Lando Norris warned Formula 1 not to undermine the competition after criticism of its new mandatory tyre change rule for the Monaco Grand Prix.
F1 introduced a special rule for this race only forcing drivers to use three different tyre sets during the race instead of the usual two.However the race saw several drivers deliberately running a slow pace in order to help their team mates make pit stops without losing places. Red Bull postponed Max Verstappen’s pit stop until the penultimate lap in order to keep him in the lead, hoping a late red flag would allow him to make his final tyre change without a pit stop and win the race.
Several drivers criticised the extreme degree of pace management seen in the race. George Russell even deliberately overtook Alexander Albon, knowing he would take a penalty, to avoid losing time behind the Williams driver.
Norris led the early stages of the race but spent much of the second half behind Verstappen. After claiming the victory, Norris said the rule hadn’t succeeded and brought the risk of creating artificial racing.
“Do you want to manufacture races? There hasn’t been any more overtaking here. I thought that was what was wanted.
“Now you just give people opportunity by luck – by waiting for a red flag, waiting for a Safety Car. You’re not getting a more deserved winner in the end of things, which I don’t entirely agree with. I think it should be the person who drives the best race and deserves to win.”
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Instead of creating custom rules for specific races, Norris believes F1 should focus on other ways of creating more competitive races.
“Of course, I’m probably slightly biased in my opinion, but I think it needs to be improved in different ways,” he said. “Overtaking has never been good in Monaco, ever, so I don’t know why people have such a high expectation.
“But I also think Formula 1 should not turn into just a show to entertain people. It’s a sport. It’s who can race the best, who can qualify the best. Like Charles [Leclerc] said, everything was about yesterday.
“That’s the way it’s been since the first year – 50, 60 years ago. So, the last thing I want is manufactured racing, and I think we definitely need to stay away from that and do a better job with cars, with tyres. Then you might start to see more racing, but not by just introducing so many pit stops.”
Leclerc said the new regulation only introduced “a lot of randomness” to the event. “You can either get lucky or very unlucky, and it’s a bit out of your hands. It’s always been a little bit the case in Monaco, probably even more so now with two stops.”
F1 has not indicated whether it intends to continue with the rule, which several other drivers criticised after the race. However Oscar Piastri, who finished third, said F1 will inevitably see a race decided by luck if it keeps the rule.
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“It definitely made it a bit more tense at a few points,” said Piastri. “You had to push more at certain points to recover the Safety Car windows to other cars around you or put yourself outside of someone else’s safety car window. So there were some strategic elements involved.
“But ultimately, at the front, I don’t think it changed a whole lot. It would have been quite a different story if there was a red flag with five laps to go and Max would have won.
“I’m sure if we keep this going in the future, eventually a result like that will happen. Is that what we want to see? I don’t know. But at the front, I don’t think it changed a huge amount this weekend.”
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2025 Monaco Grand Prix
- Norris predicts his Monaco pole record should stand “for a very long time”
- Bearman is right: Formula 1 should let Monaco be Monaco
- Wurz’s proposed Monaco track changes would make ‘1 to 5%’ difference – Sainz
- Bortoleto claims his “put him in the wall” radio message was taken out of context
- I deserved penalty, deliberate rule breaking ‘should never be allowed’ – Russell
David B
25th May 2025, 20:09
No rule change will help the Monaco race. Literally only one way & that’s to change the layout, widen the track & make the cars notably slimmer. None of which is going to happen.
Imre (@f1mre)
25th May 2025, 20:13
There is no space to widen the track.
MGus.ai
25th May 2025, 22:15
I think that even bikes would have trouble overtaking in Monaco.
JMDan (@danmar)
25th May 2025, 22:27
:-)
dev_IanT (@dev_iant)
26th May 2025, 12:30
Except that Formula E cars had far fewer problems overtaking at Monaco – the races were way more interesting than yesterday’s race.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th May 2025, 23:11
One thing is having trouble, like in the 90s-2000s-2010s, another thing is literally impossible to overtake cars several seconds off the pace like today.
Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
26th May 2025, 8:04
They can spend millions to reclaim land and build houses on it, they need to do the same and put a racetrack on it.
CarWars (@maxv)
26th May 2025, 9:01
Space enough, widen the tunnel exit into the water a little bit and extent it. Even if its just a floating anchored pontoons for the race.
Ferdi
26th May 2025, 9:08
The thing is Monaco used to be the exception in a season packed with real racing tracks. So, it was kind of a funny break once a year in which F1 was ridiculously close to the audience in an unrealistic setting of wealth and luxury. To have one race a year with this characteristics is kind of fun. The drivers matter less and the strategists and team are in the lead.
However, due to the circusification of Liberty media we know have dozens of worthless street tracks, the prison tracks with all the fences. The reason for having Monaco is, along with many sports elements, taken down the drain by Liberty Media. Over time all the sports and interesting elements will be taken out of this game, to be replaced by a show the popcorn Netflix generation loves. They represent volume, they represent revenue.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
26th May 2025, 9:24
Exaggerated a little I think, but you’re kind of correct.
Sham (@sham)
26th May 2025, 9:24
Here speaketh someone that has no idea at all what it is like to drive under pressure.
You literally couldn’t have it more backwards in your first paragraph – the drivers matter much, much more in Monaco – just in a very different way.
I dare you to tell any racing driver that they don’t matter around Monaco. Even driving 7 seconds off the pace as some were, a tiny mistake means losing several places, and driving slowly it is much easier to lose concentration and so it becomes even more pressuring, and you’re not only messing your race but that of your teammate you’re trying to work with. You also clearly have no idea of how difficult it is to hold talented drivers up like that.
It’s clueless comments like this that pollute comment sections.
Fulge
26th May 2025, 10:02
That’s not what Russell thinks:
“Driving four seconds off the pace here is dead easy”
Ferdi
26th May 2025, 12:10
Sorry, I think you are missing the point. My point is it doesn’t matter which racing driver is in the car. Ofcourse it needs to be a professional. But since overtaking is not an element at all, the driver skills (other than keeping it out of the wall) are less decisive and therefore relevant. In fact, I feel they should make Monaco a remote control race without drivers in the car. Since we are Mickey Mousing this once great sport anyway.
Imre (@f1mre)
25th May 2025, 20:12
The only difference in the top10 compared to the starting grid was a Hamilton-Hadjar switch and Alonso DNF. And this could have happened with a race, too. As this was not a race. This was an event.
If we keep special rules, let’s implement the sprint format for the GP here. 100 km, no mandatory pitstops. That 35 minutes should be enough for advertisement. And maybe implement one-shot superpole for the top X from Q3. One by one, track to themselves. Picture-in-picture onboard and TV coverage. That would be some spectacle on Saturday.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th May 2025, 20:44
Exactly this. Why do we have special rules for Monaco and not at, say, Suzuka which was also incredibly boring this year. Monaco’s never been about overtaking, it’s about survival and being the fastest at such a narrow, unique track. So stop trying to make it a overtake-fest. It’s never going to happen.
Instead, fix the red flag rules, fix the tyres, fix the cars. F1 needs to know what it is. They are trying to make F1 road relevant, a show for people to switch on instead of movies on Netflix, a proper sport for drivers and an engineering competition with a cost cap. It cannot be all those things together.
MichaelN
25th May 2025, 22:13
That’s fair, and it’s a unique challenge. Or rather, it would be, but since the introduction of the 2017 cars there’s been an odd change in the Monaco results: almost nobody retires anymore. If it hadn’t been for the clumsy Pérez-Magnussen collision last year we might have even seen a no-retirement Monaco GP.
These clumsily big cars, on poor tyres that need to be nursed, are a big part of the problem. And today, even with less tyre nursing on account of the mandatory two stops, the fastest lap was 3,5 seconds slower than pole. Look back twenty years to 2003, four were faster and eight drivers were within tenths of the pole time – in the race!
No doubt Monaco is still a challenge, even to these drivers, but to be so far off the ultimate pace makes things much easier for them. And without that challenge, Monaco doesn’t have much to offer at all.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
26th May 2025, 0:04
All fair points, but in 2003 the cars already had to carry the race fuel in qualifying. For a fairer comparison we have to go back another year when the gap between pole and Flap was 1,4 seconds.
