The problem these days is that the drivers are lapping so slowly that the challenge/skill element is lost. None of these guys are in any danger of hitting the wall when lapping 8 seconds off the pace. A Q3 lap in Monaco is still something to be behold, but the race doesn't really have anything going for it. Honestly if F1 is already going down the gimmicky forced pitstops route, just bite the bullet and take some inspiration from Russell. Make a an alternate shorter route through the nouvelle chicane and say each driver can take it 5 times per race. It will look a bit stupid, but at least all the drivers will have no choice but to push if they want to keep cars behind.
Fair comment JC . But are we talking about the last 2 original members 3 years , ref the slowness , or this year specifically ?
I don't advocate taking it off the calendar, the party is what it is all about and that is good for the spirit. It does remind one of the greats that have come and gone.
I'd say it's too narrow, cars straight-lining the chicane to overtake the car in front is eventually going to end in a collision with a car a few places higher exiting it properly. A Webber/Kovalainen incident would be a possibility
I can’t work out whether it’s necessary to fix Monaco or not. It’s a historic part of the championship, it’s commercially valuable and it’s a great event to attend. On the other hand it’s not really a race and the sporting element largely ends on a Saturday. The part I can’t get my head around is whether it’s a problem that 25 points are getting handed out in general for taking pole, especially given that you only get 10 for winning a sprint race, but also that as 1/24 of the season that’s never been less of an issue from a championship perspective. I do wonder whether there’s some merit in making Monaco some kind of “special” event, where you try and minimise the wheel to wheel racing element that doesn’t work in favour of the “hot laps” element that does. For example, run Friday practice, then on Saturday Qualifying and a Sprint race. Then on Sunday instead of a normal race some kind of time trial event e.g. fastest to complete 10 laps, with 3-5 cars on track at a time spread out round the track. You fuel the cars with say 12-15 laps of fuel so that yellows can be mitigated and if you cause a yellow/red/breach track limits you're disqualified.
