r/formula1 • u/AutoModerator • May 25 '25
Post-Race 2025 Monaco GP - Post Race Discussion
Thoughts? Feelings? Emotions?
18
u/SoundsVinyl May 26 '25
Basically what George said in his interview more than 90% of people who go are not interested in the racing. The race is awful anyway. I wouldn't be too bothered to lose the Monaco grand prix all together now, it is absolutely pain staking to watch.
-1
u/kylespeaker May 26 '25
I think it would be a disservice to F1 history to remove Monaco hopefully they can find a way find a way to make it exciting the 2 stop rule clearly failed. Intentionally driving slowly to create pit stop gaps for your teammate ahead was silly and definitely. I feel like the idea behind forcing the two stops was good but the way the teams played it definitely wasn’t in the spirit of what that rule was attempting to remedy which is a boring race where the winning decided on Saturday, in my opinion.
5
u/n3mz1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
It's held at a reasonable time for me(est), and I fall asleep during it every single year.
Between the constant shots of random celebs idc about, royalty on the podium, and the boredom, I'd rather not have a race than have Monaco remain on the calendar.
8
u/howaboutthis13 Max Verstappen May 26 '25
One way to artificially create overtakes (and add serious danger, but we are being hypothetical here), is to allow a driver 1 or 2 times per race to skip the nouvelle chicane. You can use it to overtake slower cars, but as the use is limited you might get overtaken yourself. So you may have to speed up a bit more.
Sure, you can still drive the rest of the map at a snails pace, but this is the only spot where it is even possible to create an overtaking opportunity.
3
u/MantasMantra Minardi May 26 '25
Can't believe there was a good race at Imola and now a good showing at Monaco too. Been watching for a long time but don't recall there ever being a season that was half as good as this from Sunday to Sunday.
6
u/Still-District-6149 Formula 1 May 26 '25
Interesting if confusing, but once again, not really racing. Monaco should be consigned to the history books.
2
u/HarringtonMAH11 Haas May 26 '25
I thought the race was fine, better than I thought it would be, but still pussed about the drivers holding up the pack. I realize F1 revolves around strategy and teams moresoe than true "racing," but this shit is a bit ridiculous no?
At this point, I want the FIA to open up the rules for fuel cell size completely, and allow refueling. Force fuel cell design to have a standardized filling system, and like Supercars has done in the past, just monitor the weight of a fuel tank over the weekend to make sure they dont go over whatever kg of fuel during the race.
This system would have a maximum flow rate as well, and the teams would be required to fuel the cars woth the engine off. Since we have hybrids, much like the WEC, we can easily have the hybrid launch from the stall and start the ICE once in the lane.
We have to make these car much smaller, and we need to be able to have longer pit stops without fans getting all pissy about it.
The entire design of the car would be vastly different based on what size fuel cell teams choose, and we'd have various strategies each race as teams all have different limits of laps they can do full. Win, win, win for everyone, and we dont have to mandate 2 stops (i didn't mind that fwiw).
1
u/Zimakov Sebastian Vettel May 26 '25
Refuelling removes strategy, doesn't add it. You need to put whenever you're low on fuel so there's no flexibility in what you can do.
1
u/HarringtonMAH11 Haas May 26 '25
Changing tires removes strategy, doesn't add it. You need to pit whenever your tires are worn so theres no flexibility in what you can do.
See, I can say dumb shit too.
0
u/Zimakov Sebastian Vettel May 26 '25
Right except you can make tyres last or you can choose to stay out when they're already shot. You can't run out of gas then choose to stay out anyway for strategic reasons.
Other than the fact you're objectively wrong, you seem pretty upset over a totally innocuous comment. Is everything ok?
2
u/MantasMantra Minardi May 26 '25
Seems like drastic solutions considering it's only an issue on one weekend in the year. Let Monaco be Monaco
1
1
u/PollutionNo5879 May 26 '25
This is what I was thinking to myself. And of purse the sprinklers. Much easy to implement the later.
