It is invitingly easy to complain that the Monaco Grand Prix has become an anachronism in motor racing. It is also hugely misleading, writes ALASDAIR REID.
An act of defiance, too. In 1928 the Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM) applied for international recognition. When this was rejected on the grounds that no major motorsport event was held – or could even be possible – entirely within the confines of the tiny principality, the gentlemen of the ACM set to work and plotted a route through their tight and winding streets. That circuit, first used in 1929, is pretty much the same one in use today.
While Formula One cars have become longer, wider and considerably faster, the streets of Monaco have barely changed. Those alterations that have been made to the circuit have mostly been safety-driven. Given the size of the place (just a nudge over two square kilometres), building density and some inconvenient topography, it is difficult to imagine what changes could be made to counter the criticism that it is now near-impossible for one car to pass another.
Max Verstappen leads Fernando Alonso and the rest of the field into turn one at the start of the F1 Monaco Grand Prix. Picture: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Yes, it could be tweaked. Removing the Nouvelle Chicane, where the cars drop down from the tunnel and into the harbour section, is one possibility, but as it was put there for safety reasons, removal could be seen as a retrograde step. Ultimately, no amount of fiddling with this and rejigging of that can solve the fundamental problem that F1 cars are not built to race around city streets.
That problem was all too obvious for the first 50 laps of Sunday’s grand prix, and had rain not rolled in to spice things up it would have remained obvious for the remaining 28 laps as well. When the weekend was over we could reflect on a decently entertaining contest that had been preceded by an absolutely thrilling qualifying session, but we also knew that we were lucky in both regards. There have been plenty of Monaco weekends that provided neither.
Out of politeness, or possibly the suspicion that some medieval Monegasque statute entitles the all-powerful royal family to boil critics in oil, F1 teams are generally restrained when it comes to expressing reservations about the place. So the Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, may have been taking his life in his hands when, on the eve of the race, he suggested that changes would have to be made to maintain Monaco’s relevance as a venue.
“The prospect of an overtake is virtually impossible under normal running conditions,” Horner said. “For the long-term viability of this venue, nothing stands still forever. Everything has to keep evolving. It would be great to look at what is possible to introduce some genuine overtaking opportunities around the circuit or to adapt the circuit over a period of time.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, a Monaco product, drives alongside the harbour during his home grand prix. Picture: Peter Fox/Getty Images
Fair enough, but others think differently. Responding to Horner, Ferrari’s race director, Laurent Mekies, said: “Accepting that overtaking is very difficult and that we only concentrate pretty much on Saturday [qualifying] here, I think it’s part of what makes this place unique. I would probably refrain from touching the track layout also for historical reasons and for keeping very high-character places like this one.”
Horner’s point was typically provocative, but Mekies’s will probably win the day. Whether purists like it or not, Monaco is the commercial jewel in F1’s crown, the venue that, more than any other, reinforces the sport’s status as the pinnacle of motor racing. It is the place where teams bring their most generous sponsors and most high-profile guests.
Like the rest of us, Liberty Media, F1’s owners, would probably like to see more overtaking, but so long as every A-lister on earth covets an invitation to visit the pre-race, they can be happy with what they have to offer.
Liberty has a clear enthusiasm for street races at iconic venues. Miami came on board last year, Las Vegas will make its debut in November. The notion that they would ditch Monaco because the racing itself can be a little dull is laughable.
Australian rookie Oscar Piastri negotiates a turn during the F1 Monaco Grand Prix. Picture: Peter Fox/Getty Images
And who wants a homogenous sport anyway? What’s so wrong with a quirky outlier? If you wanted to watch the very best of golf’s Open Championship then the Old Course at St Andrews, with its silly layout and hopeless viewing facilities, would be the last place to go. And yet, for all its flaws, it is the one place golf fans from all over the world want to visit. Monaco, for all its flaws, has that same bucket-list cachet.
Golf’s authorities recently grasped the nettle of illustrious old courses being rendered redundant by modern technology with the introduction of “rollback” regulations to limit the distance a ball can travel – land is finite and courses could not keep lengthening to accommodate big hitters. Maybe F1 should start thinking along the same lines for Monaco. Maybe it’s not the circuit that needs to change, but the cars.
– The Times