Monaco may be the jewel of the F1 crown but it can also be a procession with Lewis Hamilton proposing a “special” Monaco GP tyre that would force more pit stops to spice up the show.
Formula 1 returns to the streets of Monte Carlo for the 81st time this weekend, the race marking the eighth round of the F1 2024 championship.
‘You guys might fall asleep on Sunday during the race’
Additional reporting by Sam Cooper
But for all those eagerly anticipating the race, they are matched by fans fearing a bore-fest given the nature of the narrow, twisting street circuit.
Last year’s race had 22 overtakes in total, the most since 2011, with the track not suited to today’s Formula 1 cars. Even more so the current generation which are about 5.5m in length.
It begs the question, what can be done to spice up the Monaco Grand Prix?
“Monaco hasn’t really changed much, the cars are getting bigger and there is a huge risk of colliding,” Lewis Hamilton told media including PlanetF1.com.
“I wish we had bigger roads and that the track could be wider, but I don’t think that that is ever going to be the case because it is just a small place.
“The race is continuously pretty much the same it is a one-stop race, so I would say that maybe having special tyres for this race so you have more pit stops, can create more variability.
“They [F1] can definitely come up with a specific weekend for this particular weekend, they should come up with some new formula for it rather than it just being the same.
“You guys might fall asleep on Sunday during the race, so creating something else.”
For more on the race dubbed the ‘Jewel of the F1 crown’
Daniel Ricciardo proposes three-day time trial
Daniel Ricciardo proposed an interesting way to create that something else by changing the qualifying format.
The 2018 Monaco Grand Prix winner suggests a “three-day time trial” where the drivers would have access to the track for nine hours each day.
The quickest lap puts the driver on the pole position while the race “is the race” as he put it.
“Do I wish the Sunday could be a bit different or cooler? Yes, from a race,” said the RB driver.
“But as a weekend and the atmosphere and what it does to us drivers, I don’t think that will ever be matched. So I’m glad it’s still here.
“I know I proposed many years ago that it should just be like a three-day time trial. The tracks open for three days straight, nine hours a day and you just pick when the temperature is right and you try to set it up.
“You know, maybe that would make it different and interesting. Make the Sunday a bit more interesting. Maybe.”