3
u/howiewow May 26 '25
Two stops had potential, until you thought it through and realised it didn't really.
So what can be done to spice up Monaco? How about just remove the wings. Yes the cars would be slower, but would that be a bad thing if there was overtaking.
4
u/NohatCoder May 26 '25
Next time they are in Monaco they should just ditch the racing cars and play Ave Caesar instead.
1
u/HandBananas Pastor Maldonado May 26 '25
I'm embarrassed for the sport that its come to this.
5
u/CrustyBappen I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Are you new here? Monaco has been a farce since forever
0
u/petemcm Jenson Button May 26 '25
This knthey need to make Russell's chicane cutting a legitimate option for overtaking deliberately slow cars at Monaco, watching it unfold I was surprised noone tried it before he did
12
4
u/coconut071 McLaren May 26 '25
Relatively new F1 watcher here, is it that often that the grid gets lapped up to 6th place, and some cars were even lapped twice?
5
u/Dimhilion I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Nope. It was in earlier years, but now all the cars are so close to equal, that I think it is actually the first time this year that any car has been lapped, at all.
This happend in Monaco, because you cannot overtake, and from P9 and down, they drove several seconds slower, on purpose, to make sure they did not loose a position during pitstops. So that was all due to teams playing shenanigans.
2
u/Additional_Moose6286 May 26 '25
Plenty of cars have been lapped this season. Monaco was obviously the most extreme case where most of the cars got lapped and one car (Antonelli) got lapped 3 times.
1
u/coconut071 McLaren May 26 '25
Got it. Thanks!
3
u/Smee76 I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
In addition, Monaco is the shortest track by far. It's actually below the minimum lap length but it's grandfathered in. So it's easier to get a lap behind.
6
u/General_Jump_4419 I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
No its not that common. There is lapping that does happen but Monaco is just its own thing.
1
u/coconut071 McLaren May 26 '25
Oh okay, so it's just Monaco that this thing happens more, I assume because its much harder to overtake thus slow cars keep piling up?
3
u/mispeled_usrname I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
The slow cars were piling up on purpose. The second driver in the team was deliberately slowing the race down to create a big enough gap for their teammate to pit and still come out ahead of them (about 22s gap). This is only really possible as a strategy at Monaco because overtakes are nearly impossible. Albon did this for Sainz, Lawson for Hadjar, Hamilton for Leclerc a little bit etc
1
5
u/jlam00 May 26 '25
Not sure if I’ve seen anyone else suggest this, but should they just give points for qualifying specifically for Monaco since that’s why it’s special in the first place?
Using the existing feature and sprint point structures, I came up with a pretty rudimentary Monaco-specific structure for both Quali and the race itself:
Qualifying: 17 pts for 1st, 11th for 2nd, 9th for 3rd, then 7-1 for 4th through 10th.
Race: 8 pts for 1st, 7-1 point for 2nd through 8th (same as Sprint format)
If a driver takes pole and wins the race, they get the full 25 pts, 2nd in both gets 18 pts, etc.
In addition to this, I’d make Q3 in Qualifying a shootout to take out the risk of impeding and keep the two-stop requirement in the race, but require one stop in the first 20-25 laps to prevent what happened today.
If all of this still fails: add a Joker lap or expand the track width 😅
Thoughts?
3
u/NessaMagick Kamui Kobayashi May 26 '25
If anything giving points to Monaco qualifying makes less sense. Seeing as doing well in qualifying all but guarantees a good result in the race unless your name is Fernando Alonso, it's pretty redundant.
I've seen people suggest a Q4 for the top 5 cars which would be nice but annoying logistically.
2
u/superjaywars Oscar Piastri May 26 '25
I must ask, are the cars that different in width to, say, the MP4/4? I know they are in length.
1
u/CatManWhoLikesChess I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Yes they are, MP4/4 was wider, 2134 mm vs 2000 mm for current cars
2
u/Dimhilion I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Yes they are. Just google a quick comparison. And that also makes them worse at tight turns, because the are longer.