That was even for the refuelling era particularly small. It was usually around 2 seconds but 3,5 seconds off pole is really poor even for Pirelli standards. Infact, it’s the second furthest away from pole in any dry Monaco race of the Pirelli era behind 2024 only.
Before refuelling was introduced the gap in the early 90s was similar at around 3-4 seconds, but back than they used qualifying engines etc.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
26th May 2025, 16:35
3.3 seconds is not that much, given the lap was set on an old set of hard tires, without the help of DRS and possibly with a more conservative ERS setting. Had Verstappen pitted a lap earlier, he may he gotten quite a bit closer to the pole time.
CarWars (@maxv)
26th May 2025, 9:04
Pitstop only once but have bring a hypersoft for quali and a superhard. Need to use both. Delta by tire target to be >~3sec. see if that is enough to overtake.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
25th May 2025, 21:41
I was pleasantly surprised by Norri’s emotional moment on the podium. I was worried that after many years of dull races in Monaco, the GP might have lost some of its charm for younger drivers who haven’t experienced good racing, but after seeing that and reading these comments, I’m glad to know that younger drivers still think highly of Monaco and want to preserve it as it is.
bull mello (@bullmello)
25th May 2025, 22:44
“I’m glad to know that younger drivers still think highly of Monaco and want to preserve it as it is.”
Good points!
BasCB (@bascb)
26th May 2025, 6:49
Yeah, and it is also good we see them all openly talk about it that way. At Monaco the high point is usually that intense qualifying hour with guys brusing, banging and sometimes crashing into the the barriers, to come out just ahead.
We got that, it was really great. And sometimes the races here are solid too, but in general it just turns out to keeping it out of the barriers and not locking up or having a bad pitstop. That’s been the case with Monaco for almost as long as I have been watching now, when the likes of Senna and Prost were still on the grid.
osnola
26th May 2025, 8:52
Its the only race i really enjoyed the free practices. And of course the quali
4 hours of fun with a dull race on top. Still better then some other venues..
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
25th May 2025, 21:53
I agree the sport should always be put above show.
A great race isn’t simply about overtakes it’s about many different elements and over the years i’ve seen races with few overtakes which have been exciting and memorable and races which were overtaking-fest’s which were actually pretty dull and forgettable (Especially in the DRS/Pirelli tire era).
Monaco is what Monaco has always been and those who don’t get it, don’t like it or whatever should perhaps just not watch it but leave it as it is for those of us who do.
And despite the yearly whining there are clearly more people who get what Monaco is and enjoy it for what it is because it’s typically always one of the most watched races of the season in terms of TV ratings and always ends up-towards the upper part of fan lists on favourite circuits.
If i’m going to be told that I should just not watch the races I cannot stand then i’m going to start throwing it back at those who whine about Monaco. You don’t like it just go away and not watch it but I will be here every year enjoying the Monaco GP for what it is!!!
David BR (@david-br)
26th May 2025, 0:15
A procession.
Monaco qualifying is one of the high points. The race, well, unless there’s rain, it’s a guaranteed non-race, which is fine if you know what to expect. I’ll watch because I enjoy the Formula 1 season as a whole (until the final races after everything’s been decided, at least) and there are some storylines to follow even in the worst races. Monaco doesn’t disappoint me because I don’t expect a race from it, just some random small-scale shuffling, a bit of ‘pressure’ on the race leader maybe, and some low-level collisions with the barriers. I was happy for Norris and get that it means so much to drivers to win the sport’s most ‘iconic’ race. He did so in style. But I spent the whole GP just glancing at the screen as clearly nothing was actually going to happen unless someone suddenly crashed. There’s no build up of tension, cunningly executed passes, wheel-to-wheel racing skills (plenty of driving skill, obviously).
Should it be on the calendar? I don’t really care. There are worse venues. But it’s not a race.
