I’m sure you’ve seen all the craze about the Monaco GP. But what do you need to know before the race? I’m here with a little preview of the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix! And I’ll be sure to explain things rather than just bland technical yapping.
Mandatory Two Pit Stops
If you’ve ever watched a Monaco race, you know that it’s a one-pit-stop race. So, in comparison to other tracks, there is little to no overtaking. This is because the track is too small, and the cars have gotten bigger over the years. Every year, the drivers went out to the track and stayed for as long as possible in the hope that the cars in front of them made a mistake. For 2025, two pit stops are now required.
How does this change anything? It gives teams a chance to experiment and not do the same thing every year. Although, I’m not sure if this will actually help. The consequences of not following the rule will be harsh. Drivers who don’t meet the tire requirements could receive time penalties of up to 60 seconds.
Mercedes‘ Andrew Shovlin says, “It will be interesting though because it’s a race where you know how many times everyone’s going to stop. It’ll be quite predictable from that point of view, but it will also be quite challenging from a strategic point of view.”
Track Stats
I can’t tell you about Monaco without mentioning Senna first. He has set the record with six wins and five poles. No one’s matched that kind of mastery of this track since. Among the current grid, it’s Lewis Hamilton who comes closest, with three wins of his own. And then there’s Charles Leclerc, Monaco’s hometown hero. I’ll give you a little context here, for years, it seemed like this track had cursed him, which was called “The Monaco Curse”. But in 2024, he finally did it right in front of his home crowd. If you haven’t watched that race, I’d really recommend doing so.
Source- Formula1.com
If I talk about this weekend, Max Verstappen remains a top contender (I’m definitely not biased), and Fernando Alonso could surprise us if he qualifies well. I’m expecting a Mercedes podium as well. Last year’s race had just four overtakes, so I’d suggest not expecting a massive shift. However, with ultra-soft tires and required stops, the strategy might have more effect than in the past.
Tires and Strategy
As per the Formula 1 website, drivers will get the C6 (the softest compounds), C5, and C4, though here, they’ll be known as soft, medium, and hard. The softer the tire, the more it sticks to the road like glue, which is exactly what you need when the walls are always inches away. And there’s also green inters and blue full wets on standby just in case they’re needed.
Monaco usually doesn’t chew up tires because of the slower speed, so saving rubber wasn’t too challenging in the past. This year, however, pushing harder on softs and adjusting for pace across different compounds will become part of the race. These factors could shuffle the race order more than usual and add a small degree of unpredictability missing in the recent Monaco Grand Prix. Well, of course, there are no fixed pit windows.
McLaren’s Monaco And Spain Livery
Source- Formula1.com
McLaren’s showing up with a new livery this weekend, and it’s kind of hard to notice yet. Their car, in a Riviera-themed livery, is a tribute to the team’s 1968 Belgian Grand Prix victory. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are fully leaning into the look, too, with white race suits that tie the whole theme together. The design will carry on into Spain.
I’ve got to admit that it looks alright. Still, this one feels a bit understated compared to McLaren’s usual bold Monaco specials. Maybe because I expected too much? It’s basically the same base livery with some a little retro-looking stickers. The changes are so subtle that you almost need a photo comparison to really notice them. Still, I like the white touch on the front wing and the extra orange down the sides. I hope that we can see the difference during the race.
What to Expect from Monaco?
The Monaco Grand Prix has been on the calendar since the beginning of F1. That’s what makes it special. Even though it’s hated by a lot of fans. Do you know why that is? It’s because there’s very little room for mistakes. That’s why qualifying is still the most important part of the weekend, and pole position really matters here. It’s a temporary track, which means that the roads are always there, and barriers are put up for the races. The problem here is that the barriers make overtaking difficult. Due to this, the Monaco Grand Prix is called a qualifying GP.
An extra pit stop might help a bit, yet there’s always the chance of a Safety Car intervention. But overall, we’ll unlikely see anything too out of the ordinary. The Monaco track has 19 slow-speed corners, including the narrowest corner in F1, making the race slow.
Verstappen is expected to take both the pole position and the win this weekend. He explained how excited he was about overcoming the track challenges. Still, he’s not sure how Red Bull will perform compared to the other tracks. As for McLaren, both drivers stated that this race could prove to be “unpredictable” as there are some vulnerable areas that they caught on to during Imola’s race.
That’s it for our preview of the Monaco Grand Prix of 2025! If you’d like more such blogs or have a suggestion, let us know in the comments.