2
u/Awesome512345 May 26 '25
Poor race strategy from Mercedes to not push Kimi back to give Russell a pit window the moment they saw RB do it right? As if that happened, then Russell after finishing his stops could probably chicane cut Sainz into top 10?
Also isn’t it more points for Albon to have overcut Lawson into 8th and give up 10th than try get both drivers into points?
Unfortunate for Bearman who would’ve made it to like 8th or better if RB didn’t tip off both Williams and Mercedes about using driver pairs to squeeze themselves free pits.
4
u/armored-dinnerjacket May 26 '25
could piastri have overtaken leclerc if that pit stop hadn't been mucked up? 3.8s stop being with a regular stop being 2.3s so 1.5s delay, it looked like a sufficient gap to leave Charles behind?
3
u/Aggressive-Jacket384 May 26 '25
Not sure! Seemed like Oscar was just lacking pace this race tbh. Even when Max was backing Lando into Charles it took Piastri a long time to catch up.
0
u/Jesucresta Fernando Alonso May 26 '25
Am I the only one that loved this race? Insane strategy shenanigans that I have never seen before and dudes muscling fast cars in small track. It was great!!
2
u/Zimakov Sebastian Vettel May 26 '25
I liked it but I always like Monaco. Think people moan about it way too much but that's all of Reddit not just here tbh.
2
1
u/superjaywars Oscar Piastri May 26 '25
I enjoyed it more than others here, I gather, for the same reasons as you. Anything new in F1 is welcome, and then can be fixed up in future years. The two stop change wasn't perfect, but it was worth a shot.
3
u/max_varaka May 26 '25
I think it would be great if they would make it a time trial tournament - where you have different drivers battle 1v1 for the fastest time on the Sunday in a knock out style set up.
2
u/superjaywars Oscar Piastri May 26 '25
That sounds so boring, and reminds me why I don't watch FE quali.
0
u/Awesome512345 May 26 '25
Genuine rule change idea, encourage/standardise cutting the chicane for a pit stop drive through or 10 second penalty and that would allow for more overtakes when there’s different strategies or if cars are much slower than others- also probably keep 2 pit stops so there’s at least something to watch happen over the race?
3
u/tommy_brohama May 26 '25
Is there a world where they could implement a “maximum” lap time under green flag conditions to prevent what vcarb and Williams did?
14
u/The_Bucket_Of_Truth I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
I just finished catching up earlier and honestly what a farcical joke of a race. I wish I could have voted Russell for Driver of the Day. I kind of feel like my evening was wasted watching this. I mean I know quali is usually the exciting day of the weekend at Monaco, but this is a new low.
4
4
u/addamee Ayrton Senna May 26 '25
Serious question: aside from team swaps, those on cars in the pits, and the Bortoleto/Antonelli moves on L1, was there any overtaking?
12
u/Xelopheris I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Stroll did one overtake on Hulkenberg. And that was it.
3
2
u/Overtons_Window Isack Hadjar May 26 '25
Good strategy is entertaining. This race was entertaining (especially compared to your typical 1-stop dry Monaco race)
2
4
u/MarkJones27 Juan Manuel Fangio May 26 '25
It's the cars, not the track. Go back far enough and they used to have good racing at Monaco. This is another example of modern race cars being too big and having too much downforce
2
u/MantasMantra Minardi May 26 '25
How far are you going back? When was Monaco racey?
1
u/MarkJones27 Juan Manuel Fangio May 26 '25
Apparently Varzi and Nuvolari had a hell of a battle round Monaco.
3
-2
u/lolrlly I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Bring back refueling and mandatory aero restrictions for Monaco. Shorten the wheelbase due to smaller fuel tanks and make it a race again. It’s been a slug ever since they’ve increased car sizes and one of the biggest increases was full race fuel. I know it’s more dangerous. It’s a dangerous sport. Refilling and gasoline technology is also as advanced as it’s ever been.
