Monaco 1997 was great... I wore my Williams-Rothmans replica driver Jacket the day of the flight, so that the other people would see, that I will go to the GP of Monaco. Don't ask me, why I bought a Williams jacket and not another one, I just like the jacket. And short time before the flight to Nice, I met three people, who told me, that they will also visit the GP, but they weren't such big fans as I am - I mean, they were not collectors and not fan of a specific driver. Two of them have won the trip to Monaco by giving the right answer at a Michael Schumacher perfume-competition. The flight from Zürich to Nice was nothing special, It took a little bit more than an hour, but the start was a little too late... The pilot of the aeroplane said through the speakers that the weather in Nice should be nearly the same as in Switzerland, where it rained slightly... But when we arrived in Nice, it was the nicest weather you can imagine: Blue sky, really blue sea and a wonderful city laying right by the sea... We flew over Monaco as well, where we saw several boats with helicopter landing-places and so on. - Very impressive!

My hotel was down at the beach and it were about 10 or 15 minutes to walk to the railway station. The first I did was to stand about half an hour to buy the train tickets for the Grand Prix for the next days. And I soon realised, that my French wasn't that good I expected it was, because the people in France speak very fast and I had sometimes big problems to understand everything, because they spoke, while I was thinking, what was the meaning of the word they said before (... Well, I was not alone with the problem, which was the reason, why I had to stand half an hour before)...

It took about 25 minutes to travel by train from Nice to Monaco. And it's a very nice journey! Fantastic beaches, nice gardens, houses, the blue sea and... well, some beautiful topless Girls, ha, ha!!

I had a map of Monaco, but when I arrived there, I decided to follow the other people and the stands, where they sold everything you can imagine. The second training was over already, because we were too late the whole day long... The flight was a little bit too late, the bus was too late, I was in the hotel, which was quite far away from the railway station, had to buy tickets for the train and so on... I just was too late. But I decided to just watch, if I will find anything of Alain, and I had luck, as I found several caps, flags, but it would also have had Prost-shirts, photos pins and mini-helmets, but all of the prices were soo high, that I was not able to buy everything. I also bought 6 official programmes for me and friends, something to drink, All the Prost-postcards they had (over 40 pieces!!!) You should have seen the people, when I gave them the 40 postcards, and they had to count them ha, ha... I told them, that they don't have Prost-postcards anymore (!)..., then I bought some stamps and so on... Well, after the first day (Thursday) I had spent far over 1000 French Francs!!! I have never spent so much within one day without buying something really special!! But Monaco is quite expensive anyway! I walked through a quite big part of the city, but I didn't know, how I could manage to get into the pits and had no idea, where the paddock-entrance is, as some friends told me, that it would be absolutely no problem to get in!!! As I found out one day later, it was not that easy this year, as they had much more of security people, lots of policemen and policedogs and so on and just a better control...

As the F1 only drove on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, but not on Friday, the racing circuit was open for normal traffic after 12 o'clock on Friday, when the training for Formula 3 was over... And on Friday, I got into the pits. Some mechanics were there to work on the car, so I made some photos. I saw Cesare Fiorio of Team Prost and asked him for a signature for my programme, which he gave of course. I walked further, and soon I realised, that I was on the front of the paddock, where quite many people waited for F1 drivers. I didn't know, if F1 drivers were in, but as I had nothing special up to do, I thought, I could wait as well... And the F1 drivers really came out of the paddocks. I couldn't believe what I saw: Johnny Herbert came out with a bicycle in his hand. I thought, he would drive away with the bicycle, but he didn't. He walked through the crowd as far as he came, but he didn't come that far, ha, ha!!! I asked him for an autograph, which he made and I made some photos of him. He was really very, very nice and he fulfilled every wish of the people, he posed for photos, kissed old ladies for photos, shake hands, gave signatures and so on, he did this for about two hours!! I couldn't believe it, although I knew, that Johnny is a very nice guy... I'm also a small fan of Johnny, just because he is a nice guy and a fair driver... I took a look through the paddock door once every minute as most of the "professional" collectors did, who were out of the paddocks. And then I saw something very special: Heinz-Harald Frentzen was on the way to come out and he took dark sunglasses, a cap and so on, so that the people will not know him, but he didn't know, that I saw this and made my programme ready to let it sign, when he left the paddocks, nobody seemed to know him but them I gave him my programme and asked him in German, if he wouldn't give me a signature. He couldn't really believe it, that someone has known him through those thick sunglasses, so he looked around, if someone looks at him and then decided to sign the programme, but he wanted to make it as fast as possible and so, he didn't take a good look, where he signed, so he signed under the photo of Jacques Villeneuve instead. He said something like: "Oh, Scheisse, falscher Fahrer!" ("Oh, Shit, wrong driver") and I said, that it's o.k. like that and we laughed... I don't know if some other people knew him later, but I can't remember, that more than two gave him the programme to sign (these were the two people, to whom I said: "Frentzen is arriving!"). It was quite funny, as we were about three people, who knew all the drivers and helped the official by opening the doors for cars and close it for the other people and at the same way always take a deep look into the paddocks. I got some other autographs, but as I had to be back in Nice at 17.00 o'clock for a meeting of my tour group, I went back without to see any Prost-GP drivers or even Alain, but I decided, that I will stay longer on Saturday and then wait for Alain, no matter, at which time he will go out.... When I was back in Nice, I realised, that I have lost my programme with all the autographs, and I couldn't believe it, but it wasn't there anymore!!! And I had no photos, except some photos of Johnny Herbert, it was hard to believe, but I've lost my programme... Unfortunately, I didn't find it anymore...

