On April 14, 1929, William Grover-Williams won the first race at the Circuit de Monaco, driving a Bugatti. Since then, Monaco has hosted the Grand Prix except for 14 years. The winding route around the port of Hercules remains demanding, favoring history over modernity. Ayrton Senna holds the record of 6 victories in F1.

The Automobile Club of Monaco, founded in 1890, organizes the Grand Prix as well as other automobile events.

The race lap and pole position records belong respectively to Michael Schumacher in 2004 (1 min 14 sec 439) and Fernando Alonso in 2006 (1 min 13 sec 962).