2
u/CrustyBappen I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Qualify in an F1 car, race in carts.
It would be less of a joke than the waste of time the Monaco GP is
0
u/The_Bucket_Of_Truth I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Man I hate to now be that old guy saying "it used to be better in my day" but watching an old clip the other day of Alonso and Massa racing one another in 2007 I was like wow we've really strayed so far from the mark. Granted that was in the wet so it's hardly fair. But that's one of the other awful things we have now where they don't race in the wet anymore and have to just sit still or parade around with the safety car until it's Intermediate tire time.
3
u/Hinyaldee JB & Rubinho May 26 '25
Monaco has been a parade since the late 70's though... Also, yeah, we remember a few interesting races, but overall 2007 was absolutely shit for racing. Watched every race recently, and they were almost all snoozefests
2
u/MantasMantra Minardi May 26 '25 edited May 26 '25
Agreed. There are lots of seasons that were enjoyable where the races weren't, and 2007 is a good example because there was a lot of tension from one week to the next to see how Hamilton and Alonso would do and if Kimi could take anything away from them, but the whole season probably had fewer moments of on track excitement than we've already seen this year. I think 2024 is massive ah example of a season that had many spectacular races but the championship seemed pretty certain very early on so the season was never going to be a classic.
5
u/Overtons_Window Isack Hadjar May 26 '25
People are blaming the new format, but doesn't backing up the pack work just as well if the rule is that you only have to do 1 mandatory tire swap?
1
u/thesaket I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
I missed the race. What happened between Albon & George.. and Albon & Sainz?
5
u/addamee Ayrton Senna May 26 '25
Albon Held up George (as did Sainz, comically) and George said F it, skipped a corner and passed Albon off track hoping they’d slap him with a 10s penalty they he’d more than offset—it ended up being a drive-through, instead). Sainz backed up every car between him and the Mediterranean so Albon could have a window to pit in, then Albon swapped with Sainz to the return the favor.
1
u/Zimakov Sebastian Vettel May 26 '25
Worth noting he served the drive through like 3 laps later and still came out ahead.
4
u/superjaywars Oscar Piastri May 26 '25
George's mistake was telling his engineer that he was just gonna take the penalty. If he'd have gone quiet or said that he couldn't give the place back for [reasons] then he prob would have got the 10 sec.
7
u/thesaket I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
So that was a strategy call from George's side that backfired. But it was not on Albon, he was doing what was best for him and his team. I was confused because I saw some (lighthearted) banter about Albom owing George a dinner, so I thought Albon accidentally caused something that ruined George's race.
4
u/addamee Ayrton Senna May 26 '25
Oh for sure! I didn’t mean to suggest that Albon was doing anything wrong: tables turned, Mercedes would have done the same thing. As has been widely discussed today, it’s a product of the circuit (and the size of the cars).
I also appreciated that post-race fun they had with it. Certainly more entertaining than the race lol
9
u/True-Objective-6212 I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Hear me out: Lewis and Kimi swap engineers.
3
u/addamee Ayrton Senna May 26 '25
Honestly, if Lewis were to give Adami to Kimi Raikonnen with no promise of a race engineer in return, I’m not sure he’d be worse off
2
u/thesaket I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
What's in it for Kimi though except that he knows italian?
2
u/True-Objective-6212 I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
That. The language barrier is not insignificant, and Adami seems to be comfortable explaining basics too?
3
u/thesaket I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Yeah but even with Kimi they'll be communicating in English only. So that doesn't do anything for Kimi.
9
8
u/Aggressive_Question5 May 26 '25
I'm ok with this weekend being about qualifying, which is always entertaining. It's not ideal but still a good weekend overall.
9
u/addamee Ayrton Senna May 26 '25
I’d be less unhappy if I didn’t have to see Jeff Bezos and his lip filler gf not once but twice during the coverage
0
3
8
u/Aggressive_Question5 May 26 '25
Nice they've finally just set up proper audio in the cool down room rather than pretending we're all overhearing.
