After being canceled due to the global pandemic of coronavirus last year F1 will be returning to Monte Carlo this weekend. Monaco will allow a limited number of spectators to watch the event from grandstands, but the principality is expected to be much quieter than normal.

With F1’s blue riband race being as much about the glamour off the track as the action on it, Ricciardo senses a very different vibe this time around.

Ricciardo said the track itself is so intense that he thinks the track will always be a full on 10in aspect of racing so a lot of the in-car stuff will still have those highs.

But the buildup to the race as a driver walks through the crowd and then the fans to get pretty much into the pit lane and into the car is already a chaotic affair even before you get there.

He added so the heart rate will be already up with the circuit’s doing the rest for the driver. So, he feels maybe there’ll be a slight sense of calm before the storm hits.

Ricciardo is so excited to go to the Monaco track but is also a little bit scared to not get too excited since it is that atmosphere and the whole aura of the boats near to the track and people on the track at the end of the day drinking and partying that keeps the vibe. He guesses that level will not be there this season and the venue would feel a little empty, but for the in-car stuff he thinks it would all be fine.

Ricciardo’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris agrees that the atmosphere will be different, and that the weekend will probably lack of little of its previous spectacle. He said this will be the first street track they’ll be going back to since covid. He added in some sort the drivers have got used to lesser fans being there now, but when you go to Monaco, it is well known that 50 percent of the excitement is from everything else that is going around the track.

So Norris is eagerly waiting to see the venue even though he’s sure it’s not going to be as glorious and spectacular as normal, but it’s certainly one of the best races that the Formula 1 calendar has this year.