Leclerc’s crushing win at Monaco Grand Prix creates pressure for changes

The Monaco Grand Prix is ​​under pressure to find a way to adapt after a surprisingly uneventful procession on the streets of Monte Carlo. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won on Sunday.

The Monegasque took his first victory at his home race, with cool control from pole position, including on the restart after a frightening accident on the opening lap. Red Bull Sergio Pérez’s car was almost completely destroyed, but the race was red-flagged, allowing the team to change tyres and eliminating the need for a pit stop. The result was a heavy train of 75 laps to the finish line. Overtaking is nearly impossible in Monaco, given the width and weight of the cars. Tyre management was essential to get to the end, with drivers plodding around the track at a painfully slow pace in the back row.

Monaco’s F1 contract expires in 2025 and the historic circuit, which hosted its first Grand Prix in 1929, is resistant to change, but the usual rhetoric about the race’s appeal and tradition seems to mean little to the drivers and teams.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: “It’s not racing if you’re just running three or four seconds off the pace because there’s no chance for other cars to overtake. It’s something we need to look at. It’s a great place and there’s a lot of history here, but everything is evolving. We as a sport need to look at it together with the promoters how we introduce overtaking opportunities.”

The top ten remained in their starting positions and the few overtaking attempts were not aimed at scoring points. The viability of this race has long been questioned with modern F1 cars – with McLaren’s Lando Norris pointing out that it is almost impossible to even drive side-by-side in Monaco – but after Sunday’s very mediocre race F1 will be looking again at what it can do to prevent that from happening again.

Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen, who finished sixth without even being able to think about overtaking, said the race was so boring he needed a pillow and called on F1 to explore any avenues that might even create an overtaking opportunity. “We all know what Monaco is like,” Verstappen said. “The cars have gotten wider in recent years and it’s become more difficult. I’d like to change it a bit if I can, because then it will be more exciting.”

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who started and finished seventh, was similarly negative: “I don’t know what it was like watching it, but I’m sure everyone was asleep,” he said. “They need to find a way to make it a bit more exciting – like three mandatory pit stops?”

Verstappen currently leads Leclerc in the world championship by 31 points but after an underwhelming start to the season the Dutchman has managed just one win in the last three races, with McLaren and Ferrari claiming one each. Miami And then there’s Monaco, where Red Bull struggled with their car this weekend on a bumpy circuit with slow corners and Horner admitted he sees both teams as real threats in a title race that had previously looked a comfortable bet for Red Bull.

“Ferrari and McLaren certainly look competitive,” he said. “You can’t write them off, this is a very long championship and they obviously gained quite a bit of points today.”

But Horner downplayed the lack of competitiveness of Red Bull’s one-time title rival Mercedes. George Russell finished fifth and was told by his team to go slower until the final third, which Horner mocked. “George ran a very conservative race, sacrificing so much time to go so fast at the end of the race,” he said. “It made no sense at all. They didn’t try to overtake anyone and it was a very defeatist race, just trying to defend fifth place.”