After the trainings on Saturday I went to the paddocks again with a new programme I bought in the morning, but this time, I saw just Wendlinger and Carlos Reutemann, who were both in Monaco as guests. Jos Verstappen didn't sign, he just drove away and shouted: "No time now!" Shinji Nakano drove through the crowd on a Vespa, nobody was interested in a signature, it seemed, and I saw him to late... And then a man on a Vespa arrived in full-speed. He wore a helmet with a dark visor, but I thought, it could be a driver - or Alain Prost. And then I just remember the following five seconds, as if it would have been a minute... Someone shouted out: "ALAIN!!!". I took a deep look and saw a lot of flashes and through the visor of the helmet, which was lighted by the flashes a smiling Alain Prost waving hands and driving away in full speed. I wanted to make a photo very quick, but it didn't work that fast, I always have to wait some seconds for the flash and then take a photo, and, because Alain was away after two seconds I just have a photo of a Vespa-driver with a white helmet from behind. I was really down, that I did not even manage to get a photo done... In the next two seconds, I decided to run behind the Vespa of Alain, perhaps I could catch him somehow in the traffic of the city, I thought. I soon realised, that this was impossible and went to the railway station again after a short visit at the pits, where the engineers worked on different small things, and I had the possibility to make some photos of the Prost-pits and speak some words with the mechanics of Swiss Team Sauber...

From Thursday to Saturday, the sun was shining, but on Sunday morning, a cold wind and clouds were over Monaco. I thought, that it might be good for Team Prost when it's raining, and it was surely not bad... The rain started about three minutes before the start of the Grand Prix. I was somehow happy, because I was sure, that this will be an interesting race, but at the same time, I didn't like it at all, because I know better things than sitting in the rain for 2 hours with a cold wind... I didn't have a very good place for Sunday, although I paid 2000 French Francs for the Ticket... I didn't see much of the drivers because of some heads and of some umbrellas, which were opened from time to time although it was prohibited...

After the race I went back to the paddocks and I saw a lot of drivers, but it rained and I couldn't take photos with my new camera, as it doesn't work in the rain, when it gets wet... And I couldn't let them sign the programme, because I didn't want a wet programme. I decided, to let them sign my rain coat. And when I met René Arnoux, the first former F1-driver, who was coming out of the paddocks, I asked him. He was very nice, but it was impossible to sign the rain coat, it didn't work, because everything was too wet and although my pen was waterproo- fed, it didn't work at all... René Arnoux was very sorry for that, but at least I could make a photo as it wasn't raining so heavy as before. Jan Magnussen also posed for some photos... Later, I saw Alain Prost on the Vespa in his helmet again, this time I knew him, but I was in a bad position, and it was impossible to follow him or make a photo... That was it... All in all, a nice race in a nice city and a lot of nice souvenirs. I think, I will go to Monaco again next year. Hopefully not alone, as this is not as interesting as going with a whole group, especially with a group of Alain Prost-fans. Although I went with a racing tour, the others were interested in different things, and not everybody wants to stand in front of the paddocks for two or three hours - not even, if they could meet drivers and Alain Prost... I was just a little bit alone, but at least I had a lot of place in my hotel room, as it was a room for two persons, ha, ha!!

If you are interested in exchanging Prost-photos and the photos of Arnoux, Magnussen, Larini, Salo, Herbert and other drivers and cars I made in Monaco, please contact me...

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