Martin Brundle reveals 'surprise' flaw in new Monaco GP pit stop rules

Martin Brundle has pointed out a flaw in F1’s new pit stop rules introduced at this year’s Monaco Grand Prix.

A new rule implemented for the Monaco Grand Prix forced drivers to use three sets of tyres during the race in a bid to spice up the event amid criticism that F1’s showpiece race had became uneventful.

Several midfield teams opted to use controversial manipulation tactics to minimise the time loss for their drivers’ second pit stops, while Max Verstappen left his final stop until the last lap as Red Bull banked on a Safety Car or red flag.

Sky Sports F1’s Brundle spotted a possible oversight in the new rules.

“I won't criticise anybody for trying in good faith to improve the show,” Brundle wrote in his post-race Sky column.

“However, I was a little surprised that it wasn't mandated for one of those stops to be taken by, say, half distance, or maybe earlier.

“It was clear from the outset that some teams at the back of the field may as well cycle through their stops relatively early with nothing much to lose, and those at the front of the field would take their second stop late to make the window of opportunity wider regarding safety cars and red flags.

“It was also immediately clear that teams could use one car as a sacrificial lamb driving slowly to help their other car have the necessary 21-second gap to take a pit stop.

“And that's pretty much what happened, although the extent to which particularly Racing Bulls and Williams were prepared to slow one of their cars down was quite alarming. But you can't blame them - they both got both cars into the world championship points after a very solid qualifying performance.”

Deliberate slow pace ‘not what F1 stands for’

While the tactics proved effective for some teams such as Williams and Racing Bulls, Brundle felt the deliberately slow pace which dominated the grand prix was “not pretty or impressive” and “hardly what F1 stands for". 

“I realised quite early on in the race that all we were really talking about in commentary, after Lando Norris had survived a first corner scare when locking up his front brakes, was just how slowly some drivers were going and endless pit stop debate,” he said. 

“Now of course it's highly usual for the leader to go slowly and in fact back up all 19 cars in the early stages here, so that nobody has a pit stop window, before gassing it at some point to create their own pitting opportunity.

“Instead, we saw selected cars four seconds off the pace with a frustrated queue behind them. Not pretty, or impressive, but effective for some. But hardly what F1 stands for.”

Experiment didn't work 

Brundle ultimately concluded that "the two-stop experiment didn't work". 

"We simply have to manage expectations for race day, do our best to slightly ease overtaking if possible, recognise that Monaco qualifying is one of the most special hours of the F1 or any sporting season, or not race there, which is not an option," he added. 

"The fact is that the track layout dictates this problem, and available space for creating long straights or wide overtaking zones isn't available. And even then, very wide tracks still only contain one racing line which is rubbered in. My son Alex had an interesting, if tongue in cheek, solution when suggesting each driver has one joker card to play by steaming through the no-man's land at the chicane, as George Russell did, and being able to maintain that new position and get off down the road. This would also dissuade all drivers from simply lapping too slowly.

"Be in no doubt though, whatever you change in Formula 1 will have unintended consequences, it's the nature of the beast."