Should make the race a more strategic affair if the grid is in any way mixed, which is a possibility with so many rookies and showers forecast for Saturday. Qualifying at Monaco is often the best Saturday of the year.

Then afterwards there's the Indy 500 to enjoy.

Monaco quali is usually hyped up but someone always seems to throw it in the wall near the end of Q3 which kinda ruins the fun. The 2023 quali was great though, heart in mouth stuff!

I'm hoping for some hilarious tactics and events. Imagine the following

Pitting at the end of the formation lap to change tyres and then start from the pitlane. That'll save you a good 20 seconds in the race.

Half the grid pits on the end of the first lap, knowing they can likely make up time because they can actually go at speed to catch up.

You only need a red flag on the first lap and everyone changes anyway.

It’s a great idea I think I just hope a safety car doesn’t ruin it

Norris pulled off the pole today. Max strangely wasn’t strong.

Lewis Hamilton has been given a three-grid place penalty and will start Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix from seventh after impeding Max Verstappen in qualifying.

The new regulations didn’t really work. Monaco as a whole is just in need of something. You simply can’t overtake no matter what

To me they should have had a rule that said if you fall outside x% of your fastest time, you are given a time penalty (excluding SC’s/VSR’s)

The fact that cars got lapped 2-3 times due to people going deliberately slow was ridiculous

Rule change didn't work.

The solution remains the same as it has been for year. Make the cars smaller and with less downforce.

liam Lawson in points we all cheered!

This race will always be a car parade until they do something to really shake things up.

1 hour ago, Cody Piastri said:

liam Lawson in points we all cheered!

Thrilled for Liam

Gutted for Alonso though

*Two* drive throughs, George, reportedly although I don’t know what the second one was for..

Oh I really enjoyed the race and loved the tactcis of Lawson and especially then Williams with Albom/Sanz slowing down the rest

I don’t see what’s enjoyable about a 10th place car being able to hold up everybody for two stops for his teammate to gain a point. It was just silly. Monaco is a very tricky track to do anything realistically with. It might be time to move on from it

I don't really know why but it does seem that Monaco has become the sole focus point for the issue of overtaking, as if the ability to pass cars on the track is the only metric for enjoying a race. There are several other circuits were overtaking is very difficult too - Suzuka and Jeddha being obvious examples, and often the ones that do happen are uninspiring DRS moves that bring no excitement. It's true Monaco is trickier to pass on than those but also true that nobody is clamouring to have Suzuka removed, even after the very processional race we had this year.

Monaco really should be looked at from a broader perspective as one of the sport's to extreme circuits - Monza has the speed ramped up to the max whilst Monaco is the ultimate challenge in precision and driver skill, so much that the three practice sessions and qualifying are often more entertaining than some races. It seems from repeated polling that the majority of dedicated (as opposed to casual) fans want the circuit to remain on the calendar, not just of its rich history and tradition but for its unique challenge. If that specific criteria is not want you want from F1, well there are 23 other races with something else to offer. Personally, I'd take Monaco over Miami any day.

Can the 'show' be improved without diminishing the sporting challenge?

I think yes.

First they should re-instate Monaco to the full 200 miles. The length was shortened as older cars couldn't complete the distance in two hours. That is and has been achievable with modern cars for years. It would increase the strategic element of tyres without forcing a mandatory extra stop that the teams will just find a way to work around. It would also give a greater challenge to the drivers because as the race goes on the potential for fatigue induced errors or mechanical issues would increase.

More importantly, and this applies really to nearly all of the circuits, is that the cars are to big, too cumbersome, too heavy and too stable.

Making them shorter and thinner will automatically make create more space on track and create more passing opportunities. Alongside a reduction in weight, you can make the cars more nimble, again allowing for more agility. Combined this with the right tyre options and you have a lighter, faster car that can exploit gaps better, the natural extension of which is better racing. None of these changes should impact on safety however.

There's no reason a special lower downforce option couldn't be applied (perhaps to street tracks across the board). Not to take it away entirely but just to give the cars a little less traction. Given the lower speeds at Monaco this doesn't coming with any significant safety risk either but returns the emphasis again to driver ability and can be achieve by just using skinnier wings.

