The Monaco Grand Prix Historique is now in its 15th edition with even more prevalent online media coverage. So once you are done watching classic Formula One machinery take on the streets of Monte Carlo, why not tackle those same beasts in the virtual world? Here is how.
We are nearly there. Just one weekend to go until the end of this early-season break for the 2026 Formula One World Championship. So if you are desperately looking for new series to watch during the pause, you needn't doom scroll much longer.
But for this weekend, you may still be in search of a bit of racing to watch, and we think we have the perfect viewing experience for you - especially if you are a fan of Formula One's earlier years. To round out the month of April, the Automobile Club de Monaco hosts its 15th Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, otherwise known as the historic Monaco Grand Prix.
2026 Monaco Grand Prix Historique Live Stream
Taking the crown jewel of Formula One and using it to reflect on the greatest cars to have ever competed in the sport, the Monaco historic Grand Prix is a highlight event for any motor racing fan on the levels of Goodwood Revival and Le Mans Classic.
In total, eight groups will take to the circuit in anger, recollecting on eight different eras of the sport. Ranging from the early front-engine beasts of the 1950s to the turbo era cars of the 1980s, passing through the early stages of aero development of the 1960s and 1970s, the event has it all.
The Monaco Historic Grand Prix takes place across 24-26 April with a practice day, qualifying day and race day, giving the best vintage racers a chance to fight it out on the famous Monaco circuit. And the good news is, it is all available to watch live and free in multiple languages. On the official ACM YouTube channel, francophones can enjoy a high-quality production including a studio with experts providing talking points throughout the event whilst international viewers will get all the information and action from John Hindaugh and Bruce Jones.
Alongside the racing, special guests will join the booth and provide their expertise in interviews available to watch throughout the stream whilst a special parade celebrating the history of Ferrari victories at the circuit will showcase some of the Prancing Horse's best models of recent living memory, including the F2004 that famously took Michael Schumacher to his final world title.
Historic Monaco Grand Prix in Sim Racing
As ever, we sim racers do not simply content ourselves with watching motorsport on the telly. Be it the latest World Championship event or an overlooked historic racing series, we are the first to try and replicate a weekend's motorsport in the simulator to experience everything the real drivers go through.
Watch and race classics around Monaco. Image credit: Credit Suisse on Newspress
The good news is that Monaco as a circuit is pretty omnipresent in sim racing, appearing in almost every game under the sun, either in first-party or modded form. Plus, historic Formula One cars are not something our passion is lacking, so there are a multitude of games one can jump into to recreate the Historic Monaco Grand Prix.
Assetto Corsa
When you think of recreating anything in sim racing, chances are there is a mod for it in Assetto Corsa. Well, Formula One at Monaco is far from the most out-there scenario and so you have a wide array of choice when it comes to running F1 history around the Circuit de Monaco.
Just for the circuit itself, several versions are available on OverTake recreating it in different layouts, including 1938, 1966, 1972 and 1988. But for the purposes of recreating the Historic event as it is today, we will use the 2026 layout.
Assetto Corsa can mix first party and mod Formula One content.
Even as a base game, Assetto Corsa features a collection of vintage F1 cars as first-party content, both from Classic Team Lotus and Ferrari. But for a true experience, venturing into the third-party market will provide the best results. Here on OverTake, you can find models covering most eras but one positive for AC versus its rivals below is that community members have included passionate recreations of 1950s cars like this 1952 Ferrari 500.
What Assetto Corsa struggles with, however, is AI racing. Offline competitors have progressed a long way since the game ended its production cycle, thanks to the Custom Shaders Patch. But they are still nowhere near the level of arguably the best in single-class F1 racing: Automobilista 2.
rFactor 2
If you want to combine decent AI racing with third-party modability, rFactor 2 has many of the same core AI underpinnings as Le Mans Ultimate, another game we tout as sitting among the best for offline racing. Therefore, when the car and track combination has been properly meshed, rFactor 2 can also provide good racing in single-player sessions.
Monaco street circuit in rFactor 2. Image credit: Studio-397
Moreover, as a successor to rFactor 1, rF2 gets similar modding capabilities to Assetto Corsa. As such, you can find plenty of historic racing creations including full Formula One season packs on the game's Steam Workshop page.
A downside to rFactor 2, however, is that, whilst available as first-party content, the Monaco circuit will set you back a good chunk. Available as a laser-scanned recreation of the circuit, the venue costs €8.99 on the Steam shop, making it quite the investment if you do not already own it, especially as it lacks any real-world branding dubbed the Circuit d'Azur.
Automobilista 2
As we all know by now, thanks to the OverTake Formula One Season Guide in Automobilista 2, the Brazilian simulator is by far the best game for recreating the history of the pinnacle of our sport. And with the Monaco Grand Prix Historique so firmly intertwined with F1, plus the fact that AMS2 has its own recreation of the Monte Carlo street circuit, dubbed the Azure Circuit, it only makes sense that a true recreation of this weekend's event takes place in AMS2.
In fact, only two classes competing at the Monaco Grand Prix Historique are not available to replicate in AMS2: Serie C for front-engine sports cars between 1952 and 1957, and Serie A (1 and 2) for front-engine Grand Prix cars before 1961. But that means you can fully recreate five of the classes taking part this weekend:
RaceDescriptionRelevant Automobilista 2 ClassesSerie BRear-engine, 1500, F1 Grand Prix cars from 1961 to 1965 and F2 from 1956 to 1960Formula Vintage Gen1Serie DF1 Grand Prix cars 3L from 1966 to 1972Formula Vintage Gen1 & Formula Vintage Gen2Serie EF1 Grand Prix cars 3L from 1973 to 1976Formula Retro Gen1Serie FF1 Grand Prix cars 3L from 1977 to 1980Formula Retro Gen2Serie GF1 Grand Prix cars from 1981 to 1985Formula Retro Gen3If you do fancy recreating any of these races, make sure to set your event to a 30-minute race for most of the series, or a 45-minute race for races E, F, and G. For maximum immersion, the real series runs a 30-minute practice per series and a 20-minute qualifying session.
Moreover, whilst the grids racing in this weekend's historic Grand Prix do not perfectly recreate exact fields from particular years, you will want to revel in the correct liveries for each class rather than Automobilista 2's default sets. We would suggest even mixing and matching the liveries from the different season packs of each relevant class.
Will you be watching the Historic Monaco Grand Prix this weekend? Let us know in the comments!