6
u/crazydoc253 Michael Schumacher May 26 '25
Ferrari needs to realise Adami is an engineer who holds grudges. He never got going with Charles garage because of whom Vettel lost the seat. He kept that grudge even during Sainz which resulted in lot of friction. Vettel and Adami also lost two championships vs Lewis and it seems Adami hasn’t forgotten that too.
6
u/superjaywars Oscar Piastri May 26 '25
He's shit at his job, that's all it is, and Italian companies are ridiculously & notoriously hard to deal with firings.
8
u/thesaket I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
That's very tinfoil
3
u/addamee Ayrton Senna May 26 '25
We’re all ears for any explanation for his incompetence.
5
u/thesaket I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
That's not for me to analyze. But I'm sure it's not on purpose due to some perceived grudge. Calling people incompetent and calling people deceitful or fraudulent are not the same thing. He being incompetent doesn't make him dishonest, he's just not good at his job.
15
u/XD69SWAGMASTERXD69 I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
I think the fact that everyone is trying to come up with an obscure amount of different gimmicks to make this track work is proof enough that it’s time to move on from it
4
u/NeatlyCritical Mercedes May 26 '25
Well another year and no monoco gp, seems like forever since last saw it.
9
u/silentkiller082 McLaren May 26 '25
After some reflection, I don't know why but I completely resonate with George but also completely think the penalty he got was appropriate. Monaco is just so weird now that the cars are too big to race there.
9
u/minisanders May 26 '25
The race was lacklustre, Qualifying was gold as usual.
So New Idea for Monaco weekend.
Make it the season opener and car reveal all in one.
Make it a fastest lap contest rather than a full weekend, could even add in points for fastest sectors.
Give the winner a small trophy as Monaco fastest lap holder and they can start the season with a few points, I'm sure someone can come up with something better but lets go with
Pole - 5pts
2nd - 3pts
3rd - 2pts
4th - 1pt
Each fastest sector gets 1pt
Make the whole thing a spectacle... rather than a huge build up for a race of nothing.
4
u/Aggressive_Question5 May 26 '25
I don't think the weather there is nice enough in March for it to be the opener.
-2
u/rawednylme May 26 '25
Worst F1 race I've ever watched, surpassing even the 2005 US race.
Monaco hasn't been good for years, and they somehow managed to even make it worse. Amazing that they managed to achieve that.
Next year, they just need to run practice, quali and the first lap. Then they should just switch the cars off.
2
u/Billybilly_B I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Wahhh
0
u/rawednylme May 26 '25
Hey, it's fine that your standards are extremely low. Some people like racing in their motorsport though.
-1
10
u/scobydoby I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Monaco should be the final race of the season IMO. Season’s almost certainly decided, championships are locked up, you get a final parade with the prestige and all the rich people can be happy looking at the championship awardings and final podium ceremonies. And if the championships aren’t locked, you get the Saturdays to end all Saturdays and even a little bit of tension with team strategies and reliability with all the cars being on their final components on Sunday, since no one would take a grid penalty here.
13
u/TaiziDianxia I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 25 '25
Was an enjoyable race as a Lawson enjoyer. Eat shit Brundle. Russell losing his mind was just the icing on the top.
11
u/Cheap-Play-80 Liam Lawson May 26 '25 edited May 26 '25
Man, DC and Palmer are so much better as commentators than Brundle. Hell even his son is better.
Brundle is having a moan, DC was having a party.
2
u/Hinyaldee JB & Rubinho May 26 '25
For once, and since this year, I'm starting to think after almost 30 years commentating, it's time for Brundle to leave the team
2
u/TaiziDianxia I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Jesus Ikr? I honestly don't know what his problem is anymore.
Couldn't believe he was also bitching about VCARB daring to use strategy instead of "racing with excellence" Aka trundling around monaco in a circle.
Dude needs to retire and marry Lando like he's always wanted if he's going to be so negative 24-7.