BasCB (@bascb)
26th May 2025, 6:52
Exactly. And if we look away from the silly stuff going on in the mid field with creating a 40 second gap for 2 pitstops by several teams – as that was the most effective way of gaining points – we did get that rather intense last 8-10 laps with the top 3 and later the top 4 running in close proximity where a mistake by any of them would have turned the race upside down.
That was the sort of excitement Monaco can give, as you mention. It being tense because we know that a small mistake when under pressure can have huge consequences. And seeing how the top drivers manage in that pressure cooker between the walls
Sham (@sham)
25th May 2025, 21:58
The F1 world championship is supposed to be about a variety of tracks and a variety of challenges. Monaco and Monza being the extremes and both should remain on the calendar.
Monaco is about the precision of qualifying and the stamina and concentration of the race. It’s a different challenge, but one of the defining challenges of the sport.
MCG (@malrg)
26th May 2025, 3:32
While I 100% agree with your points and sentiment, but do you think those thoughts applied to this one?
Sham (@sham)
26th May 2025, 8:49
Yes. The front few cars lapped quickly for the majority of the race, those behind were so packed together that a tiny mistake would spell disaster.
Stringfellow Hawke
26th May 2025, 4:23
COTD right here…
Jonathan Parkin
26th May 2025, 5:05
It is a different challenge this is true, but this has been steadily eroded over the last 22 years. The road isn’t crowned anymore, there are no adverse cambers, hardly any bumps or painted lines, there are more kerbs. Additionally the cars are bigger, the tyre’s are rubbish and the tech the teams have allow them to plan every last detail of the race. As a result it suffers
Not only that the marshaling isn’t as efficient as in previous years. In 1996 we had five drivers retire on the opening lap. But on Lap 2 we still went racing, there wasn’t a SC. In 2001 Juan Montoya crashed at the Swimming Pool on Lap 3 or thereabouts. Again the race continued without needing a SC
It’s all of these things that have diluted the race considerably over the years
Sham (@sham)
26th May 2025, 7:35
I watched the Indy 500 last night, I don’t usually watch IndyCar at all. I did a bit of research on the car spec, how the hybrid affects the racing, the tactics likely to be used and was looking forward to it.
I’m 51 and have watched various forms of racing since I could sit upright.
I couldn’t follow it. The coverage was dire, with no indication of why there was an extended caution at times, no indication of who was on what strategy on screen without listening to the commentary where everything is sponsored by something. And as a newcomer, not being able to instantly identify the cars meant that the commentary was hard to follow.
And yet it was a spectacle. It was. The racing was hard to follow and yet still easy to predict every pass. The commentary team in the US and the UK still had to manufacture excitement for most of it despite the cars flying around at 220mph+
The last 20 or so laps, once the strategy converged and they just went for it was exciting – but 180 laps just weren’t. Does this mean I want them to change the race, of course not – the very fact that it is what it is means that it should exist.
The same with Monaco, but for different reasons. Monaco will always be dull as a racing spectacle, but it absolutely needs to exist as a link to when each country in the world championship required a different, unique approach. Before identikit circuits that people can’t tell apart.
There is a reason that the drivers all want to win Monaco, above all others – it’s the biggest challenge and, while I agree that it’s been eroded, the biggest reason that it’s been eroded is safety, and after that the biggest reason is people moaning that it’s too professional and we ‘need’ to make it more exciting. We don’t, it is what it is – the one race that the drivers relish above all others.
Sham (@sham)
26th May 2025, 7:55
Sometimes I wish you could edit – just a little more to say…
I’m these days of instant gratification, DRS cruise by passes and push to pass, it delights me to see races where it is still as pure as it can be – even if that means a processional race.
Monaco has been what it’s been for the last 50 or so years, qualifying is everything. The spectacle is on Saturday, the race is about holding it together.
And the drivers want it more than all others – it IS special, and it DOES need to exist, no matter what the people who think overtaking means racing say.
tielemst
26th May 2025, 8:13
It would be, if drivers really have to drive their behinds off not to get overtaken on a narrow street circuit. That’s not the case however. If you’re feeling stressed behind the wheel, you can just take 5-6 seconds off your pace. Nobody’s even going to try to pass you. It’s just about not doing anything really stupid and you’re fine.
