Monaco track changes only way to encourage overtaking in F1

After another Monaco Grand Prix saw little variety between qualifying and race results, with McLaren’s Lando Norris winning from pole position, Red Bull Formula 1 boss Christian Horner is calling for drastic changes in the Principality.

For this year’s race, F1 brought in a new mandatory two-pitstop rule that required all drivers to use three sets of tyres across two compounds over the course of the race. The regulation was a reaction to 2024’s farce, which saw most drivers swap tyres under red flag conditions.

The new rule drew mixed reactions from drivers, pundits and fans of the series, and while the Red Bull boss believes it made for a “more interesting” race, he admits that more must be done to fix the Monaco GP.

“I’d say it was an improvement,” said Horner after the Monaco GP. “It was strategically more interesting, there was more jeopardy to it, certainly better than what we saw last year, where there was just a procession.” 

While the rule change may have made the 2025 iteration of the race better than last year’s event, it ultimately failed to mix up the results of the processional grand prix.

In order to do this, Horner is calling for more drastic changes from Formula 1, including potentially altering the layout of the Monaco track. 

“I think it’s the only way to really encourage any form of overtaking,” the Red Bull boss said. 

“I don’t think I saw a single overtake in the race. So, trying to create a bit more braking area, either on the exit of the tunnel or Turn 1. If there was any way of creating a longer braking zone somewhere we should really investigate it.”

The Monaco track layout was first developed back in the 1920s and has, largely, remained unchanged since the first F1 championship race on the streets of Monte Carlo in 1950. 

Over the years, the track has evolved as the streets of Monaco changed – with new corners introduced around the swimming pool section and the sequence of corners around Rascasse slightly tweaked. 

In contrast, F1 is almost unrecognisable compared with the 1950s. Cars are now around half a metre wider than they were 75 years ago, and the wheelbase is a metre longer. It’s this growth of F1 cars that led to the current predicament on the streets of Monaco, not the track. 

“The cars are so big now that, you know, you just don’t have a chance to get alongside,” added Horner. 

This simple fact even led ex-racer Naomi Schiff to joke on Sky’s F1 coverage this weekend that drivers should swap their F1 machines for F3 cars when the circus rolls into Monaco.

Now, F1 is at least attempting to tackle its size problem. Next year, sweeping new regulations will dramatically change the cars we see on track. 

Under the new rules, the wheelbase of F1’s machinery will drop from 3,600mm to 3,400mm and the width of the cars will fall by 100mm from 2,000mm in 2025. The weight of the cars will also drop by four percent, but this is currently proving to be a sticking point with teams.

Whether the new rules achieve their aim of creating nimble, closer racers to tackle F1’s calendar remains to be seen, but the series will need more than slightly skinnier cars to spice up the action at its crown jewel event.