2025 Monaco Grand Prix - Monte Carlo, May 23 - 25

[Sevach]

Another topic with this quote from race direction

"“We therefore considered that Car 63’s deliberate infringement warranted a drive-through penalty, and so we imposed.”

In response to Russel "activity" and self determination in flouting the rules, of which he's aware, in contrast to all the bleeting in Qatar Q last year ! Making it clear here, and in the past (Monza ? ) that he doesn't hold himself to the same rules as he expects other to comply with !

He as driver representative too .... this grandiose dismissal and arrogant application of compliance as he sees fit, should be further examined by race direction as it keeps happening.

To apply one standard in judgment of others .... then one in contrast for himself ..... shows a callous disregard for the sport he's signed himself up for.

Yes, he did it deliberately and flaunted on the radio, but technically any time a driver refuses to give back the position it should be this harsh.
Even if you went out by accident, refusing to give back is always a choice.

[Big Tea]

Berger? He is Austrian.

Sorry, you are correct, I think it was Jochen Mass (Bavarian?)

[CHT]

For Monaco GP, the real excitement is actually on sat not Sunday. Perhaps FIA can allocate more tires for the teams and introduce Q4 for top 5 drivers shoot out.

[xwz]

For Monaco GP, the real excitement is actually on sat not Sunday. Perhaps FIA can allocate more tires for the teams and introduce Q4 for top 5 drivers shoot out.

I'm all for it: A separate Q4 shootout with extra tires for the top five – with points awarded similarly to a sprint race, e.g. 8-5-3-2-1.
Providing additional excitement with more race action on Saturday, and reflecting the special status of the Monaco Grand Prix.

[Sevach]

Take just one compound to Monaco, C6.
One obligatory pit stop that must be made under green flag conditions, further stops are optional.

That's what i would try.

[Quantum]

I find it "callous" to expect 20 driver to race around Monaco

[DChemTech]

Qualify in F1 cars, race in go karts. Problem solved.

[avantman]

The main problem is of course the big (and fast) cars. But as I always say less regulation is better. I really believe that with no tyre rules at all monco can be a better race.

the main problem is in people's heads.
I rewatched several Monaco races from 80s and early 90s recently, and it was more boring than past four races, excluding 2024, which might've been the most boring F1 race of all time, I think it would be safe to assume that. But that was very unique circumstance.

Monaco was made more interesting back in the day by mechanical breakdowns. 26 starters and less than 15 finishers was normal. Sometimes less than 10. It at least gave some jeopardy. Now there are hardly any mechanical DNFs and you just watch a train of 20 cars circulating for 2 hours.

How can mechanical break downs make it more interesting? Also, a lot of those DNFs were pure driving mistakes and crashes. Average level of drivers was incomparably lower. It would produce more chaotic and unpredictable results, but I don't think it was making races any more interesting to watch, unless you are a fan of a team/driver that would benefit from DNF of others on a particular day.
Let's be real. Monaco is only interesting in wet, changeable weather conditions. It has always been like that and it will always be like that in the future. I completely agree that smaller (shorter), more nimble cars would help, for sure, as we saw plenty of overtaking before 2017, from Max alone in 2015 and 2016. It has never been easy but it was possible.

[avantman]

Take just one compound to Monaco, C6.
One obligatory pit stop that must be made under green flag conditions, further stops are optional.

That's what i would try.

For sure the most simple fix is just not to count tire change under red flag for one obligatory tire change they have to do. But that should not be unique for Monaco, but same for all grand prix. What many offered in the past - to ban tire changing under red flag was and still is completely silly, crazy proposal. That's why it never moved forward.
The dude who offered that 3 sets of tires rule should be fired immediately, so silly it was. Imagine if we had a red flag on lap 1 like last year, then another red flag 5 laps later allowing everyone to fit another set for free. What would that rule change let alone fix? Completely nothing.
The fix is really that simple - you can change tires under red flag, but that would not be counted as successful obligatory change. Of course there always be days when some drivers get lucky to pit just before RF and gain a lot of race time for free on those that didn't stop. But that's no different then what we have now, where drivers that stop just before red flag get screwed time after time again, and quite often undeservedly so. Of course everyone cannot be happy simultaneously on any particular day, there would be days where some drivers would get screwed. But I think this rule tweak would make things overall better, more fair for competitors and better for us viewers.
Would that fix what RB and Williams were doing? No. There should be another fix, it is a separate issue.