Sham (@sham)
26th May 2025, 8:48
If you’ve ever driven a racing car, you’d understand how difficult it is not to do anything stupid under those circumstances and throw away all the work from qualifying.
tielemst
26th May 2025, 12:27
Don’t get your point. Of course it’s difficult, but some years ago the cars were smaller and the challenge would be even greater by the possibility you could actually be overtaken on track. You know, the racing part? Now Imola and Zandvoort are axed because overtaking is so difficult (moneywise) and this dog of a ‘race’ is kept on the calendar and provides a ‘gripping Grand Prix’ (quote from the official web page). You can relieve the pressure on yourself by just going 5-10 seconds slower in a lap without the fear of getting overtaken. And everybody does so, so qualifying result=race result. That’s not racing, not gripping, that’s a procession.
Sham (@sham)
26th May 2025, 16:51
Going slower adds pressure, it doesn’t relieve it. You try keeping a racing car precisely where needed, keeping your pace deliberately slow while holding back several cars without causing an accident or making a mistake – those people who think that that process is easy have never tried to drive something that twitchy on cold tyres,.going slow makes an F1 car or any other racing car REALLY DIFFICULT, on a street circuit inches from a barrier while holding back cars that are struggling to find a moment that they can get on the power a fraction before you, or on the brakes a fraction later.
You, and those others that do not understand are doing these drivers a huge disservice – and that’s without the huge precision and risks in qualifying.
MCG (@malrg)
26th May 2025, 2:48
I have a 1 hour video of paint drying, anyone want to watch it?
CarWars (@maxv)
26th May 2025, 9:06
if the paint mixing upfront on the day before is super interesting, maybe.
Ferdi
26th May 2025, 9:02
I am afraid it is too late. We have let it slip through our hands when we were so thrilled to get rid of Bernie. Any US stock listed company will turn everything into a rat race to the bottom, only being concerned with raising shareholder value. Literally anything else doesn’t matter. Find a willing governing president to go with it and you have the perfect storm.
DavidS (@davids)
26th May 2025, 10:25
Next year, they should just give them the softest compound of the range only. One that won’t last much beyond 1/3rd race distance. That will force everyone to do two stops, lest they “fall off the cliff” and into the barrier.
Ban tyre changes under VSC, safety car and red flag situations (just for Monaco).
This will force everybody to do roughly three equal stints, rather than being able to extend stints for team tactics.
Also, codify the penalty around cutting the Nouvelle Chicane. Whilst I reckon George’s penalty was warranted this year, I think if you made it a definite 5s to be served at the next pitstop, it will allow for some interesting tactics as they weigh up risk/reward.
Witan
26th May 2025, 13:05
Monaco has had winners with no tyres left, engines failing, bodywork missing. So I doubt any of the suggested sticking plasters will change the event from a rich list parade to a real race.
Just get rid of it.
Wer
26th May 2025, 10:40
” It’s a sport. It’s who can race the best, who can qualify the best. ”
– LOL, not it isn’t about who can race the best. If it was, you’d see Fernando Alonso winning races every season for the last 10 years, but you don’t. It’s an engineering contest first and foremost. And so it’s barely a sport.
Bob C
26th May 2025, 11:00
I have a bit of an odd attitude towards Monaco. To me, it is an essential part of what makes Formula One Formula One: it is something very special, and to me, F1 wouldn’t really be F1 without it. But while I am glad that it is there, I really can’t be bothered to watch it, and haven’t watched it for years.
Konstantinos
26th May 2025, 13:10
I am sure there is a legitimate reason for it but why does Monaco have that chicane thing after the tunnel? What if they removed that completely so that the cars had a longer straight (including the tunnel) for some DRS overtaking? Would that be too dangerous?
Ruben
26th May 2025, 13:13
That’s what it used to be way back when, but I think that modern f1 cars would approach Tabac with way too much speed (versus the amount of run-off available: none).
F1fan78
26th May 2025, 13:51
Any thoughts on introducing a minimum lap time? Punishable like track limits?