Forget the rest of the season, suspend disbelief, and prepare for the adrenalin rush of the year when, tomorrow at 1.30 pm BST, the massed ranks of 22 Formula One drivers and their motorised sharks storm uphill into Sainte Devote corner at the start of the Monaco Grand Prix.

The noise, contained and amplified between the high-rise architecture of Monte Carlo, assaults the senses with only the reckless, or rich and patronised at mooring rope's length in the cluttered harbour, not requiring earplugs.

For 2.084 miles, virtually unchanged in basic layout since 1929, the tarmac ribbon drapes itself over the tiny Principality threading past Du Beau Rivage, through Casino Square, Mirabeau, and Virage du Portier.

It is at this point that the 750-horsepower (10 times that of a family runabout) projectiles hurtle out of the bright, Riviera sunshine into the tunnel, which arcs under Loewe's Hotel, before bursting back into the glare and plunging downhill, at up to 175mph, towards the harbour front, pulling seventh gear.

Down five gears and a manic flick left and right through the

chicane before the sprint to Tabac, briefly back up to 135mph, then down to 90mph and the giddying right, left, right slalom past the swimming pool and a second gear 30mph scramble round La Rascasse. From there the car catapults between trees, past the pits, and into Sainte Devote again slowing to 55mph from an approach velocity of 175mph.

It is a unique track where balance, spatial awareness, smooth driving technique and patience are essential for anyone who wants to be around at the finish 78 laps or just over 163 miles later.

Unlike modern sanitised circuits, the topography of Monaco means there are no run-off areas, no gravel traps, just a ring of steel barriers, or concrete walls if the unwary, over-impetuous or weary driver clips a kerb. It is the nearest thing to high-speed bagatelle on a course where overtaking opportunities are as plentiful as rocking horse manure. Hence the critical importance of stringing together tidy and fast qualifying laps today. Nowhere else does sitting on pole position mean so much.

This description of a Monaco lap will be rendered academic should it rain tomorrow, as it did 12 months ago. Last year Michael Schumacher simply drove into the distance in a far from brilliant Ferrari, averaging just under 65mph, 30mph below Heinz Harald's pole-setting time.

Schumacher second guessed the weather, had the team roll out the spare car with wet weather settings and tyres, and exploited his God-given gift to the full.

Come rain or shine, given a decent grid position, he will be difficult to beat along the waterfront. However, in 1996 he made an early, undignified exit against a wall after starting from pole.

The ability of Monaco to trip up the greatest was shown when Ayrton Senna's McLaren clattered into a barrier as he dominated the 1988 race. Senna was inconsolable and retreated to his nearby flat rather than return to the pits.

The odds are short on David Coulthard or Mika Hakkinen making it a tenth Monaco win for the marque. Arguably they cannot do worse than last year when the duo's silver dream machines were broken and parked up before the end of the first lap.

In 1996, Coulthard came within a tantalising handful of seconds of winning when Frenchman Olivier Panis broke into the prolonged monopoly of McLaren, Ferrari, Williams and Benetton with his Ligier-Honda. Panis started from fourteenth that afternoon.

This time last year the Williams-Renault team appeared to act on a weather forecast which related to another planet, putting both drivers out on dry weather tyres and suspension settings. Jacques Villeneuve and Frentzen can only hope for a race of attrition because the Williams chassis appears to be fundamentally flawed.

By contrast the Benettons, using the same ex-Renault Mecachrome engines, are among the best of the rest after the McLarens. Benetton's young Italian and Austrian hotshots, Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz, could be worth long wagers, even if the latter has not raced F1 round Monaco.

After the euphoria of Rubens Barrichello's splash to second last year Jackie Stewart is counselling caution. He said: ''I'd like us to qualify in the top 10 and finish in the top 10. With attrition that could translate into a top-six place.''

Brazil's Barrichello, 26 today, and Dane Jan Magnussen will have the new more powerful P4 Ford Cosworth V10 engines behind them. They'll also benefit from a new steering format which makes the car go where it is pointed - rather important at Monaco.

Gaining succour from Barrichello's fifth place in Spain, ahead of Villeneuve, Stewart none the less believes it is ''silly'' for people to foster great expectations for his team, in only its twenty-second Grand Prix. At least the recipients of Stewart hospitality, including Detroit top brass and mature rocker Phil Collins, will not have to slum it in a multi-storey car park like last year. Stewart-Ford has its place in the sun, down on the quayside.

In fact Jackie Stewart would prefer rain on race day. It would reduce the 60-horsepower disadvantage his cars carry, exploit the wet-weather grip of their Bridgestone tyres and allow Barrichello to show his aquatic driving skills.

But then there would the probability of Schumacher's affinity to rain relegating the other 21 drivers to on-track spectating roles.

qJackie Stewart won four times at Monaco, in 1964, 1966, 1971 and 1973. And although the first victory was not in a grand prix car it was almost as significant, claimed the triple former world champion.

The opening win on the streets of Monte Carlo came in a minimalist Formula 3 Cooper-BMC, entered by Ken Tyrrell, en route to F1 with BRM the next year.

Team managers watched the curtain-raiser F3 race on the Saturday before the main feature and several winners graduated rapidly into F1.

Two years later Monaco marked his second grand prix win - 12 months after Stewart, in only his second grand prix, led at the Riviera track before finishing third.

To date he is the only Scot to win on the classic street course. Victory always eluded the late Jim Clark who qualified on pole position in four out of the six Monaco races he contested.

Stewart recalls how gruelling the Monaco race could be. He said: ''Before the days of semi-automatic transmissions with push and pull levers on the wheel, a Monaco race involved 2800 gear shifts. The blisters on your hands were legendary and instead of 68 laps there were up to 100. The race had a habit of grinding you down with fatigue.''

Most of the chicanes now feature flared kerbs, not the 90-degree angle coping stones of yesteryear, while telegraph poles, straw bales and bollards provided additional solid hazards. Stewart, a committed safety campaigner, who survived while many died around him, conceded that the concept of a latter-day Monaco track would be anathema today.

However, he pointed to a safety record, at a venue which has hosted everything from Renault Clios to historic racers.

q David Coulthard has been told by McLaren team leader Ron Dennis to ignore rumours that Michael Schumacher is about to pinch his place in the team. ''Ron has taken steps to assure me that there is nothing to the rumours,'' said Coulthard.