Drama for Jean Alesi on thrilling Monaco Historique weekend – report and gallery

A weekend of high drama and great racing at the 2021 Historic Monaco Grand Prix brought about almost as much action off the track as on it.

Jean Alesi crashed out of the lead of the early 1973-1976 F1  race, after a race-long battle with the Lotus 77 of sportscar ace Marco Werner.

Veteran F1 star Alesi, who was driving a 1974 ex-Niki Lauda Ferrari 312B as part of a celebration of the Scuderia at this year’s event, had shot off the line at the start of the race, jumping Werner’s ’76 Hethel car which had taken pole by over 2sec.

The two would then dice it out for 15 tours of the 18 lap race. In scenes reminiscent of Monaco ’92, Alesi put on a Senna-esque display of defensive driving in his older and slower Ferrari, while Werner took on the role of Nigel Mansell, constantly searching for a way past but to no avail.

The Talbot-Lago of Cristian Traber therefore sailed into the lead and duly took the win, with the Bugatti of 35B of Niklas Halusa 2nd and Maserati 6 CM of Ewen Sergison 3rd.

In the B category for 1950s F1 cars, a Maserati 250F formerly driven by Maria Teresa de Filippis was put on pole by Guillermo Fierro-Eleta. He went on to win unchallenged. Behind him was the Lotus 16 of Max Smith and the Ferrari Dino 216 of Alex Birkenstock, which was entered in celebration of the last win for a front-engined F1 car, at Monza 61 years ago.

The C category was run as a sportscar event in celebration of the 1952 Monaco GP which was held for these type of vehicles, as opposed to F1 machinery, and was also won by Guillermo Fierro-Eleta, who hopped out of his 250F and into a Maserati 300S.

The Spaniard had been in second behind the same model of car driven by David Hart, until he arrived too hot into Rascasse and hit the wall, damaging his Maserati.

Two Jaguars filled out the podium, a D Type piloted by the aforementioned Halusa and a C Type with Nicolas Bert behind the wheel.

Lotus machinery dominated the D category for early ’60s F1 cars, as Mark Shaw took the win in a Lotus 21, followed by Nick Taylor in an 18. Taking the final podium place was the Lotus 24 of Phillipe Buhofer.

Category E for F1 cars from ’66-’72 saw Michael Lyons take his first win of the weekend in a Surtees TS9. In 2nd was the Yardley-liveried McLaren M19 of Stuart Hall, while third was taken by Jamie Constable’s Brabham BT37, which has survived a late-race clash with David Shaw’s March 712 Eifelland.

In the headlining G category for F1 cars from ”77-’80, Michael Lyons made it a hat-trick of wins by coming home first in the Hesketh 308 E, after his pursuer, Jordon Grogor, made a mistake in his Arrows A3 and hit the wall.

Mike Cantillon resultantly finished second in the Tyrrell 010 with Matteo Ferrer-Aza’s Ligier JS11/15 taking third.