[ringo]

Horner is suggesting changing the circuit to accommodate overtaking. Maybe a whole new roadway somewhere else in Monaco would be better, or some kind of take off road with more distance with 2 overtaking areas that ties back into the original circuit.

[avantman]

Horner is suggesting changing the circuit to accommodate overtaking. Maybe a whole new roadway somewhere else in Monaco would be better, or some kind of take off road with more distance with 2 overtaking areas that ties back into the original circuit.

Horner has been also suggesting reversed grids, for years. So what?

[FittingMechanics]

Take just one compound to Monaco, C6.
One obligatory pit stop that must be made under green flag conditions, further stops are optional.

That's what i would try.

No mandatory stop. If the tire degrades, we want someone to try and do a race on C6 while others do a pitstop. This is the tire delta that could allow us to see fights on the track.

Making a stop mandatory means you need extra fragile tires to get any type of strategy difference.

[f1isgood]

Both Ferraris were quick all through practice, you just want to elevate your hero by pretending he had such a slow car. The Ferrari clearly worked very well at Monaco. the Mclaren less so.

The McLaren was the best car around the track. The Ferrari was close but clearly second best. Not sure where this edge is coming from when NOR can make a mistake and still be on pole by a tenth around a seventy second lap.

Leclerc said he made mistakes too. Your evidence is literally "trust me bro".

My evidence is Lando Norris' pole lap at the Swimming Pool. Available for free watch on YouTube. He makes a mistake by riding too much of the kerb, unsettles the car, then corrects it and then still gets pole with a yellow sector (due to his own mistake).

[chrisc90]

Take just one compound to Monaco, C6.
One obligatory pit stop that must be made under green flag conditions, further stops are optional.

That's what i would try.

No mandatory stop. If the tire degrades, we want someone to try and do a race on C6 while others do a pitstop. This is the tire delta that could allow us to see fights on the track.

Making a stop mandatory means you need extra fragile tires to get any type of strategy difference.

Even zero stops wouldn’t improve if. 2024 I think it was where Charles just drove round at 30mph and nobody could overtake, even with dead tyres

[avantman]

The McLaren was the best car around the track. The Ferrari was close but clearly second best. Not sure where this edge is coming from when NOR can make a mistake and still be on pole by a tenth around a seventy second lap.

Leclerc said he made mistakes too. Your evidence is literally "trust me bro".

My evidence is Lando Norris' pole lap at the Swimming Pool. Available for free watch on YouTube. He makes a mistake by riding too much of the kerb, unsettles the car, then corrects it and then still gets pole with a yellow sector (due to his own mistake).

So what? What does it prove? He lost 0.09s but gained more than that in the next corner - La Rascasse by driving it better, not necessarily because his car was better there. You can see on their onboards what exactly he did better, several corners( including rascasse) where he comes much closer to inside barrier. Charles lost through Rascasse not only to Norris, but to Hamilton as well, though 0.05s rather than a tenth. So a car was for sure capable of more. Max gained a whole tenth on in Rascasse in 2023 as well. Norris was pushing in T15-16 a lot and made a little mistake. On the other hand a driver can underdrive and you will never see anything on his onboard.
. For example Charles gained nothing in T1 from practice, whereas we know as a fact the track was improved and faster than in FP3. He lost another tenth to Norris there and like 0.03s to Hamilton. So, you can see it's not tough to find where Charles lost a tenth as well simply by underdriving or being not as precise.

To judge cars pace over one lap in Monaco by the whole season and other tracks is not correct. It is very specific track, demands very specific setup and car characteristics. History taught us, the best cars are cars with best aerodynamics(early turbo-era overpowered Mercedes were probably outliers), but in Monaco aerodynamics means effectively nothing or very little, when it comes to quali and performance over one lap. That is why for example, Schumacher - absolute god-tier driver at Monaco was nowhere near Pole neither in 2001 nor in 2004 - his otherwise most dominant seasons ever with Ferrari. He didn't get pole in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 either. In 2006 he had to rely on questionable tactics in Quali in order to put it on pole.
His Ferraris were super strong aerodynamically, superior to other cars but other cars were better at other areas and suited demands of Monaco better.