Kudos to try. After last year’s procession without change, the Kingmakers at Formula One had to change something about the sport’s traditional Blue-Riband event. A mandatory two pit stops had never been written to the rule book before; The aroma of mystery was tangible in front of Raceday in Monte-Carlo.
It turned out that the brain and boffins in the garages scorned for the regulation. Racing Bulls showed their hand first, with Liam Lawson driving targeted slowly to keep the package behind him, enabling teammate Isack Hadjar to pit again without losing position. Then Williams followed – with Carlos Sainz and then Alex Albon, who jumped almost six seconds a shot slower than the front trunners.
For both teams, double-point finish. A tactic that reeking of gaming manship worked with perfection. It was all fair game – but it was master manipulation. As a world champion in 2009, Jenson Button expressed afterwards: “It was all just a little silly.”
Even for the drivers who enjoyed the strategy, there was a little comfort in the leaderboard. Their racing instinct was limited here at one of the sport’s most wonderful circuits to drive. That’s not right.
“I have to say it’s not the way I like to drive, or dream of racing in Monaco,” said Sainz, who ended 10. Afterwards.
“A little disappointed throughout the race. The two-stops change nothing around Monaco, people will still try to manipulate the final result. We either find a solution at the race pace or it will always be so in Monaco.
“In the midfield it came back. It made things even more manipulated for people to get two stops and pit -windows. I’m glad F1 to try things. We tried, for me it didn’t work. Maybe we just need to ban tempo manipulation.”
The FIA, which announced the new rule in February, insisted that the mandatory three different deck sets were implemented for the purpose of “promoting better racing.” But as Martin Brundle briefly made a comment: “The focus was on beating, not racing.”
Sainz’s teammate, Alex Albon, went a step further, apologized for fans watching at home: “That’s not how we want to go in racing. I know we put a bad show for everyone and made some drivers anger behind us.
“It benefits from the track and the size of the cars. Just frustrating and apologizing for everyone who saw it. Yes, sorry!”
In the closing stages, George Russell actually decided to illegally cut a corner of Nouvelle Chicane to push past a slow moving albon. The Mercedes driver duly received a review penalty, but despite the fact that he also had to pit twice late, he still ended 11-higher than he would have done if he was just behind Albon.
Russell later called the new rule a “deficient system.”
Still, the simple facts are that circulatory configurations of the principle of street circuits combined with the size of this era with Formula 1 car make overtaken almost impossible in dry conditions. The use of DRS around Banana Straight is ineffective and if you try to overtake everywhere on the circuit, the contact is inevitable.
However, the fight ahead was tight on the time sheets until the end. Max Verstappen held out a late red flag in front before Lando Norris (who clapped most of the course twice) claimed Victory-Hans first since the season opener in Australia. Like most years, it was a victory that was secured with a scinted last lap in the qualification.
Still, the unprecedented race of regulations needs some change for 2026. Today it fell flat. When you have Russell suggesting sprinklers and Verstappen, which suggests banana realm – a la Mario Kart – you know the regulation is back.
A maximum lap time would solve Sunday’s edition – and could be used in a similar way as a questioning boundary. Enforcement of at least one pit stop in the first half of the race could also stop such radical strategies.
It may have worked border chips at times, but F1 should not be ridiculed to try something else. They tried, they failed. And with a contract in Monaco until 2031, they try to find another remedy for many years to come.