F1 looks to spice up Monaco Grand Prix with extra pit stops

FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 – Monaco Grand Prix – Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco – May 29, 2022 Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr., Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris in action during the race Pool via REUTERS/Christian Bruna

Motorsport’s governing body announced plans on Tuesday to revive the Monaco Grand Prix as a spectacle by increasing the number of mandatory pit-stops during the race.

Arguably still one of world sport’s most glamorous events, the Monaco Grand Prix’s distinctive twisty street track has remained largely unchanged since the first race staged there in 1929.

Last year’s edition saw the top 10 finish in the same order they started, with the size and weight of modern-day F1 cars making overtaking all but impossible on the 2.1 mile (3.4 km) course.

READ: F1 urged to improve overtaking chances at Monaco Grand Prix

But motorsport governing body FIA, after a meeting Tuesday during the 2025 Formula One season launch at London’s O2 Arena, proposed doubling the pit-stops from the regulation one in a bid to making the Monaco Grand Prix much less of a procession.

“With the aim of promoting better racing at the Monaco Grand Prix, the (Formula One) commission discussed proposals for Monaco-specific regulations,” said a FIA statement.

Formula One F1 – Monaco Grand Prix – Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco – May 28, 2023 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen celebrates on the podium after winning the Monaco Grand Prix REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw

“The commission agreed to increase the number of mandatory pit-stops in the race. These proposals will be further discussed by the sporting advisory committee in the coming weeks.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, speaking to reporters at the season launch, said: “I’ve just come from that meeting and basically the discussion was obviously Monaco, you can’t change the layout of the circuit.

READ: F1: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc wins Monaco Grand Prix from pole position

“Of course, as we’ve seen previously, particularly with these cars as big as they are now, the race is very much dictated by the Saturday (when final qualifying takes place). And what we saw last year was if you get a red flag early on and everybody just puts another tyre on, then it’s very static.”

Horner added: “So stating that you have to use potentially all three (tyre) compounds brings in another element, so it becomes a two-stop race and should it rain as well, there would also be a mandatory two-stop.

“So it’s unique to that race and it’s really due to the nature of the circuit.”

During last year’s race, the drivers were allowed to put on fresh tyres during a red flag period after Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were involved in a three-car crash on the opening lap.

The upshot of that decision was that the majority of the field did not need to change tyres in the race itself.

“This is really boring,” world champion Max Verstappen said over his Red Bull team radio during the race before adding: “I should’ve brought my pillow.”

After the race, a still frustrated Verstappen said: “We are driving literally half-throttle on the straights, in a higher gear than you would normally do, four seconds off the pace. That’s not really racing.

“We all know in Monaco what it is like. In the last few years it is even more difficult with the width of the cars but it is nothing new.”