Revolutionizing the Monaco Grand Prix with New Tyre Rules

Get ready for an exhilarating twist at one of Formula 1’s most iconic races! The Monaco Grand Prix, notorious for its processional Sundays, is set to undergo a significant change this season. In an effort to inject more excitement into the weekend, the FIA has mandated a new rule: all drivers must pit twice, using at least three sets of tyres during the Grand Prix.

The Rationale Behind the Change

The Monaco circuit is notoriously tight, making overtaking a challenge for drivers, especially with the current-generation cars being so large. Last year, the top 10 cars remained unchanged throughout the race, and there were only four recorded overtakes over the 78 laps. Bernie Collins of Sky Sports F1 discussed the rule change: “Monaco is such that you can pace manage the stint by driving slowly and make any tyre basically last the entire race, because the overtaking threshold in Monaco is something like two and a half seconds that you need to be quicker to overtake.

To prevent such situations from recurring, the FIA has introduced this rule change. As confirmed in February of this year, teams must now run three different sets of tyres, even if it rains. Pirelli will allocate an additional set of Full Wet tyres on top of the standard two for this reason.

Driver and Team Perspectives

The drivers have welcomed this change. Charles Leclerc, the Monegasque who won 2024’s race, expressed his thoughts at the time: “I think it will definitely help the Sunday, especially with strategy. The excitement on Sunday is maybe a bit less than what you will hope.” Arthur Leclerc, younger brother to Charles Leclerc, also shared his opinion in a recent press release from Ferrari: “I think it’s good to have two mandatory pit stops because it will bring a bit more action and unpredictability to the race, and it will also allow the drivers to push their tyres harder. The last few races were all about tyre management.

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin expects a challenging race: “It definitely reduces the probability of teams saving their tyres to run to the end,” he said. “It will be interesting though because it’s a race where you know how many times everyone’s going to stop. It’ll be quite predictable from that point of view, but it will also be quite challenging from a strategic point of view because ideally at Monaco in the past you got out in front and stayed there. But having to make two pit stops, that’s going to be even more challenging.”

Strategic Implications

With two mandatory pit stops, teams have an opportunity to experiment with strategy. As predicted by Pirelli, “With no clear pit-stop windows, it could present opportunities for drivers starting from further back to move up the order by making the most of running in clean air.” This year promises to add some strategy to the picture, making the race even more intriguing.

What to Expect This Weekend

As always, qualifying will be crucial this weekend. The rule change doesn’t address the fundamental issue of the circuit, but the strategic opportunities should create a more interesting Sunday, especially for casual viewers.