2026 Monaco Grand Prix - Monte Carlo, June 05 - 07

[mzso]

I'd think pitting right away is a normal thing to do, as otherwise there's always the risk to get queued up behind the safety car and lose positions the next time around. Even if that didn't turn out to be the case this Sunday.

There were few laps remaining. A pit stop wasn't a must.

Well, Lec could have just stayed out if he would have wanted to do so. He knew about the lap count, his tires and the 5sec pen on Ham.

Overriding the team without any info given about anything is a tough call. He tends to trust the team, god knows why.

[mzso]

How strange that the team decided to do what is best for the team? Maximize the result while minimizing risk.

If they left him out I am sure that they would be blamed for the crash - "they left him out on bad tires"

He might not have crashed with tires up to working temperature, despite the brakes.

[thedutchguy]

There might be another factor in play as well:

[f1316]

I really think there was a massive missed opportunity to put these regs to good use in Monaco and aid overtaking:

Everyone says overtaking is ‘impossible’ but you only need to watch a formula e race at Monaco to know that’s not a limitation of the track but of the nature of the cars. When an FE car is in attack mode, they can easily get by one that isn’t - the key is that this happens on the way *out* of corners, not the way in.

Given the cars were so energy rick AND they’d limited how much power could be used, they ought to have created a map for anyone in boost mode that increases the relative amount of electrical energy available lower down in the torque curve not at the top end.

[basti313]

I really think there was a massive missed opportunity to put these regs to good use in Monaco and aid overtaking:

Everyone says overtaking is ‘impossible’ but you only need to watch a formula e race at Monaco to know that’s not a limitation of the track but of the nature of the cars. When an FE car is in attack mode, they can easily get by one that isn’t - the key is that this happens on the way *out* of corners, not the way in.

Given the cars were so energy rick AND they’d limited how much power could be used, they ought to have created a map for anyone in boost mode that increases the relative amount of electrical energy available lower down in the torque curve not at the top end.

That is a good idea, but I fear it simply would not work, unless they further reduce the standard power. By a lot:
- F1 is not using DRS since years in the tunnel. I have no clue why, but they do not. They also reduced the power due to this section. So anything to overtake needs to be taken away from the normal power as they somehow have big doubts about fast cars in the tunnel. This is giving a political issue. If they further reduce the power, they are quickly not quick anymore.
- Start Finish is in the end always a "yield or crash" situation into T1. The overtake can simply not be applied in a useful way there.

[f1316]

I really think there was a massive missed opportunity to put these regs to good use in Monaco and aid overtaking:

Everyone says overtaking is ‘impossible’ but you only need to watch a formula e race at Monaco to know that’s not a limitation of the track but of the nature of the cars. When an FE car is in attack mode, they can easily get by one that isn’t - the key is that this happens on the way *out* of corners, not the way in.

Given the cars were so energy rick AND they’d limited how much power could be used, they ought to have created a map for anyone in boost mode that increases the relative amount of electrical energy available lower down in the torque curve not at the top end.

That is a good idea, but I fear it simply would not work, unless they further reduce the standard power. By a lot:
- F1 is not using DRS since years in the tunnel. I have no clue why, but they do not. They also reduced the power due to this section. So anything to overtake needs to be taken away from the normal power as they somehow have big doubts about fast cars in the tunnel. This is giving a political issue. If they further reduce the power, they are quickly not quick anymore.
- Start Finish is in the end always a "yield or crash" situation into T1. The overtake can simply not be applied in a useful way there.

But the point is that the boost doesn’t need to make any difference to top speed, it should impact acceleration. That’s what gets moves done in formula e - it’s not under braking, it’s in places like coming out of the nouvelle chicane, very early in the short straight (way before tabac)