The three-step plan to improve the F1 Monaco Grand Prix circuit

GPDA director Alex Wurz has come up with a three-step plan to revamp the Monaco street circuit and make Formula 1’s most iconic race more entertaining for fans.

After the new two-pitstop rule introduced for 2025 failed to create new overtaking opportunities, former F1 driver and Le Mans 24 Hours winner Wurz has proposed three main changes to the tight and twisty street circuit in Monte Carlo.

The Austrian, whose company WurzDesign is also working on the new Qiddiya race track in Saudi Arabia, said these tweaks are aimed at improving traceability while considering “urban constraints of the city”.

Nouvelle chicane

As part of the proposal, Wurz has suggested moving the Nouvelle chicane further up the road, which should give the chasing driver a better opportunity to make a move in the left-right sequence.

Wurz described the current Nouvelle chicane as a “near-overtaking spot”, before adding: "I am very convinced, from my own experience watching the races and talking to my fellow drivers, that moving the chicane later, which physically with the constraints any city has, should be possible," he said.

"It means the defending at this corner, which is quite easy to do with the kink and the bumps, will become more difficult."
“You can prepare the overtake and you can execute the overtake with a higher probability if we are moving the chicane later.”
This, of course, will require a considerable civil engineering effort, but Wurz is confident that building further into the harbour is technically feasible.

Further, he is mindful about any impact on Tabac, and still wants drivers to lift off going into that corner.

Rascasse

Wurz wants to reprofile the famous Rascasse corner by moving the apex by two or three metres and widening the track.

He noted that there is a car park entry on the outside of the corner that cannot be moved but “we can squeeze everything we have and when this apex comes further out the entry line will definitely change.”

He added: "You will open the corner much more for a divebomb and that means that any driver ahead will either have to defend or accept he leaves the door open.

“If you are defending you will come out much slower so you are creating a train behind you and the pressure on all of the drivers will simply increase.”

Unlike the proposed change at Nouvelle chicane, Wurz believes modifying Rascasse should be much easier for organisers.

Hairpin

Wurz has suggested widening the circuit by up to 2.4 metres on the entry to the famous hairpin to give drivers more opportunities to make a lunge.

He has also suggested removing the kerb at the exit of the corner and extending the asphalt right until the exterior walls.

“The real ideal racing line will not change from what it is," he explained. It will not change the character of the corner.

"But it would enable an overtaking divebomb. If that is failing, you still have what you are gaining here [on the corner exit] with the additional asphalt, also 2.5 metres.

“Again it will just lead to a little bit more defending. Therefore this corner will initiate the overtaking into the new chicane and that together should be an improvement for overtaking and traceability for the streets of Monaco.”