Monaco needs to stay but needs the right tweeks to the cars, more than to the circuit. You only had to witness Lando's joy at winning there to see how much the drivers love the challenge and how important it is.

TL/DR - Monaco is a unique circuit unlike any other on the calendar that remains popular with a large section of fans. There are plenty of other races if you prefer a different type of challenge to the drivers. Should it be removed? No. Can the racing be improved? Yes.

This was the first race I didn't watch live the whole way through so only caught the extended 'highlights' but just from that it was a definitive marked improvement upon last season's race as it was at least interesting to see the different strategies play out (even if some driver's were understandably taking it to extreme lengths).

I always laugh when I see comments saying just make the cars smaller, as if overtaking at Monaco was super easy when that was the case! I'm in agreement that Monaco deserves its spot on the calendar for its uniqueness. Not every race needs to have 250 overtakes to be entertaining imo.

To be honest overtaking should never be easy in F1 and if anyone's watching F1 just for the overtakes, they're watching the wrong category of motorsport. I don't have the stats for Sunday's race but last years Indy 500 had 596 on track passes and if you don't like ovals the road course race average in Indy is 150 passes.

Monaco though has never been primarily about overtaking and will always be among the harder tracks to pass on but it used to happen so much more and the circuit has barely changed to any major degree.

Making the cars smaller alone won't solve all the problems but it's the first obvious step. Weight, downforce and traction are also part of the issue but the size does make a difference.

The comparison below shows how large the cars have become just since the '80s. Seeing the 2021 Red Bull up close reveals just how much of a monster it is!

Here is the number of on-track passes for the 10 year period of '84-'93 (not via a pit stop or retirement) which covers the turbo and V10 eras

1984 Monaco 22

1985 Monaco 22

1986 Monaco 21

1987 Monaco 16

1988 Monaco 11

1989 Monaco 20

1990 Monaco 11

1991 Monaco 9

1992 Monaco 7

1993 Monaco 31

Total - 170 (average 17)

Now compare the last 10 - effectively the hybrid era.

2015 Monaco 10

2016 Monaco 14

2017 Monaco 3

2018 Monaco 4

2019 Monaco 2

2021 Monaco 0

2022 Monaco 13

2023 Monaco 22

2024 Monaco 4

2025 Monaco 1

Total - 73 (average 7)

The hybrid engine has necessitated a larger chassis to accommodate the bigger engine and the consequence is cars that are too large for many circuits and for good racing. Thankfully next year sees a step in the right direction.

Edited May 27May 27 by Severin

For reference the above overtaking stats are from the F1 Overtaking database site and these are the criteria -

'I don't include overtakes on the first lap (or on standing starts after a red flag) as it would misrepresent the total figure for race and also be a nightmare to calculate. The focus is on on-track overtakes for position so I don't include overtakes made while someone is in the pits, when someone has spun or is off track, when someone has a severe reliability problem, lapping and unlapping or through team orders.'

It could be argued that Sunday's Monaco race had two overtakes as Bortoleto can claim to have completed the pass on Antonelli before his accident.

I can’t disagree more honestly. And no way will they change the cars significantly just due to one track.

Russell seemed exasperated.

Max described it as a track you can’t race on that you can’t even overtake a formula 2 car on

If drivers are fed up and most fans find it boring why is it staying exactly?

People say unique and what they mean is boring because the only unique thing about it is that it’s unraceable.

Wherever you qualify in the top 7 that’s probably where you’ll finish.

It’s one of those races that should have been binned years ago and we’ll be looking back on it now like remember Monaco? These cars would never get to overtake there with the size now…Lucky Monaco is gone. Yet instead we watch new rules put to try and spice things up and obviously you can’t do anything to spice it up since the root problems will always be there. I get super dedicated F1 heads have the nostalgia and don’t like letting go over classic tracks but it’s time.

Not like it bothers me that much plenty of other races but I just don’t see the point in watching cars go round in circles in basically formation laps for two hours. I want to watch a race. I’m not saying overtaking should be easy but it should be possible