Monaco Before Formula 1: The Race Came Before the Championship

October 18, 2026

1933 Monaco Grand Prix poster, blue Bugatti beneath palm trees

The Monaco Grand Prix began in 1929, more than two decades before it joined the first Formula 1 World Championship in 1950. The 1930s posters in our Racing and Motorsports collection belong to that earlier chapter: Grand Prix racing before Formula 1.

A race poster had two jobs. It announced a place and a date, and it made being there feel irresistible. Look at the artwork with that in mind. The car supplies the drama; the lettering tells you where to go. Decades after the advertised weekend has passed, that tension still gives the image its energy.

Monaco Grand Prix 1933 poster, blue racing car beneath palm trees

Grand Prix first. Formula 1 later.

The event, the technical rules and the championship have different starting dates.

1929 · Monaco begins

The first Monaco Grand Prix took place on April 14, 1929. William Grover-Williams, listed as “Williams” in the organizer’s record, won in a Bugatti.

1947 · The postwar formula

New Grand Prix rules formally took effect, allowing 4.5-liter naturally aspirated engines or 1.5-liter supercharged engines.

1950 · The World Championship

Monaco joined the inaugural Formula 1 World Championship. Juan Manuel Fangio won its May 21 race in an Alfa Romeo.

Three posters, three race weekends

Each poster in the prewar Monaco series advertised a specific event with a specific outcome:

1933 — the fifth Monaco Grand Prix, April 23. Achille Varzi won in a Bugatti. See the 1933 poster.
1934 — the sixth running, April 2. Guy Moll won in an Alfa Romeo. See the 1934 poster.
1936 — the eighth Monaco Grand Prix, April 13. Rudolf Caracciola won in a Mercedes. See the 1936 poster.

The winning driver should not be assumed to be the driver pictured. These were advertisements made before the race, not records of its result.