Debate | Mandatory pitstop rule had a 'Formula E-like effect' in F1 Monaco GP

To prevent a repeat of the Monaco Grand Prix of 2024, which consisted of lapping at 3-5 seconds slower than the estimated race pace in order to preserve tyres to get to the end of the race on a single set of hards, a two mandatory pitstop rule was introduced, however to very little effect.

The hoped for spectacle did not come. It was the same procession, similar to recent years, but this time characterised by the tactics emplyed by particularly two teams: Racing Bulls and Williams.

Both teams used their placed further down the order to bunch up the field, to allow the driver in front to build a gap and earn a 'free pitstop'. Then they switched it around, thus bringing both drivers up into the points.

This meant drivers lapping as much as 4-5 seconds per lap slower, according to team boss Toto Wolff. Getting in a race car to go as slow as you can is counterintuitive and it's a trademark phenomenon of the electric series, Formula E.

There, in order to save their battery consumption, drivers go as slow as possible, even avoiding being in the lead for a certain portion of the race, in order to have the highest battery levels possible so they can then pounce at the right time and win the race, or score the best possible result.

But at least in FE, the last moments of a race are exciting, with many lead changes, and unexpected happenings altering the expected outcome at the flag.

In Monaco, it is impossible to overtake in current F1 cars. Their large dimensions and near-ton weight makes it impossible for the cars to get a good run up alongside a rival and challenge for positions on track.

So, regardless of the number of pitstops, unless something goes wrong, the result will always be nearly identical as the grid lined up for the start of the race.

Artificial ways to improve entertainment are often not the right way to bring back what is lost, as Max Verstappen said to, among others GPblog.

Monaco has ever been a race with not many overtakes, with the real challenge coming on Saturday afternoon during qualifying. In the past the streets of Monte-Carlo were wider, and the cars were narrower and lighter. Now it is the complete opposite.

Unless the regulations surrounding the design and build of the cars change drastically Monaco will continue to be a Saturday afternoon qualifying race, with Sunday serving only as a way to check the round off the list.

The Monte-Carlo street race is a crown jewel, and as such it warrants a place on the calendar, but to undignify it almost, with special pitstop rules, says one thing: something isn't quite working.

Have the cars outgrown Monaco? Has the series modernity become too much for the mythical race? Is F1's development going in a direction that Monaco cannot follow? These questions may lead to some hard to face answers. But for the drivers, the fans and the health of the sport as a whole, it may be necessary to start asking them.