Lack of Monaco grand prix of Formula 1 this weekend, due to exit containment, the streets of the Principality have still resonated with the sound of race engines, those two Ferrari's, one of which was led by the local champion, Charles Leclerc. For the sake of the cause, as it was to shoot a short film dawn at the time when the streets of the Principality are deserted. The scenario is not yet known, but the time of the shooting, the protagonists in place, including the film director Claude Lelouch and the title of the film, " Grand rendez-vous ", a direct reference to an experience that will take your breath away of the producer carried out a lot earlier in his career, in Paris this time.

It was at the time – it was August 15, 1976 at 5: 30 in the morning – to go from the boulevard périphérique at the porte Dauphine to the stairs of the Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre, for an appointment. The kind who does not wait. The shooting, carried out with Claude Lelouch at the wheel, without any authorization from the prefecture, offers a crossing suffocating the capital in the early morning in the streets, fortunately almost deserted.

With a minimum of precautions, the director, who has attached a camera of 35 mm on the bumper of his Mercedes 450 SLC, turning a unique sequence of 8 minutes 39 seconds with a rest of a film. The program, a point at 200 km/h on avenue Foch, and a driver who takes all the liberties with the rules of the road, the few pedestrians, lights, and even the sense prohibited. What the embastiller for a good time, even in 1976.

Lelouch, Leclerc, Ferrari and Monaco, a beautiful poster automotive in the absence of a Grand Prix in monaco © Ferrari

No way, a priori, to Monaco, where, this time, the local authorities had done the cleaning so that the little prodigy of the Principality of monaco, Charles Leclerc, official driver of Ferrari in F1, to be installed at the wheel of a formidable Ferrari SF 90 Stradale. Filmed by another Ferrari the same, he completed several laps of the circuit with onboard cameras and the follower and Lelouch to maneuver in the rise of Sainte-Dévôte.

A prince in the poster

The scenario seems to be a nod to the lived experience 44 years earlier in Paris, and the title, "It was an appointment" up a final ambiguity. It will be fixed on 13 June, when the revelation of the movie in which the prince Albert II of Monaco, himself recovering from the Covid-19, made an appearance, as prince Andrea Casiraghi and John Elkann, chairman of Ferrari. A beautiful way to greet the end of the confinement, which occurred a little earlier than in France, with this film unusual was attracted to the dawn a good number of curious enthusiasts.

Lelouch, Leclerc, Ferrari and Monaco, a beautiful poster automotive in the absence of a Grand Prix in the Principality © FELIEN VEROT PIXEL / Ferrari

" A way, according to Ferrari, to celebrate the return of motor sport, cinema and social life as we strive to leave the pandemic behind us, by a behavior, a commitment, a solidarity, a mutual responsibility. "Charles Leclerc, making his film debut under the camera and the expert eye of Claude Lelouch, has let go of the 1000 hp in the Stradale and reaches 240 km/h in the streets of the Principality.

nevertheless, It has taken much less risk than Claude Lelouch at the time, the route was not secure with the exception of the crossing of the rue de Rivoli by the counters of the Louvre. Posted there, his assistant of the time, Elie Chouraqui, was waiting for him with a walkie-talkie to tell him if he could pass. Not having any signal, Claude Lelouch crossed at any speed, and learned later that the walkie-talkie was broken.