Last year’s procession around the principality – where the order of the top-10 did not alter once – was the final straw. In an era where the show is king for F1’s owners Liberty Media, something had to change at the sport’s most famous race.
Where better to roll the dice than Monaco? Ahead of the 2025 season, the team bosses met and concocted a plan to revitalise a grand prix where overtaking is nigh-on impossible, given the immovable parameters of the famous twisty street circuit. All drivers will have to run three sets of tyres in the 78-lap race on Sunday, making two pit-stops effectively mandatory – unless there is a red flag, like last year.
Suitably, on Thursday, Williams driver Carlos Sainz described the mystery element of the new rule as something of a “lottery” for raceday. The typical raceday simulation plans all teams carve out beforehand will not be so straightforward now.
It has been described in some quarters as a “gimmick” and, no doubt, the sport enjoys a fresh trick with an eye on spicing things up. In modern times, there was the ludicrous double-points on offer for the 2014 season finale in Abu Dhabi, meaning Lewis Hamilton had to finish second instead of sixth to guarantee the world championship. Fortunately, he won the race, while Nico Rosberg finished a lap down due to an engine issue. It was not repeated.
Bernie Ecclestone, coming to the end of his 40-year tenure in charge of the sport, did not digest the learnings for long, though. By the season-opening race of the 2016 campaign in Australia, a new one-by-one elimination qualifying format was widely ridiculed, resulting in a lack of cars out on track setting times. It survived for race two in Bahrain, but no further.
More recently, there was the 2019 introduction of a bonus point for whoever set the fastest lap in the race, provided they were in the top 10. Unfortunately, Red Bull taking advantage of their sister team and Daniel Ricciardo’s final race in Singapore last year – where he set the fastest lap but came home last, thus not receiving the bonus point but taking it away from title contender Lando Norris – triggered a change for 2025. Fastest laps on raceday are now irrelevant.
We also have sprint races now – six a year – which add to the weekend spectacle. F1 has never been afraid to move the needle, in the hunt for excitement and eyeballs. This year’s rule change in Monaco should be applauded; the easier option would have been to stand still.
Usually, qualifying in Monaco is the most important of the year and, whilst still vital, various strategies can now be at play on raceday across the grid with multiple pit-stops. For example, if you are at the back, could you stop on lap one and lap two and then race to the end? Meanwhile, at the front, when do you spread out your pit-stops? Who will blink first?
“I guess it can go both ways, where it can be quite straightforward, or it can go completely crazy because of safety cars coming into play or not making the right calls,” said Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen.
Usually a hardline traditionalist, even the Dutchman seems intrigued by the new rule.
“I think it will spice it up, probably a bit more. Normally, when you have that one stop, once you have a good pit-stop and everything is fine, then you drive to the end. You just have to stay focused and not hit the barrier.
“But maybe with a two-stop, it can create something different. People gambling, guessing when the right time is to box. So hopefully it will spice it up a bit more.”
Lewis Hamilton added: “I think it’s good to try something different, if you keep doing the same thing over and over and over you’re going to get the same result, so I think it’s cool that they’re trying something different.
“Whether or not it’s the answer, we’ll find out. It’s definitely going to be different to what we’ve had in the past years. Whether that’s better or not, I have no idea, I can’t predict, but I like the way it’s looking.”
It could be a damp squib. Or it could change the game. Yet with a contract now in place until 2031 – the sport’s traditional crown jewel event is going nowhere – Monaco needed to renovate and this unprecedented rule change will add a sense of mystery to proceedings come Sunday afternoon. And, ultimately, is that not what every sport craves?
