What’s Next For Monaco After Two-Stop Flop?

F1 Grand Prix Of Monaco
MONTE-CARLO, MONACO - MAY 25: Liam Lawson of New Zealand driving the (30) Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VCARB 02 leads Alexander Albon of Thailand driving the (23) Williams FW47 Mercede, Carlos Sainz of Spain driving the (55) Williams FW47 Mercedes, Nico Hulkenberg of Germany driving the (27) Kick Sauber C45 Ferrari, Yuki Tsunoda of Japan driving the (22) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21, George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W16 Gabriel Bortoleto of Brazil driving the (5) Kick Sauber C45 Ferrari and Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy driving the (12) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W16 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco at Circuit de Monaco on May 25, 2025 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Sam Bagnall/Sutton Images)
F1 Grand Prix Of Monaco
MONTE-CARLO, MONACO - MAY 25: Liam Lawson of New Zealand driving the (30) Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VCARB 02 leads Alexander Albon of Thailand driving the (23) Williams FW47 Mercede, Carlos Sainz of Spain driving the (55) Williams FW47 Mercedes, Nico Hulkenberg of Germany driving the (27) Kick Sauber C45 Ferrari, Yuki Tsunoda of Japan driving the (22) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21, George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W16 Gabriel Bortoleto of Brazil driving the (5) Kick Sauber C45 Ferrari and Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy driving the (12) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W16 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco at Circuit de Monaco on May 25, 2025 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Sam Bagnall/Sutton Images)

Formula 1 figures are once again scratching their heads about what to do about the dubious spectacle of the Monaco GP.

After the particularly processional and slow 2024 edition, this year’s grand prix on the tight, twisty streets of the Principality was a mandatory two-stopper.

“It was worse,” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted.

World champion Max Verstappen laughed to Viaplay: “Very exciting. I really enjoyed it. Really great.

“Maybe we should make it three pit stops next year. Or four or five. At least the team would get some pitstop practice,” he added.

“I mean, I could have done four pit stops and still finished fourth,” said the Red Bull driver. “For us it didn’t matter at the front of the field.”

Indeed, while the top runners had an actual race, the rest of the field was either deliberately slowing big trains of trailing cars, or stuck in those trains.

George Russell even skipped over the harbour chicane to get past Alex Albon’s mobile chicane, copping a 30-second penalty.

“I was outside the points anyway and I just wanted to enjoy pushing hard in Monaco,” he said. “The irony is that I did 25 qualifying laps in the race and finished higher than if I hadn’t taken the penalty.

“So the system is flawed,” said Russell.

Nico Hulkenberg agreed: “I appreciate that something was tried this year with the two-stopper, but it clearly didn’t work. Not at all.

“There were a lot of strategic things going on, but it didn’t have much to do with racing.”

Carlos Sainz told DAZN: “I’m very upset with the race and with the sport in general.

“15 years ago, there were penalties for manipulating the races. But now the whole race is being manipulated,” he said. “I hated going so slowly, but (Liam) Lawson put us last and second to last and it had to be done.”

So, with many feeling that the mandatory two-stop approach failed, what is next? “Maybe we can throw out bananas like in Mario Kart,” Verstappen joked.

“You can’t race here anyway, so it doesn’t matter what you do. One stop, 10 stops. I think with the cars we have now, you can only overtake a Formula 2 car around here.”

Pole sitter and race winner Lando Norris is among those who think Formula 1 should simply stop trying to make the on-track action more exciting on Monaco Sundays.

“I think it should be the person who drives the best race and deserves to win,” he said. “I don’t even know why people have such a high expectation. I mean, it’s not just a show to entertain people.

“It’s a sport.”

Verstappen was actually the race leader until very late on, delaying his second pitstop in the hope of a red flag and a ‘free’ pitstop. “I’m sure if we keep this going in the future, eventually a result like that will happen,” said Oscar Piastri.

“But is that what we want to see?”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner thinks the only solution would be to actually change the Monaco layout. “We should try to create a braking zone at the exit of the tunnel or in the first corner,” he said.

“The cars are so big these days that there’s no chance of getting past an opponent,” added Horner.

Wolff suggested: “Perhaps we need to introduce something like a maximum lap time so that certain opponents don’t get so tactically tricky?”

Albon – one of the deliberate laggards on Sunday – apologised to spectators afterwards, and agreed with Horner that F1 and Monaco should think about tweaking the layout.

McLaren boss Andrea Stella commented: “What we need are smaller and lighter cars.”

Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer was among the tricky tactical masterminds on Sunday, but he insists the F1 Commission thought long and hard about the new two-stop rule.

“I can’t really think of anything,” he told Sky Deutschland when asked what F1’s next move should be. “If the track doesn’t allow for any changes, then the only approach to intervene here was through the regulations.

“There are other ideas like using only soft tyres or the C6, but at the end of the day, the reality is that you can’t overtake here. No matter how fast you are, you can’t get past these big cars.

“The Monaco weekend is obviously incredibly important for the teams and for Formula 1. The fans, our partners, love it, and we have to try to improve the sporting aspect.”

Wolff, meanwhile, concluded by suggesting Monaco should simply remain unique, and that the most overtaking-obsessed critics “should take their racing glasses off” once per season.

Hulkenberg concluded: “99 per cent of the people in Monaco are here to drink champagne on a yacht. They don’t really care.”

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