Can F1's Monaco Grand Prix overtaking problem be solved?

F1 drivers have given their thoughts on how to help the overtaking problem at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The subject was brought back into the spotlight following a turgid race last weekend that saw only one overtake completed after the opening lap, courtesy of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll passing Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber.

In the wake of calls to improve Monaco, F1 circuit designer and former racer turned GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers’ Association) chairman Alex Wurz proposed three potential changes he thinks would create overtaking opportunities.

Wurz’s ideas became a hot topic in the Barcelona paddock ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, and drivers were asked about their opinions after F1’s new mandatory two-stop rule failed to spice up the racing.

Wurz’s ‘sensible’ ideas praised

Williams driver Alex Albon was among those who praised Wurz’s ideas as being “very sensible”.

On the proposed changes to extend the run to the Nouvelle chicane, Albon said: “I think half of the issue is that it’s braking downhill and it’s bumpy into that chicane. So it’s really hard to be that committed on the brakes to overtake the cars.

“So that idea of having the 80 metres and following it down the track to a braking area that would be flat would give drivers far more confidence to send it on.

“I think you’ve seen it, but as soon as you brake late, when it’s going downhill, when you add pitch to a car, which is then downhill, so you add more pitch, you create all this extra rear limitation in the car.

“That’s when you get these big crashes where cars lose the rear.

“So that would work well.”

Albon also suggested that drivers should have DRS available into Turn 1.

“Another thing, I don’t know if F1 would ever consider this, but we do DRS into Turn 1,” he added. “In China and Japan, we’ve done that and it’s up to us to manually switch it off.

“I know they’re not really for these things, but if we had control over the DRS, it’s up to us, we want to take the risk to use DRS through the tunnel, then we can turn it off when we get through the corner and open it back up again as we exit.

“It could help as well; so I think there are some things we can try, or at least talk about.”

Small benefits in right direction

Williams teammate Carlos Sainz said: “He suggested three minor changes to, I think it was Loews… One option was the chicane after the tunnel, to delay the entry and maybe make it a bit tighter, a bit further down the road.

“He made Loews wider, the entry of Lowes wider, and the entry to Rascasse a bit tighter. Those three changes. My opinion – that would help, but only 1 to 5% of the issue we have.

"I think you could still position the car in the middle of the track, go 30 km/h, and still not get overtaken. You would need to be a bit clever about it and maybe more worried looking in the mirror in case someone sends one on the inside because it’s a bit wider.

“But the cars are so wide you can go as slow as you want—they’re not going to pass you. That’s why we were driving four or five seconds off the pace. So small change, small benefit. I think we need something even bigger than that.”

Meanwhile, Haas’ Esteban Ocon commented: “Alex has great ideas. Every single time we look at things with him, he has the racing drivers’ eye, which is a very good thing.

“I think it would definitely go in the right direction. Whether it would be enough, probably not, but I think he stayed on the realistic side which is a very good thing.

“I think the best thing would be to have no chicanes and run it to Turn 12, but we need some run-off at Turn 12, to hope for overtaking. Have the DRS just after the tunnel and just keep going flat out all the way to the end.

“But looking at what Alex has done, it's probably the most realistic thing we could do.”

The F1 car size problem

Liam Lawson believes the biggest issue preventing overtaking is the size of current generation F1 cars, which are the largest ever.

“It needs something to allow more than one car’s width, which is what most of Monaco is. The cars are quite big now, compared to what they used to be,” the Kiwi said.

“So it just makes it very, very tough to overtake. In some ways, you don’t want to change Monaco too much, because there's history behind it. But at the same time, things are progressing and definitely need to do something, otherwise we are going to have this every year.”

And the Racing Bulls driver doubts whether the smaller and lighter cars introduced as part of the 2026 rules shake-up will “be enough to make much of a difference.”

'Monaco has never been a good race’

Lando Norris, who claimed his maiden win in the Principality last weekend highlighted that Monaco has never been a particularly exciting race.

“Monaco’s never been a race that’s been good on Sunday,” said the McLaren driver. “Yet it’s the race everyone wants to win. It’s the one everyone looks forward to the most every single season. It’s always been like that.

“Even some of the best races you’ve ever seen—zero overtakes. I’m more mixed on my opinions on whether it should change that much. I don’t think you’re ever going to get it to be a great race.

“The good races have been the ones where it’s rained halfway through and things like that. I’m not saying it can never be, I’m just saying it never has been. Yet everyone still knows it as just the best race of the season.

“I think there are things that can be done, but it’s more from a car point of view. But it’s also a track. It’s a street circuit. Overtaking on most street circuits is a bit trickier unless it’s got a two-kilometre straight like Baku. Monaco doesn’t even just reach past two kilometres in length.”

Is a more exciting qualifying the answer?

Norris went on to suggest that qualifying could be ramped up and turned into a “more special event”.

“I think it puts more pressure on Saturdays,” Norris added. “Maybe you should make a more special event of a Saturday. One-lap shootouts—a more exciting Saturday. I just don’t think you can do a lot on Sunday.

“If you want to make a bigger event out of it, make it a more qualifying-based event. I don’t think you can really change the race - unless you make the cars half the size of what they are now.

“I don’t think it needs to change that much. It’s never been anything else than what it has been now. So I think people should just be happy with what it is.”

Accept Monaco for what it is?

George Russell echoed similar thoughts to Norris, saying: “Monaco has always been the same. I’ve seen some of the proposed track changes that definitely will not make it worse.

“The small problem you have in Monaco is the one overtaking opportunity, which is out of the tunnel. The natural racing line is - you’re going from a left, braking through the middle of the track and then you pull over to the right.

“So, it's very easy for a driver to position his car. But honestly, right now, I don't have the answer. Maybe the manual override would be a solution and, you know, you’ve got to do all of this management through the race.

“And if you've got a lot more power just to pass somebody in an unconventional space, it isn’t going to make the show worse.

“But part of me just thinks we need to accept Monaco for what it is. Formula 1 is better by having Monaco on the calendar.”