Lewis Hamilton is one of the greatest drivers to race in F1, if not the greatest. Yet, despite his excellence and surreal driving, he is a human after all, and is prone to make mistakes. During the Monaco GP in 2009, a model bizarrely disturbed Lewis in qualifying, which caused him to crash.

There are seldom any tracks in F1 where Lewis Hamilton has not dominated or won over the years. Hamilton, who has 103 race wins to his name, has won the Monaco GP 3 times. Among the current crop of drivers, he’s won the most times in Monte Carlo.

However, things didn’t go according to Hamilton’s plan in the 2009 Monaco GP. The then McLaren driver was the reigning world champion but crashed in the Loews Hairpin. The reason? Jessiqa Pace and her billboard, which was subsequently banned from Monaco for distracting the drivers.

Lewis Hamilton wasn’t the only one distracted from the model’s beauty. Brazilian driver Felipe Massa and 2009 Monaco GP winner Jenson Button were also among the drivers fascinated by Pace’s good looks. Massa said, “Every time you’re passing through that corner, you know you have this beautiful lady, every driver’s just losing a little bit of concentration. “

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Button also shared, “Every time you passed her, it was as though she was looking right at you”. However, the infamous billboard returned to Monaco in 2017, but the organizers made sure that they kept it well outside the reach of the driver’s vision.

Lewis Hamilton urged keeping the Monaco GP in next year’s calendar

The addition of new circuits and races has been a challenge for the existing ones on the calendar. Monaco and Spa were among the two historic circuits that were threatened to miss out in the future. However, both circuits are going to be part of the calendar for the foreseeable future. Lewis Hamilton also shared his views about keeping the Monaco GP on the calendar.

Hamilton mentioned, as quoted by the Independent, “I mean, it’s one of the crown jewels of our sport. So I’m not really sure it would be great to lose it.”

He further said, “There are good bits… I guess that the difficult part is that the racing itself is not that spectacular. But everyone that goes enjoys it. It is a prime location.”

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The Monaco GP is one of the most exciting and entertaining tracks presently. Despite its low overtaking chances, drivers love to race in one of F1’s “crown jewels”. What is your favorite Monaco GP moment?