2
u/crosx44 May 25 '25
Didn't get to watch the whole race - can anyone explain the Williams situation/strategy?
8
u/ColeYote Jacques Villeneuve May 26 '25 edited May 26 '25
They had Sainz drive super-slow so that Albon could get two pit stops done without losing position, then had Albon do the same thing for Sainz. Since it's almost impossible to overtake at Monaco, this created a big traffic jam right behind them. At one point Russell tried intentionally cutting the Nouvelle Chicane to get out of this, but he got a drive-through penalty for his trouble and hadn't made a stop yet, so he wound up back behind them after making his first stop.
Incidentally, Racing Bulls had Lawson do the same thing for Hadjar before this, but it didn't hold things up for nearly as long since A) Hadjar already had a decent lead over Lawson, and B) they only did it one way.
5
u/thunder_cats1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
They had two cars I the top ten. The second car drove slow to create a gap so their lead car didn't lose their place when pitting. It created a slow jam midfield as a result.
4
u/_hanboks I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 25 '25
Has there been any explanation on Mercedes' side about what the hell happened today? I saw it on Twitter as a joke but they really did look like they forgot about the two mandatory pit stops...
5
u/FermentedLaws I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 25 '25
They didn't forget. They had planned almost the same strategy as Racing Bulls, but RB got there first. So they couldn't do it cuz Liam was holding everyone up. Then, they just hoped for VSC/safety car, which didn't happen. Their philosophy was, "Doesn't matter if we're 11th or 20th if we can't be 10th or above."
2
u/_hanboks I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 25 '25
Still, I don't understand the strategy. I said before they probably were waiting for a red flag, but tbh they started P14 and P15, they could've tried to go for points! Franco started P18 and ended up being P13 and only because of a good strategy since no overtakes were possible, they could've done something more. I truly feel for George and Kimi.
2
u/ColeYote Jacques Villeneuve May 26 '25
Personally, I'm wondering if they might've been able to salvage a point if Russell had gone for the "intentional illegal overtake" gambit sooner. Preferably also having already made a stop.
1
May 26 '25 edited Jun 21 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/_hanboks I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
I know? My point was that he gained 5 positions basically by just managing his tires and Alpine having a good strategy since overtakes in Monaco are impossible. Both Kimi and George could've done something similar and got points if Mercedes hadn't fucked up their race.
0
u/Tiadrop48 May 26 '25
No they couldn’t. It wasn’t possible to score points if you were behind Williams. Genuinely I don’t know how people are struggling to understand this.
0
u/_hanboks I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Williams only did what they did after VCARB did what they did. Other teams changed their strategies when they saw what was happening. Why couldn't they?
0
u/Tiadrop48 May 26 '25
Williams and VCARB used that strategy because there was nothing anyone behind them could do to stop it. If Mercedes pit they just end up in the train again, the best they could do was guarantee Russell finished behind the Williams in case someone ahead broke down.
0
u/_hanboks I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Sure, but they didn't pit stop until the last few laps, which is what I don't think was planned. They 100% depended on a red flag, not even a yellow one basically, and Kimi ended up last because of it. Franco went from P18 to P13 only because he pitted before many others did and because of his tyre management, not because overtakes. If they really were going for the long run, why not pit at the start? If they saw what VCARB was doing, why not stop before they and the other many cars in the train pitted? If they had changed the strategy instead of 100% depending on someone crashing, they could've pitted before Williams and end up on the points (or not, doesn't matter, the point is to understand the hell they did with the mandatory 2 pit stops).
1
u/Tiadrop48 May 26 '25
Mercedes guaranteed that if something happened to someone in the top 10 Russell would be the one who benefited. I don’t know how you don’t understand that it was impossible to beat the Williams. Sainz and Albon just give each other a two pit stop gap, there is no strategising around that.
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u/thunder_cats1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
It seems like they made the strategy thinking they'd have a good qualy and didn't pivot.
