Monaco GP: Formula 1 drivers criticise new rules in ‘ugly race’ that had more ‘focus on pitting’

Formula 1 drivers were critical of the sport’s new regulations for the Monaco Grand Prix after a chaotic but controversial Sunday, with Carlos Sainz insisting the shake-up “backfired” and Max Verstappen equating it to “Mario Kart”.

In a bid to improve racing at what is by far the calendar’s tightest track, the governing FIA introduced a unique new rule for this year’s event which required each driver to race with three different tyre sets, essentially mandating two pit-stops.

But while there was plenty more action in the pit-lane – from the very first lap – there were still few changes to the expected finishing order as Lando Norris won from pole, while controversial tactics were also deployed by teams.

Knowing overtaking was all but impossible, Racing Bulls and Williams both instructed one of their drivers to drastically drop their pace, backing up the pack behind, to give their ‘leading’ driver enough of a gap to execute their pit-stops.

As there were two stops rather than one this year, one of Monaco’s most unpopular strategic tendencies was effectively multiplied. Both teams finished with both cars in the top 10.

It left drivers behind raging behind, while even Williams themselves weren’t fans of the tactic.

“This isn’t how I like to go racing but that’s what the rules have created,” team boss James Vowles told Sky Sports F1 during the race. “From my position this is a difficult afternoon.”

Sainz, who joined the team from Ferrari this year, was even more disparaging afterwards.

“It is definitely something I don’t like to do and something I don’t like seeing,” the Spaniard told Sky Sports F1. “Unfortunately, [Liam] Lawson did it first to us which we didn’t expect. That put us into a panic mode and the only solution we could think of was to do it to the rest of the field ourselves.

“I’m just a bit disappointed with the whole race and the whole weekend. It shows the two-stop change is nothing around Monaco and people are still going to do what we did today. People are still going to manipulate the final result with the driving.

“We either come up with a solution so that you won’t be able to manipulate the race pace the way we did today, or it will always be like this.”

He added: “I don’t know about the front but in the midfield it backfired. I’m happy for everyone to try things. We tried it, for me it didn’t work.

“It is not the way I like to race or how I dream about racing around Monaco.”

Wolff reveals Vowles apology: ‘He had to do it’

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealed after the race that he received a text from former colleague James Vowles that read: “I’m sorry. We had no choice given what happened ahead.”

He said he answered: “We know”.

He added to reporters afterwards: “James is one of my guys, and I don’t want to sound patronising because he is making a career as a team principal and is doing really well. He had to do it. It’s two cars in the points and I think where it started was the RBs and then backed us off and that’s what he had to do.”

Team-mate Alex Albon called it an “ugly race” on team radio and later told Sky that “we put a bad show for everyone”.

“It’s just taking advantage of the track, and the size of the cars,” he explained. “The two stops just made us do it twice, rather than once.

“Apologies to everyone who watched that because that wasn’t very good. We didn’t want to do it and we didn’t plan to do it.”

Sky F1 pundits: ‘The focus was on pitting, not racing’

Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle:

“It didn’t work, did it?

“The focus was on pitting and not on racing.

“I don’t want to see drivers all the way through the field playing a game.

“This is about excellence, about the highest point of motorsport and I don’t like to see so many drivers going slowly.”

Sky Sports F1’s Jenson Button:

“When teams were using one driver to help another and going six seconds a lap slower, it looked a bit silly.

“Then we had George [Russell] trying to jump Albon through the chicane to get in front and push on, again, it makes a bit of a mockery of it.

“It hasn’t worked. I love that we tried it but we need to work out a way of tweaking it.”

“As a kid, eight years old, you look at F1 as the pinnacle and think you want to get there because you drive fast. Then you come to Monaco and it’s about driving as slow as you can for your team-mate.

“And the drivers are embarrassed but they did what they had to, to score points.”

Verstappen: Maybe we should throw bananas

World champion Max Verstappen, who led the race until the penultimate lap as he waited for his second mandatory pit-stop, also felt the rules failed to hit the mark.

“You can’t race here,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what you do. One stop, 10 stops.

“Even at the end, I was in the lead, my tyres were completely gone and you still can’t pass.

“Nowadays with an F1 car, you can just pass an F2 car around here. I get [the new rule] but I don’t think it’s worked.”

Asked about potentially having pit windows for stops, Verstappen said: “Honestly we were almost doing Mario Kart.

“Then we have to install bits on the car and maybe you can throw bananas around! Slippery surface!”

George Russell had a nightmare afternoon in general – taking a drive-through penalty and no points – and stated: “The race is pretty silly. This is not really a race.”

The Monaco rules positives? ‘It was more interesting’

As ever, not everyone in the paddock was aligned with their feedback.

McLaren boss Zak Brown called the race “much more exciting than the usual Monaco” while Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner insisted it was an “improvement”.

“It was strategically more interesting,” he told reporters. “There was more jeopardy to it, certainly better than what we saw last year where there was just a procession.

“Usually you make the one stop and then you’ve just got your fingers crossed for reliability to the end of the race. Here there was a bit more going on.

“The fundamental problem is you cannot overtake here and you can drive around three, four seconds off the pace. So that’s the fundamental problem. That’s circuit-specific. We’ve known that for… it’s been on the calendar for 72 years.”

Charles Leclerc, who finished second behind Norris, also called the race interesting as there were “lots of things happening” and that it gave “more opportunities”. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, welcomed the gamble.

“They need to keep on trying on this one,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll read that it wasn’t an exciting race or something but it felt very similar to previous ones.

“It’s a very difficult track, you obviously can’t overtake but it’s still an amazing spectacle and an amazing location. To drive it on a single lap is incredible. Friday and Saturday is unbelievable, the Sunday is the day you want off almost.”

Hamilton’s former team boss at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, similarly wanted an evolution of the rule rather than abandoning it.

“I see it from a different perspective,” he said. “This is such a great entertainment.

“Saturday is the day the sport comes alive. On Sunday we tried something, it didn’t work and maybe for next year we need to find some regulations where maybe we need to define a maximum lap time, so this backing off didn’t happen.

“This is one outlier. You can drive slow. You can avoid to take any risks and if you’re first, you can run the pace you want. Lando did the fastest lap at the end with 30-lap old tyres.

“For the sport, for the Sundays itself, we can do better and we can come up with something.

“Overall, as an event we don’t want to miss it.”

F1’s European triple header concludes with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, with live coverage starting from Friday on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

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