Lucas di Grassi has revealed his favourite Monaco moment came in 1997 when he was in the early days of his motor racing career.
Di Grassi will make his 12th appearance at a Monaco event on Saturday at the ninth round of the 2023 Formula E championship.
“My favourite memory in Monaco was my first ever international go-kart race in 1997,” Di Grassi exclusively told Total-Motorsport.com. “It was the Monaco Go-kart Open.
“The track they had used to have was: the Rascasse, the pit lane now used to be the track, then after the pit lane you would do a 180 [degree turn], go back to the Swimming Pool and do the Rascasse again.
“I was fighting with Robert Kubica actually but back then we were 12 years old, so nobody knew each other.
“I have this video of me coming here with my father and I was super nervous because it was my first international race. I think I qualified fourth, finished the pre-finals second, then crashed in the final.”
Di Grassi has not featured at the front in Formula E this year since taking an impressive podium at the season-opening Mexico City E-Prix.
He thinks Formula E is the best championship to race around Monaco, given the dimensions of the car.
“It’s amazing to have a Formula E race here every year now,” said Di Grassi.
“It’s such an iconic track and the track is much more suited to Formula E now than Formula 1, much more fun.
“F1 cars are too big, too wide, too heavy, you cannot overtake at all. Formula E is the best for this type of track, it suits it very very well.”