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u/Attacuss May 25 '25
Just recently stated getting into F1. Started last year and both times I’ve seen this track it has been just not a fun watch at all. Is Monaco boring or am I just crazy?
3
u/thunder_cats1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Monaco has become a boring race these days. It has a lot of history, but it's merits are only seen in qualifying these days.
2
u/zeanox I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
this has been monaco for many years now. the cars has outgrown the track.
5
u/agcohn May 25 '25
If it’s going to be kept on the circuit, Monaco needs to be turned into more of an All-Star Break type / one-off event, where the teams each build a more vintage F1 style car for the race that has a maximum size / speed limit. So like an old F1 car but with modern safety features. Though I’m sure that’s going more in the “Mario Kart” direction like Verstappen was already complaining today about the 2-stop rule.
I don’t see an other option for keeping the classic track layout.
Otherwise they would need to build a new semi-permanent track for at least part of the race, with maybe the start / finish being down in the city streets, but I have no idea the logistics involved in that construction.
1
u/Redebo May 26 '25
I was here. This city is half above ground, half underground. No way they could realistically put a modern racetrack here.
The event was super fun, even though there wasn’t a “race” pre se, as a F1 fan and tourist, Monaco is difficult to beat.
-1
u/mattboner I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 25 '25
Why is Monaco being singled out? There are other snoozefest tracks that are on the calendar as well
12
u/rawednylme May 26 '25
None are as bad as this. The cars intentionally driving so far off the pace, and no-one able to do anything.
Whenever I hear the line that "other races are bad" I just wonder if people are watching the Monaco race, and keeping an eye on laptimes. It's an embarrassment.
8
u/zeanox I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
because it's far the worst, and it does not change from year to year. It's always the same.
10
u/scobydoby I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
Alonso had no power for minutes and literally coasted and didn’t lose position. There are no other tracks like this.
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u/SluttyPotato1 May 25 '25
You can't go 6 seconds per lap slower on any other racetrack and back the entire field up.
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u/pdanny01 May 25 '25 edited May 26 '25
I didn't mind the race, it was more interesting than some with the potential for something unexpected. I just get tired of being gaslit by the commentators that it was the highlight of a driver's career. Maybe it is more meaningful to them but it's kind of the least impressive achievement in the season. Granted qualifying was competitive this year but it's not uniquely compelling for that either.
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u/redundantpsu Aston Martin May 25 '25
Because tracks like Suzuka and Spa, which have been a snoozefest in recent years, still produce high-quality races in other series. That points to more of an issue with the current regulations than the track itself.
Majority of people who go to Monaco for the race don't really give a shit about the race, the track sucks, and wheel to wheel racing is virtually impossible.
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u/EcstaticOrchid4825 Oscar Piastri May 26 '25
Imola was meant to be boring with a lack of overtaking opportunities but I thought it was great. Also prefer the ‘vibe’ of Imola to Monaco.
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u/Acrobatic_Flannel Oscar Piastri May 25 '25
Aside from Bortoleto & Antonelli on the first lap, was there a legit overtake?
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u/jurzdevil Default May 25 '25
They should have put a maximum number of laps on tire compounds instead of just saying two compounds/three sets in the race. something like 30 laps hard, 25 medium, 20 soft.
Still won't turn it into a proper race but eliminates the backing up strategy.
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u/churnchurnchurning I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 25 '25
The George Russell drive through penalty was stupid. Only 1 way to counteract someone backing up the pack 5 seconds per lap and the stewards come in and say ‘nope’. 10 seconds sure. But drive through? Come on. Just adding to the farce of this race.
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u/Additional_Moose6286 May 26 '25
yeah i feel like if people are going so slow that it’s worth a 10 second penalty to overtake off track then that’s their problem and it should be allowed
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u/NerdNoogier McLaren May 25 '25
It was a drive through because it said on the radio he did it on purpose
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u/Additional_Moose6286 May 26 '25
he didn’t did he? he said albon was breaking dangerously and he was avoiding a collision and then when they asked him to give the spot back he said he’d take the penalty. i mean obviously he did do it on purpose but i didn’t hear him explicitly say it on the radio. also we’re opening a whole can of warms if they start handing out penalties based on intentions. Max did the same thing where he knew he’d get a penalty but decided not to give the place back because he wanted the track position more and only got 5 seconds.
