Ten ways to fix the Monaco: From joker laps to cancellation

Elizabeth Blackstock 27 May 2025 8:15 AM

How would you fix the Monaco Grand Prix?

After the newly-announced mandatory two-pit stop strategy in Monaco failed to create an unpredictable race, fans and pundits have continued to wonder if we can’t do more to “fix” the Monaco Grand Prix?

We’ve taken a look at some of the biggest theories and ideas.

Monaco Grand Prix fix No. 1: Turn it into an exhibition race

Perhaps the simplest solution to solve the Monaco Grand Prix is to remove it from the World Championship schedule and turn it into an exhibition, non-championship race.

Non-championship Grands Prix have a long and storied history in Formula 1, providing drivers with a chance to hone their skills and teams with an opportunity to plug new drivers into the line-up to see how they’ll perform in the heat of battle.

Further, the framework for this decision is already in place, because Monaco is already something of a special exception on the F1 calendar: It is the only Grand Prix that doesn’t adhere to the FIA’s mandated 305-kilometer minimum race distance for an F1 event. The narrow, tight nature of the track means speeds are so low that completing the 305km distance is no guarantee within the two-hour event time frame.

Why not just make Monaco an exhibition race? It could be a great chance to open up the regulations and allow teams to debut tech that would otherwise be banned in the sport, or to give reserve drivers a chance to shine. Put up a hefty cash prize and let drivers select a car from their team’s recent back catalog to put to the test.

Monaco may no longer be a proper Grand Prix, but it could still represent a unique event on F1’s annual calendar.

Monaco Grand Prix fix No. 2: Mandate the use of all three tyre compounds

This year, the FIA World Motor Sport Council mandated that all drivers make two pit stops during the Monaco Grand Prix. I’ll address the repercussions of that decision below, but I think this idea could go further. Drivers could be made to use all three tyre compounds in the race.

At the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix, we saw most drivers stick to two compounds, medium and hard. A few drivers took a chance on the softs, but for many, that represented an unacceptable strategy gamble.

So why not impose that gamble on them? Why not force every team and every driver to find the ideal way to make each compound work in a race setting? It certainly could be a step toward ‘fixing’ Monaco.

Monaco Grand Prix fix No. 3: Create Monaco-specific regulations

The mandated two-pit stop strategy at the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix wreaked havoc on the field, with lower-qualifying cars on a team holding up the machines behind them to allow their teammates to build an on-track gap before their pit stops, thus allowing those stops to be made without a major loss of track position.

The maneuver drove plenty of drivers mad — and it prompted Toto Wolff, team boss of Mercedes, to suggest that Formula 1 could rewrite the rulebook for this specific race.

“I think, you know, even if this was a zero-stop race and we’re doing autocourse on the Sunday, it’s still a mega venue, and then it’s the Saturday shootout that matters,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com, after the Monaco Grand Prix.

“But I think what we can look at is to create some Monaco-specific regulations that there’s only a maximum [amount] of back off that you can have. You can’t hold up a train. Overtaking anyway is difficult, but you can say ‘You can’t go slower than x seconds from the leaders’.

“That will probably create a little bit more of a closer field. Does it improve the overtaking? I don’t think that’s feasible.”

Perhaps a whole new set of rules could improve Monaco… but it would also inevitably give the stewards more to worry about.

More analysis from the Monaco Grand Prix:

👉 Monaco GP driver ratings: Near-perfect Norris with a Russell bungle

👉 Monaco GP conclusions: Norris’s big reset, Leclerc unleashed, F1’s failed experiment

Monaco Grand Prix fix No. 4: Improve braking zones

Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner told media, including PlanetF1.com, after the Monaco Grand Prix that every major historic race track has evolved to better suit Formula 1 over the years; therefore, changes should be made to the Monte Carlo track to better suit modern F1.

“I think everything has to move with the times,” he said.

“It’s an iconic historic circuit. But, if you look at how Monaco has changed, how much land they’ve reclaimed it from the sea over the 72 appearances here, I don’t think you would need to do too much.

“It just needs to be one area.”

For Horner, the solution is to rework the layout for heavier braking.

“The only way to really encourage any sort of overtaking is to try creating a bit more of a braking area, either on the exit of the tunnel or at Turn 1 if there was any way of creating a longer braking zone somewhere,” he explained.

“We really should investigate it. The cars are so big now you just don’t have a chance to get alongside.”

This wouldn’t be the first track layout tweak Monaco has experienced over the years; the Nouvelle Chicane, for example, is a revised version of an older chicane, while La Rascasse is no longer the 180-degree waterfront hairpin turn it used to be. Other areas of the track have been opened up to better suit the growing speeds of F1, too.

So, Horner has proposed our fourth potential fix: Increasing at least one braking zone.

Monaco Grand Prix fix No. 5: Emphasize qualifying or introduce time trials

While the Grand Prix itself can be something of a slog, Monaco shines in qualifying. Watching drivers pushing at the absolute limit of performance, dancing around the narrow streets and tight confines of Monte Carlo, is mesmerizing in and of itself. It’s one of the most edge-of-your-seat sessions in any F1 season.

Why not emphasize qualifying, or find a way to better center the weekend around the time trial aspect of the race? Why not highlight the positives of the weekend rather than focus on the negatives?

