Monaco magic still dazzles 82 years after its first race

There has always been money in this place. Even back then, the prize for the man who completed 100 laps first was 100,000 French Francs . . . a staggering amount 82 years ago.

This has always been a place where people come for two things - to look, or be looked at - so staging a race that most thought improbable if not impossible seemed like the perfect plan to put the place on the map.

And this weekend, just like all those years ago, Monaco is the setting for a race that everyone will talk about. Back in the 1920s, a ballot drew qualifying positions, with William Grover-Williams winning in his Bugatti clocking an average speed of just 50 miles an hour.

Twenty one years after the first Grand Prix, the first ever Formula One race was staged here and it set the tone for the kind of race where a tiny error can have huge repercussions as 10 cars were wiped out in an accident on the very first lap.

Many years later, the average speed has doubled, as have the crowds and the interest in one of the events of the F1 season.

To add to the excitement, we arrive here with a championship in the balance.

Sebastian Vettel must be stopped, that is what the teams all around Red Bull are saying to themselves as the current world champion disappears in a haze of exhaust fumes.

Jenson Button hasn't had a pole position since this very race two years ago and is trailing both Vettel, and his team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, in the title race. Hamilton, meanwhile, is buzzing at the moment.

Having beaten Vettel in China and pushed him to the very limit last weekend in Spain, he has described himself as "the only man who can beat Seb in a slower car".

That is, at present, totally correct and it seems the fact Lewis saw the flag first in Shanghai has given him a timely boost.

However, my tip for this weekend is to keep your eye on Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.

Alonso, in his Ferrari, is genuinely quick round here and the pressure on Ferrari to deliver a good result is enormous.

Meanwhile, Webber enjoyed a dominant victory for Red Bull here last year from pole position and, along with the rest of the grid, is well aware that time is running out to take the fight to his team-mate.

So when you hear the roar of 24 F1 cars come Sunday afternoon, spare a thought for William Grover-Williams all those years ago.

Despite this place being almost unrecognisable from 1929, one thing is just the same as it always has been, Monaco reverberating to the sound of the racing car.