After last week’s thriller at Emola, Formula One’s European leg continues this week with the historic Monaco GP. The first ever Monaco GP was held in 1950, the very first F1 season, and since then it has been a part of the calendar every year. The Monaco GP is considered the crown jewel of F1.
Track and Weather
Circuit de Monaco is a street circuit that consists of 1 DRS Zone and 19 turns. The track is 3.37km long with a 260.286km race distance. The Monaco GP has 72 laps. Lewis Hamilton has set the fastest lap record of 1:12.909s. The tracks that run through the streets of Monaco and Monegasque witness F1 action from their yachts and balconies of their houses.
The weather will be ideal for racing, although there are chances of scattered showers on Saturday. They are in the morning, by the time the qualifying session begins in the
Evening, the weather will be fine.
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The Monaco GP Must-Win for Piastri to Defend Championship Lead
At the start of the 2025 F1 season, it was assumed that the title fight would be between two McLaren drivers. Until last weekend, this was proving to be true as Oscar Piastri had won four out of seven races with his teammate Lando Norris and last year’s champion Max Verstappen winning one race each.
Last weekend, Max Verstappen won the Emilia Romagna GP and Lando Norris finished in second position. After last weekend, the gap between the top three drivers leading the World Drivers’ Championship (WDC) has shrunk. Norris is now just 13 points behind Piastri, and Versapen is only 22 points adrift from the championship leader.
Now with this narrow gap, whoever among the top three wins this race, apart from Piastri himself, will snatch that top spot in the WDC standings. Considering Monaco GP is decided by the Qualifying and Max Verstappen is very good in that department, it is possible that the Dutch driver might win and lead the championship this weekend.
For Oscar Piastri, it is must must-win race if he wants to keep his top spot.
Mandatory Double Pit stop, will this make racing interesting?
The Monaco GP is considered one of the most boring races on the F1 calendar due to a lack of overtakes. The river that qualifies at the top of the grid just has to hold others behind, and there will be almost no overtaking attempts. These days, teams are also opting for one pit stop in races, and it has been working well.
To address the “Monaco is a boring race” issue, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) World Motorsports Council approved the mandatory two-stop strategy to be implemented at the Monaco GP, and this was also agreed upon by all teams.
This means teams will have to pit two times for each of their cars during the Monaco GP. Teams will also have to use three different sets of tyres during the race. The compound regulation is not changed, so teams can use up to two compounds during the race.
These decisions are made in the hope of making the race interesting and encouraging overtakes. Earlier drivers used to pit once when there was a significant gap so that they could regain position. No, with the double Pit stops, teams will have to plan new tyre management strategies.
The Monaco GP can be important for both of the reasons discussed above, as it can determine the course of the WDC. Both Norris and Verstappen have a good chance to turn things in their favor. It will also be a test for F1 management on how well their new double Pit stop rule works.