Perhaps Formula 1 could look to the Indy 500 for inspiration; at the oval event, qualifying takes place over two days, with drivers having multiple opportunities to set fast laps on their own. Watching the order shuffle as a back-of-the-field qualifier takes advantage of ideal track conditions, prompting the faster cars to try to snatch that speed back, is a spectacle in and of itself — and something similar could serve Monaco well.

Monaco Grand Prix fix No. 6: Add a joker lap

Another outside suggestion for solving the Monaco Grand Prix’s woes came from none other than Nick Heidfeld, who told Sky Deutschland that a joker lap could solve these issues.

Ruling out the idea of a minimum lap time to prevent drivers from going slow as teams would exploit that, the former F1 driver suggested a shortcut that drivers could take once or twice a race to get the jump on those ahead.

“A minimum time won’t work,” he explained. “The teams and the drivers will start to go to the limit again, maybe just stay in the limit, then hope that the first or just the second driver will be behind them. There is always a bit of a traffic jam.

“The fact that the minimum time is undercut and there is then a penalty sounds good at first glance, but you have to think it through further.

“Maybe instead of pit stops, something like a joker lap, as we have in other series. You would have to see where you can do that on the track.

“That once or twice in the race you can either take a shortcut or a part where you drive a longer distance and then be a little slower or a little faster and thus overtake.

“It was a shame that so much was held up.”

Monaco Grand Prix fix No. 7: Force a wet race

After the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix, a frustrated George Russell pitched his solution to media: “Every driver has a button that they get a chance to put the sprinklers on around the track. You get a choice if you wanna do it in qualifying or the race, but you can only do it once in the whole weekend.”

The proposal was firmly tongue-in-cheek… but is it any less far-reaching than some of the other ideas that have been thrown into the ring? Wouldn’t it at least be a bit more compelling than, say, introducing a ton of tedious sporting rules for a single race or increasing braking zones? It’s certainly one solution.

Monaco Grand Prix fix No. 8: Design the cars for Monaco

The primary issue with modern races in Monaco is the fact that Formula 1 cars have outgrown the circuit. They are too large, long, and wide for dicey action, and they’re so reliable that the days of shock winners due to retirements or crashes are over.

So, to ‘fix’ Monaco, perhaps Formula 1 could design its regulations around that specific track by mandating smaller, more nimble cars that are outfitted with untried components.

Of course, that’s not exactly the most practical response. Modern F1 regulations are designed so as to be both safe and forward-thinking, which have both resulted in these larger machines. Those are cats that really shouldn’t be crammed back in the bag — especially since the series races at 23 other events in a year where a larger, more robust machine is necessary.

But it’s not unheard of for a race series to completely center itself around its crown jewel; American open-wheel has been doing that for decades with the Indianapolis 500.

Regulations designed around Monaco may not make sense the rest of the year, but it would certainly ‘fix’ this specific Grand Prix.

Monaco Grand Prix fix No. 9: Get rid of it

Almost every suggestion listed above is nothing more than a bandage slapped on a systemic problem. In many ways, the only way to actually “fix” Monaco is to nix it from the calendar.

Traditionalists will call this sacrilegious, pointing to the ever-growing F1 schedules that nevertheless feature fewer and fewer classic European venues. But we’re losing those venues because Formula 1 has outgrown them.

In the case of tracks like Monaco, that outgrowth can be purely physical: Modern Formula 1 cars simply cannot competitively race in the narrow confines of these circuits.

It could also be environmental (such as Germany making little effort to host F1 as it turns to greener power sources), political (such as Saudi Arabia investing in F1 to transform the country’s public appearance, thus creating little incentive to keep lower-paying venues on the calendar), or commercial (such as F1 feeling it can better appeal to viewers with a Madrid street race than with an event at Barcelona).

There is no way modern Formula 1 can contort itself into a compelling product at Monaco, not without threatening the integrity of the sport itself. So, perhaps the only way to ‘fix’ Monaco is to nix it from F1’s calendar.

Monaco Grand Prix fix No. 10: Get over it

Sometimes, a Grand Prix just isn’t very compelling, and throughout much of F1 history, that’s been the case with Monaco:

In 1950, Juan Manuel Fangio won by lapping the entire field; seven cars finished the race.
The winning margin for a driver at Monaco was in excess of 20 seconds more than it wasn’t between 1950 and 2000.
Most memorable races involve rain, a major crash, or both.

But those stats aren’t unique to Monaco; that has also been the case with just about every other track that’s ever appeared on the F1 calendar. Sometimes, a circuit will host a phenomenal race. Sometimes, you watch one driver cruise to the win with a 30-second lead.

That’s just how motorsport functions! There are any number of variables impacting how a specific discipline competes on a specific circuit, and at this point in history, we have a set of variables that can suck the fun out of Monaco.

If we want to preserve the tradition of the circuit, that’s fine — but we also have to recognize that everything surrounding Monaco has changed.

Formula 1 is more elite and prestigious, which means the track facilities and amenities have had to evolve. We know more about safety, reliability, and aerodynamics, which has resulted in a regulatory set that mandates large cars that no longer fit on some of the sport’s narrow tracks of yore.

We also have much different ideas about what constitutes a “good” race now. In the modern era, a “good” race is an entertaining and highly contentious one; in the past, before multi-million dollar TV rights packages and the dopamine loop of the infinite scroll, “good” meant something completely different.

So, maybe, we don’t need to “fix” Monaco. Maybe we just need to appreciate it for what it is, while recognizing that it’s not the perfect fit for our modern machines.