Celebrities, champagne and super-yachts: Why the Monaco Grand Prix is the most exclusive sporting event on the planet
Lewis Hamilton and Co. will be battling it out for top spot once again as the world braces itself for the best race of the year
LAST year it was Justin Bieber, this year it is Neymar; the Monaco rumour mill is one of the best bits about the Grand Prix.
Which celebrities will turn up? Which team will host the biggest movie star? It is kind of an unofficial badge of honour among the F1 paddock.
For me, the Monaco Grand Prix IS the best race on the F1 calendar for a number of reasons.
It's not the best paddock as such for its appearance. It is squeezed in between a host of bars and restaurants and the harbour. You have to step over endless rows of TV cabling and avoid the giant mechanical hoists that remove the private jets from the harbour.
But what it does have is something special. The Monaco paddock is full of excitement, bristling with stars, drivers, journalists and photographers and team members -- all just trying to do their jobs.
But there is thin white wire fence that fans press tightly against trying to sample a piece of the VIP experience.
It's brilliant that spectators can get so close to the exclusive area, I can only liken it to being in a football dressing room before a match.
And that's the best bit as the filmstars, footballers and singers, mingle with the public, who are desperate for a selfie or an autograph.
It is brilliant to see and, after all what sport is all about; entertainment for the fans.
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The Monaco GP is known for the million-dollar yachts moored in the harbour. Arsenal's shareholder Alisher Usmanov has his parked up. At a whopping 156 metres long, it is the largest yacht in the world.
It is called Dilbar and is valued at £500million and has a crew of over 80 to run it.
Yet, and this is the crazy thing, it does not look out of place against the others moored up.
Monaco is for the rich and famous, but it is also for the keen F1 fan who has worked hard, saved up and swapped their two-week holiday in Greece for a four-night stay in Monte Carlo.
The nightlife is good too. Once the racing is over for the day, the track turns into one giant nightclub.
Pop-up bars and giant soundsystems line the streets. People party until 5am with the intermittent supercar cruising past, before the cars parked from the night before are towed away. The streets are washed clear of spilt beer and the racing resumes again the following day. Can you imagine a party on the Wembley pitch before the FA Cup Final?
The circuit itself, is also fantastic. Normal everyday roads that are converted into a racetrack.
Sure it's the shortest on the calendar but it is also one of the most dangerous and would have health and safety offices squirming if you ever tried to suggest recreating this race somewhere else.
Those walls are millimetres away from cars hurtling around at 200mph. A slightest mistake and you are in the walls or the crash barriers. It is certainly a case of fortune favours the brave. And that leads to something we all want to see and that is brilliant racing.