Monaco was F1’s jewel in the crown, but has its shine gone for good?

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during final practice for the Monaco Grand Prix. His team principal, Christian Horner, says the race needs to ‘evolve’. Photograph: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

For so long an anachronism, the Monaco Grand Prix, Formula One’s self-titled jewel in the crown, is a faded facsimile of its former glory. Time is not yet up for this classic meeting but there is increasingly a feeling that without change there may be a time out for the race on the streets of Monte Carlo.

Grands prix have been held here since 1929 and the race was in the inaugural F1 championship in 1950; it has been almost ever-present since. The unique challenge, a relentless test of physical and, above all, mental strength to thread the needle through looming barriers ready to punish anything but inch-perfect precision, has long been adored by drivers as the ultimate trial.