The Monaco Grand Prix is under pressure to find ways to adapt after a strikingly uneventful procession on the streets of Monte Carlo was won by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on Sunday.
The Monégasque’s first victory at his home race was delivered with calm command from pole, including a restart after a horrific opening-lap accident, in which the Red Bull of Sergio Pérez was all but destroyed. However, with the race red-flagged, the teams were able to change tyres, removing the requirement for a pit stop; what ensued was 75 laps of a turgid train to the finish line.
Overtaking is all but impossible now in Monaco given the width and weight of the cars; with tyre management required to see them to the end, the drivers proceeded to crawl round the track at a torturously slow pace in line astern.
Monaco’s contract with F1 ends after 2025 and as much as the historic circuit, which held its first GP in 1929, is resistant to change, the usual rhetoric about the glamour and heritage of the race appears to hold little weight with drivers or teams.
Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, said: “It’s not racing as such when you’re just driving around three or four seconds off the pace because the other car hasn’t got any chance of overtaking. It’s something we should look at. It’s such a great place, so much history here, but everything evolves. We need to collectively as a sport, with the promoter, look at how do we
