Despite not being held in Monaco in 2016, this year’s Formula E event proved to be an outstanding success, with packed enclosures and spectator areas on race day showing its growing popularity.
Renault’s Sébastien Buemi led from the start and held off Lucas di Grassi of Brazil to win his fourth race of the year and his second straight Monaco ePrix.
Switzerland’s Buemi extended his lead in the standings to 15 points over Audi Sport ABT’s di Grassi.
Di Grassi, who had won the previous race in Mexico, with Buemi coming in only 14th, rued the fact he had missed out on pole position: “It is difficult to overtake here and track position is so important,” he said, adding: “I had the better car than Seb today but he was in front.”
Buemi admitted it had been a close call: “I did not have much margin and finished on the limit of my energy reserves.”
The safety car had been called out before halfway through the race, thanks to a clash involving Jean-Eric Vergne and Nelson Piquet Jr, and all the drivers came in for their obligatory car change on the same lap what meant the end of all strategic considerations and so, only the racing on the track was crucial for the result.
The main beneficiary was Nick Heidfeld, who moved up to third spot on the podium after starting eighth on the grid.
“This was tough but fair,” said Venturi driver and local favourite Maro Engel. “Managing your energy perfectly is difficult when you have to fight all the time to fend off a pressurising rival.”
Venturi team owner Gildo Pallanca Pastor said, “I’d like to congratulate the entire team on this result in the home race. And now it’s flat out for next week in Paris.” Due to a scheduling conflict, Maro Engel will be replaced in Paris by reserve driver Tom Dillmann who is going to contest his debut race in the Formula E Championship.
But the biggest winner of the day was Monaco itself, proving yet again that as a venue it leads the world.
In order to best utilise human resources, the Public Security Department has decided to create a Monegasque civilian reserve, composed of young police retirees who will work close to schools. The measure has already come into effect.
Since Tuesday, May 2, three reservists have been working with the Collège Charles III, the Lycée François d’Assise-Nicolas Barré and the Technical and Hotel School. Their main mission is to ensure safety and security close to these facilities.
The on-the-spot reservists also offer an immediate point of contact with heads of schools for security and safety at any time of the day, in order to contribute to the prevention of all forms of violence.
The reservists’ work is carried out in close collaboration with the management team and the educational advisers of the schools concerned, who are the only ones empowered to manage the operation of the schools and the pupils for whom they are responsible. In the long term, all the schools in the Principality will benefit from this system.
Paolo Sari, the only 100% organic and Michelin starred chef in Monaco, has signed an exclusive partnership with Eric Rinaldi, the last fisherman still working in Monaco. Mr Rinaldi’s catch will supply the bio chef’s restaurants. However, to the delight of private customers, part of the catch will still be available at the “U Luvassu” fish shop in the Condamine.
The Rinaldi family have been fishermen from generation to generation in Monaco, and have always been recognised for the quality of their work in the Principality. While there were still six fishing families in Monaco in the 1980s, Mr Rinaldi is the last one to continue his passion every morning in the sea off Monaco onboard his boat “Dede”.
This partnership fits perfectly with the values of the organic chef and his association, Chef Global Spirit: a local approach to food supply, which supports the producers, fishermen and respects nature with an environmental impact diminished to its minimum.
The Bio Chef’s Michelin star tables offer menus made from products from a Roquebrune garden and the Monaco sea, something that goes beyond any existing label or certification.
Dr Bourlon of the Cardio-Thoracic Centre of Monaco holding a cheque along with the Centre’s Director Mr Nervo.
The funds raised by last year’s No Finish Line (NFL), which ran from November 12 to 20, were distributed to the charities involved at an awards ceremony held at Stars’n’Bars last week, including the presence of Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Stéphane Valeri.
The 17th edition of NFL involved 11,889 participants who covered a distance of 392,516 km (up from 383,109 in 2015) for a total of €392,516, which was donated in favour of associations for sick or disadvantaged children.
Among those benefiting from NFL were the Cardio-Thoracic Centre of Monaco, which was awarded €115,604 to save children with serious heart defects. The Centre’s permanent staff provide cardiac diagnosis, urgent surgical procedures and paediatric resuscitation, with the most complex cases are handled by specialists of international repute. Beyond the surgical and medical gestures, the whole team is mobilised to welcome children away from their family environment. These projects work through cooperation between several associations: Aviation without Borders, the Chain of Hope and the Monegasque Red Cross.
