“Experimental. Remember that on CBBC?”
And finally, Monaco. When was the last time I did a Formula 1 Race Review last in a Double or Triple header? We know where our bread is buttered here.
But this was a Monaco GP with a difference! The sport implemented a mandatory 2-stop rule to hopefully spice up the racing. And of course, as a direct result, people exploded about it. Were they right to do so? Let’s talk about it.
The Monaco Roundabout
Look, this is already better than last year because this time, I don’t have to just share a picture of a pillow!
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Lando Norris was brilliant when it mattered most this weekend – Saturday. The first ever Monaco lap under 70 seconds and it was a beauty to narrowly beat out hometown hero Charles Leclerc and teammate Oscar Piastri, a critical battle to win given y’know… Monaco.
And when the race actually got going, Norris nearly fluffed his lines with locking up heading into Saint Devote, but was able to hold onto the lead. And while Leclerc had the pace to stay with Norris in close quarters, it never really looked like Norris was in any true danger until maybe the final stint. Of the four biggest contenders, Red Bull was one of the biggest potential firestarters for mixing it up on strategy. They had a 19.5 second window to potentially overcut on Oscar Piastri to try and go for third, when the average time loss for a stop was 19 seconds. It was right on the edge, and I’d argue it was worth a shot, but Red Bull said no.
Red Bull shoved all in, getting to the front by leaving their second stop to the absolute last minute, in the hope there was a red flag that never came. It did give Norris some stiff pressure with Leclerc right behind, but once Max was out of the way, Norris had the pace to pull back out and win. And with it, Norris is just three points off Oscar Piastri in the title race. Funny that given how all the narratives have shaken out this season, huh?
But this was a race that generally rewarded the teams that worked out what the “meta” was, and it was having a teammate back the wagon up so the driver in front could get a pitstop in and then maintain track position. Racing Bulls were the first to figure it out with Liam Lawson backing up for Isack Hadjar, and it worked out brilliantly, slotting him into what was eventually 6th place, a career high for the Frenchman, with Liam Lawson also in the points in 9th. It eventually led to Williams and Mercedes both incorporating the same tactics to get both of the Grove cars in the points. As for Mercedes, well they admitted they had forgot about the mandatory rule until the last second, because… funny?
It didn’t help relations between Williams and Mercedes when George Russell while in the car, intentionally cutting the Nouvelle chicane to get back in front of Albon, and then taking a Drive Through penalty for his trouble. Bit of advice for George… if you’re gonna cut the chicane intentionally, don’t admit you’ll take the penalty afterwards. Especially when Race Director Rui Marques put in the race directors notes that if anyone tried it, they’d likely get more than the standard 10-seconds for leaving the track and gaining the advantage. Clever.
All of it led to a roasting from several drivers. Williams drivers and team boss James Vowles (Fresh off bollocking Toto from a Monaco balcony), saying that it was disappointing that racing at Monaco had to come down to deliberate blocking, and that it was embarrassing for the fans watching. Max Verstappen referenced Mario Kart and suggested throwing bananas for a potential improvement.
You want a rare hot take from yours truly? I didn’t hate this.
The main reason why to me is simple. Do you really want to go back to last year when everyone was intentionally five seconds a lap slower than necessary with no chance of passing and just one stop in the pits? At least with 2025, there was some genuine intrigue in the strategy and potential permutations of what was happening. I honestly applaud the sport for trying to do something different with a race weekend that we all deep down know is unlikely to change.
I’ve seen suggestions of having to run all three compounds. Not a bad idea, but with passing nearly impossible given the deltas to pass were three seconds, stint length becomes redundant. And with the cars the size that they are, it makes it all the more difficult, and that’s likely been an issue long before we went to the V6 turbo-hybrids.
Can you expand the track? Maybe, but it’s likely difficult given the infrastructure of the island as a whole. You can’t take the Nouvelle chicane out as Tabac’s too fast a corner to pass, for instance. And making the track only a few feet wider I fear won’t make the difference some want.
So, do we just get rid of Monaco as a whole? Maybe. I’d understand it, but I also get why some don’t. I watched Lando’s lap. It was stunning, and I love the idea of the place being the ultimate driving test for those behind the wheel. It’s no less semantic than the idea that using blocking and car swapping tactics isn’t “racing” when it’s just using all your resources to get the best result.
I’m with George Russell, and I have my solution: Turn Monaco into a time trial stage, like in cycling. You can still have your qualifying session to determine a running order, with “pole sitter” getting the advantage (in theory) of going last, with the most rubber bedded into the track. Each driver has to run 30 laps, roughly 100km, as fast as they possibly can, with the fastest total time winning. Free choice of compound for the 30 laps, with time penalties for track limits, and a lap not counting if there’s an accident. Points for Top 10, like a GP.
You can probably run 2-4 cars around the track at a time depending on how long you want the event to last too. If we’re all cool with a seven hour Indy 500 Qualifying session around an oval, I’d watch the heck out of a brilliant driving test of speed like that.
What say you, Internet?
The Lightning Round
Lando Norris hit the fastest ever lap of Monaco as a track and some of the press asked him why he didn’t seem happier. Sometimes I feel like the Brit is damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t. He drops social media. Gets a new girlfriend (allegedly). If he’s self-critical of himself to motivate his belief, he’s called weak. If he blocks it out and makes mistakes, like drivers do, he’s called a bottler. He can never win until he wins a World Title, and that sucks.
Who dodged the wall more over their race periods? Christian Rasmussen in IndyCar, or Oscar Piastri?!
There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari. The erratic performances are one thing given the new car and adapting to it. But when your race engineer simply ignores talking to you to the point where Lewis has to ask whether he’s upset him? Weird. Very weird.
That overhead shot of the entire end of the first sector, from Casino Square all the way to Portier was cool as shit. Love when F1 breaks out little tricks like that every once in a while.
No, I wasn’t joking earlier, Mercedes genuinely forgot they had to stop twice. Don’t worry though, James Vowles apologised via text message for his erm… outbursts.
Fernando Alonso was finally on course for his first points of the year, and then his engine blew. That scoreboard is looking really janky with the veteran at the minute.
Mercedes are four points ahead of Max Verstappen in the Constructor’s Championship. That’s all I’ve got.
The Verdict: 3/10 (Poor) – Don’t get me twisted for a minute here, by no means did I say Monaco was good. It’s still Monaco, which means there’s a good chance it’s going to stink. This did, but it least it was a bit more creative about it. They tried. That’s worth something to me. Amazing I’m critical of F1 for not being radical enough again, like they did with the Sprint format. Funny that. See you in Spain.
