifying session of a perfect day, under the beautiful French Riviera sun.

Not long before the beginning of the qualifying session for Race E, this morning, HRH Prince Albert II of Monaco honoured the paddock of his presence. He was escorted by ACM President Michel Boeri, Vice-President Michel Ferry, Gery Mestre, the Chairman of the Historic Cars Commission, and Christian Tornatore, the General Commissioner.

Before spending a long time chatting with Ferrari drivers René Arnoux and Jean Alesi, a moment before, His Royal Highness encouraged Monégasque driver Frédéric Lajoux who is entered for Race G in an Arrows A1B dating back to 1978.