My Greatest Race – Graham Hill

1965 Monaco Grand Prix – Graham Hill ‘s Greatest Race

By Graham Hill

The 1965 Monte Carlo was a race, which I have always considered to be one of the best races I have ever run or ever won. I did reasonably well in practice – I put up the fastest time and therefore, as I had won the race the two previous years, I was considered the favorite for the race that year. Now that is something I never really like to be – because everyone expects an awful lot of the favorite and it certainly raises the tension.

Monte Carlo is always a tricky race, one of the trickiest circuits in the world, because it is so easy to be just a little bit untidy at any one particular corner, clobber a kerb with the wheel and break the suspension or break a wheel or cause yourself to spin off. And, of course, there is just nowhere to spin at Monte Carlo; you bounce off hotels, nightclubs, brick walls, telegraph poles, and street lamps. Everything around is absolutely solid, although we have managed to get a few Armco barriers set up at one or two spots which might prevent us from coming to a stop rather smartly.