Monaco GP pit stop rules show why there’s no fixing F1’s most iconic event

Sunday’s Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix was a shambolic affair that was entirely predictable from the moment the two-stop rules were announced.

In a highly competitive arena such as F1, the teams were always going to find and exploit weaknesses in the regulations for their own gain. That is not a criticism, simply a statement of fact.

The Monaco GP shambles was entirely predictable and avoidable

The concept of a two-stop rule for Monaco was flawed from its very foundation.

Ostensibly it was introduced as a means of improving the racing action but, around a circuit as narrow as Monaco, where overtaking has been at a premium for generations (yes, generations…), it was never going to work.

Instead, the only feasible outcome was a degree of pit stop jeopardy and the potential for some Safety Car roulette. Thankfully, the latter didn’t happen else the words ‘farce’ and ‘shambolic’ wouldn’t be close to strong enough to describe the abuse of sporting purity that transpired on Sunday.

In the minutes after Lando Norris crossed the line to win his first Monaco Grand Prix – a very deserving result notwithstanding the nonsense that took place behind – I received a message spruiking the virtues of the new regulations.

It suggested the closeness of the battle for the lead in the final stages was a direct product of the regulations for which there is an appetite to maintain given the alternative; a likely dull race as was seen in F1 2024.

Thankfully, that opinion is just one that will be tabled at the next meeting of the F1 Commission, I’m sure, because opposing it was a chorus of dissatisfied teams.

The F1 Commission includes representatives from the teams, Formula One Management, and the FIA.

I did ask the FIA for its opinion on the regulations, though received a matter-of-fact response that simply stated that the rules had been voted through by the F1 Commission (and subsequently approved by the World Motor Sport Council).

Heading into the weekend, publicly teams and drivers were open-minded. That’s despite strategy predictions having already identified the likely outcome should teammates qualify close to one another; as Racing Bulls and Williams did.

George Russell revealed as much post-race, admitting that his Mercedes strategy team had highlighted the prospect during a meeting on Thursday, and had the race (more the point, qualifying) have unfolded differently for the team, it would have employed the same approach.

And that’s a result of the circuit itself, and the vagaries the narrow Monaco streets present.

“Our strategist said anything less than three seconds pace advantage is a zero percent chance of an overtake, and you need four-and-a-half seconds for a 50 percent chance of an overtake,” Russell noted post-race on Sunday.

“So you effectively could put an F2 car out there and they’ve got a chance of holding up an F1 car.”

Armed with that knowledge even before the race weekend began, how was the 78-lap affair ever going to play out any differently?

The introduction of a second pit stop is not going to magically increase the on-track action, which is what fans actually want to see. It was a foolhardy exercise.

More reaction from the race in Monaco

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

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

Formula 1 has long outgrown Monaco and superficial, gimmicky rules are never going to change that fact.

For decades the race has been dull; the exiting races have been the exception and typically a result of rain – a natural and unpredictable variable rather than one teams can strategise over for weeks ahead of time.

Overtaking always has been difficult; as much was written as far back as 1961 by Robert Daley in his book, Cars at Speed: “Very few crashes in Monaco involve only one car. The circuit is too tight for that, and there are so few places to pass that drivers tend to ride nose-to-tail until the moment comes to zip by.” And that, Daley added, was typically a result of a missed gear change or driver error.

As technology has improved, the opportunity for drivers to much such mistakes has been reduced.

So too have cars improved. Braking distances are now much shorter than they once were; around 80 metres into the Nouvelle Chicane.

With current cars running at more than 5.5 metres in length, it requires the driver behind to be 7 percent more efficient on the brakes to draw alongside – provided they’re effectively touching the car in front as they apply the stoppers. In reality, that figure is likely more like 15 percent as cars follow one another through the tunnel.

But that’s also nothing new.

In 1992, Nigel Mansell enjoyed a comfortable margin when he suspected a puncture, forcing him into the pits late on. What followed was a fabulous cat and mouse battle between the Williams driver and the brilliant Ayrton Senna.

It was a nail-biting encounter because of how difficult overtaking is, and the pressure Mansell applied on the legendary Brazilian; swarming all over the back of the vastly inferior McLaren yet still unable to find a way through.

Similarly, but less well remembered was Jenson Button pursuing Jarno Trulli to the chequered flag in 2004 – an event that had the added spice of a mid-race Safety Car (and an upside down Giancarlo Fisichella at Tabac).

In both of those instances, the cars had much smaller footprints than they do today, kyboshing the notion that the stalemate has anything to do with the current generation of cars.

The inescapable fact is that F1 has long out-grown Monaco; its place on the calendar has not been linked to the racing spectacle in decades. But the Monaco Grand Prix is a postcard, a glamorous snapshot of F1 where the sporting element has never really mattered.

That is simply the cost of going racing in Monaco; to have the picturesque views and the glitz and glamour, one must pay a price. In Monaco, that is dull, processional racing.

The question really is not how can the racing product be improved, but why are we still racing there at all.

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