Monaco Town Hall was given €13,304 towards the Parc Princesse Antoinette Project to enable handicapped children to benefit from a play area specially adapted by the installation of a swing with the other children.
Monaco’s Dance Academy graciously accepted €15,000 to support a scholarship for a young Brazilian student in his training of three years at the dance academy of the Ballets of Monte Carlo.
The Orphanage Béthanie, Benin (€12,000), where the funds will be used to finalise the construction of a second building to house, care, feed, educate and train new children between the ages of 5 and 18 (20 additional orphans received for a total of 32).
The Pelinga School in Mali received €16,600 to facilitate the education of the village children -244 including 115 girls – with good working conditions by financing the finishing work on the primary school.
The Scientific Centre of Monaco received €15,000 for work on the evaluation of a therapeutic strategy for Muscular Dystrophy based on a genomic editing approach, a genetic repair of genomic DNA by replacing the original mutation and by rehabilitating the protein of interest. The cheque was dedicated to Monaco resident Paul Pettavino, who died of the disease in November 2016.
EEAP Henri Germain, part of the Lenval Group in Nice, received €2,112 for the purchase of two tablets and software adapted to children with disabilities, facilitating daily communication with caregivers.
The Lenval Foundation, also in Nice, was awarded €31,359 for the purchase of a gastroscope suitable for infants of 2.5 to 7 kg and designed to facilitate the exploration under anaesthesia of the oesophagus and the stomach through the superior natural routes in complete safety.
A donation of €30,000 was given for the construction of a catheterisation room in Bamako, Mali. This is the second payment of €30,000 after the one made in 2016: to help to finance the construction of a catheterisation room in the Luxembourg mother-and-infant hospital. This project is supported by the Share association and the DCI, the logistics led by Es-Ko, the Stavros Niarchos foundation and the Amade Monaco association being the main contributors.
A cheque for €4,630 was given the Schools State of Karnataka, India to help disadvantaged tribal villages in South India with a school, educational and vocational support system for children of highly discriminated untouchables communities. This payment is the third and the last.
Other charities and organisations receiving funds were the Prince Albert II School, Haiti (€21,410); Comfort armchair for Céline (€3,744); Operation of Farès (€10,000); Fight Aids House of Life, Carpentras (€37,800); Sponsoring children, Mali (€3,240), Foliar extracts from Luzerne, Senegal (€8,000); Playground, Excelsior villa, Cannes (€11,800); IRCAN, Nice (€15,000); Nursery Bamako, Mali (€17,180); Special Olympics Monaco: purchase of snowshoes for the Olympic Winter Games, which took place in Austria, cost €990; Monegasque Sailing Association: Financing of three days of baptism for sick children and disabled persons: 30-minute flight, video and diploma presentation and exercise in a simulator. Children are also invited to a lunch. Each day allows 7/8 children to discover gliding, total cost of €4,000; 4L Trophy: purchase of sports equipment for Moroccan children, cost €404; Association Krav Maga Côte d’Azur: mission in India,: €3,000.
In addition to presenting cheques, NFL also recognised the young people the completed the most kilometres for their age group during the eight days. All three of Ben and Sally Rolfe‘s children received trophies.
Exams in the Monegasque language have started and will continue into June. On Tuesday, May 9, grades 6 and 7 of Monaco’s public and private schools – about 870 pupils in total – started these written examinations at their respective institutions: Collège Charles III and Collège François d’Assise Nicolas Barré.
On Thursday, May 11, it was the turn of 138 of the older students, grades 8 to 12, who chose the “Monégasque” option, to meet at Espace Léo Ferré for the written tests, either the Language and History of Monaco or a Language test.
The youngest students (all grade 5 students of the six primary schools in the Principality) will in turn write the Monegasque language in their respective schools on Tuesday, May 23.
In total, nearly 1,400 students this year are taking part in the Monegasque Language Competition. Only 90 of them will be selected for the oral exams which will take place in the town hall, before a jury, from June 6 to 9.
This selection of students will all be invited to the traditional awards ceremony of the Concours de Langue de Monégasque, held on Thursday, June 22 at 8 pm in the Cour d’Honneur of the Town Hall in the presence of top officials and personalities of the Principality.