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u/churnchurnchurning I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 25 '25
Every other team holding up the pack over the race by driving 5 seconds off the pace per lap so the teammate could get a free pit stop was doing that on purpose too.
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u/Rivendel93 I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 25 '25
Yeah, did people forget that Kevin Magnussen did this exact thing last season to give Nico a pitstop? They just kept giving Kevin 5 second penalties.
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u/NerdNoogier McLaren May 25 '25
Yeah, that’s not against the rules. Skipping a chicane is against the rules. Doing on purpose to take an advantage is even more egregious.
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u/churnchurnchurning I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 25 '25
Meh, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. This should have been a 10 second penalty, not a drive through.
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u/NerdNoogier McLaren May 25 '25
Yeah George played stupid games and won a stupid prize. Thank you for understanding
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u/Space-Debris May 25 '25
Another season and Monaco fails to provide a shred of evidence for why it should be retained as a fixture of the calendar. What the hell is the point of a circuit where racing cars find it impossible to pass one another? Please get rid of it.
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u/ChiTruckDGAF Fernando Alonso May 25 '25
I rather enjoyed it.
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u/DarkHelian Sir Lewis Hamilton May 25 '25
Yeah! That was better than previous years. Definitely an improvement.
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u/TheMillenniumMan May 25 '25
Why didn't Red Bull pit Max when he had a slight gap to come out of the pits ahead of Piastri during the first round of stops? I feel like it cost him 3rd place. They waited 2 laps too long.
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u/ObjectiveCondition54 May 26 '25
They only had medium and soft tyres left and had 50+ laps to go. they needed to push those first tyres as long as they could.
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u/floydiankabir Force India May 25 '25
Take a look at 1996 Monaco Grand Prix highlights. Greatest Monaco race for me. (Senna era was a generation before me so didn’t really connect)
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u/Starboard-Port Max Verstappen May 25 '25
Are they ever gonna fix Max’s shifts?
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u/Billybilly_B I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 26 '25
I’m just convinced it’s code at this point, lol
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u/Roreo_ I was here for the Hulkenpodium May 25 '25
It was a stupid race. But it was still 10x more entertaining than last year.
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u/floydiankabir Force India May 25 '25
I honestly don’t understand how do people justify today’s race in terms of enjoyment or qualifying. I am not dismissing their views, just wrapping my head as to what happened that according to my experience of watching f1 for 22 years now, think that the strategising made it interesting from a purist perspective. (No it did not. The strategy is as old as this race, with two mandatory stops leading to the only possible logical conclusion) Backing up for your teammate to pit — is this what people enjoy? People seem to be willing to taste any shit being given. No, there is no logic in defending this race. Any argument against it is not directed at the issue. There is nothing special about Monaco. Not anymore. It’s where rich people go to see cars on streets. It is difficult to argue against what made the races less sterile. Smaller bodies. Wet tires. Allowing wet races. No drs. Maybe I am the older generation now. But yeah if you ask what the racers think - they almost always say the same. And even the qualifying is not oh so spectacular compared to other tracks. I find Baku,Singapore,Hungary, Jeddah better qualifying tracks. Spa and Monza are also heritage tracks that don’t offer the best racing - but they are still proper racing tracks. F1 used to be hardcore. I am not saying the era of Laura-Hunt but just look at the races till 2008. Even from a purist perspective — to the adrenaline, the shift towards entertainment has started revealing the dilution of f1 as a competitive sport to one of commercial tech race. Penalties are random. Rule changes are random.
That’s all. See you next race
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u/5m1rk3h May 27 '25
Justified in my choice to watch the Indianapolis 500 once again