Last year nothing was going to prevent him from claiming the sport\u2019s most famous trophy.<\/p>\n
His sizzling pole position was more than half the job done, and for 78 laps he controlled the race to take an emotional win around the same streets from which he\u2019d catch the bus to school as a child.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Now the definition of a home hero, the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix will always be Leclerc\u2019s fairytale.<\/p>\n
For everyone else, however, it was comfortably the worst race in Monte Carlo for years.<\/p>\n
For the first time in history the top 10 finished in exactly the same places they started. The lap chart showed no change of position among the top 10, even temporarily, for the entire race \u2014 not one.<\/p>\n
Overall 12 of the 16 finishing drivers took the flag in grid order. Those finishing out of order had four retirements to thank for their big gains.<\/p>\n
Monaco is almost always stingy when it comes to action, but this was a uniquely soporific spectacle.<\/p>\n
Kevin Magnussen\u2019s ambitious attempt to overtake Sergio P\u00e9rez on the run out of Sainte Devote got himself crushed between the Red Bull Racing car and the barrier, causing an almighty smash.<\/p>\n
P\u00e9rez was tipped into a spin, and Magnussen rammed him into the barriers, obliterating his car. The Mexican then rebounded back onto the track and collected Nico H\u00fclkenberg.<\/p>\n
The red flags were flown.<\/p>\n
Rules allow drivers to changes tyres during a race suspension, and all duly did so.<\/p>\n
Because the hard tyre was more than strong enough to make it to the end of the race at the sport\u2019s slowest circuit, no-one was obliged to stop again. The race was effectively won.<\/p>\n
Leclerc\u2019s hugely popular and profoundly emotional victory came after one of the worst races in modern grand prix history \u2014 such is the bizarre duality of Monaco, the best and worst of Formula 1.<\/p>\n
PIT TALK PODCAST: For the first time this season Red Bull Racing has beaten McLaren by having a faster car, with Max Verstappen dominating Imola. Is the title fight poised to turn on its head, or is it just a flash in the pan for the Dutchman?<\/b><\/p>\n
CAN RULE CHANGES SOLVE THE PROBLEM?<\/b><\/p>\n
This year\u2019s race (Sunday 11pm AEST) will be different, however. The rules demand it.<\/p>\n
For the first time, the regulations will require every driver to make a minimum of two pit stops during the grand prix, a rule that will apply only in Monaco.<\/p>\n
Drivers will still need to use two different compounds in the race unless its wet, as per usual rules. The Monaco-only two-stop rule will still apply in a wet grand prix.<\/p>\n
Strategy is the one window for jeopardy in Monte Carlo. Even if overtaking is practically impossible, position changes via the pit lane can still shake up the order.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of the more interesting elements of this race \u2014 the two or three seconds a driver stops in their box can change the entire outcome.<\/p>\n
There\u2019ll be twice as many of those high-pressure moments this year \u2014 twice as many chances to win big or throw it all away.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s one other peculiarity this year too, with Pirelli\u2019s new tyre, the C6, set for its Monaco debut.<\/p>\n
Pirelli has expanded the number of compounds in its range from five to six this season.<\/p>\n
Designing five compounds that work at all 24 circuits was always going to mean some tracks \u2014 usually street circuits \u2014 would just have to make do with tyres that were too hard to generate a spectacle. The C6 is now the softest compound and has been specifically designed to work on low-energy street circuits and circuits with low tyre degradation, with Monaco meeting both criteria.<\/p>\n
Having a new, softer tyre in the range means the entire selection will be softer too. Last year\u2019s soft tyre, used seriously only in qualifying, will be this year\u2019s medium, and last year\u2019s medium will be this year\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n
The hard tyre that lasted the distance last year won\u2019t be in use.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s some scepticism over whether either of these changes will have a meaningful effect, however.<\/p>\n
Team race simulation is so sophisticated now that they\u2019re likely to arrive at similar conclusions on the best time to make their two mandatory stops. Inevitably it will be dictated by whether or not the driver will emerge from pit lane stuck behind a slower car.<\/p>\n
And while having softer tyres could play a role in strategy, the difficulty of overtaking in Monaco means the leader \u2014 of the race or of a particular battling group \u2014 can simply drive at a pace that will get the rubber as far as they need it to go without risk of being passed.<\/p>\n
Perhaps both changes combined will generate enough variability in the field to create some unusual and unpredictable situations, but it remains to be seen.<\/p>\n
‘A f***** joke! What did I do wrong?’ | 02:15<\/p>\n
THE FUTURE OF OVERTAKING IN A \u2018QUALI CHAMPIONSHIP\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n
While the demands of Monaco are unique, the changes being implemented this weekend are important for the entire sport.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because overtaking in Formula 1 is getting harder than ever.<\/p>\n
The current set of rules was designed in part to help overtaking by reducing the aerodynamic turbulence. Less turbulence \u2014 less dirty air \u2014 means the following car has its aerodynamics less negatively affected when behind the leading car.<\/p>\n
If you can follow closely more easily, you can overtake more easily.<\/p>\n
But four years in, the positive effects of these rules appear to have worn out.<\/p>\n
Quiet concerns were loudly announced in Japan earlier this year, where statisticians recorded just 15 passes for the entire day and where the top six drivers and 11 drivers overall finished in qualifying order.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be a quali championship,\u201d Ferrari boss Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Vasseur said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car is very, very sensitive to the clean air and to the dirty air. As soon as you are behind someone, even when it\u2019s three or four seconds, you start to struggle a little bit, to damage more the tyres, to lose consistency.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think from one session to the other one, depending on the gap to the car in front of you, you have a different result. It\u2019s very tricky even from stint to stint. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor sure quali is always crucial to the performance, and the closer you are, the smaller the gap is between cars, it\u2019s even more true, because then you are in a group of cars, it\u2019s not just that you are fighting with the guy in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLaren boss Andrea Stella agreed after having watched his drivers in faster cars fail to pass Max Verstappen\u2019s slower Red Bull Racing machine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think dirty air, yes, [is worse] because ultimately we keep adding aerodynamic downforce, which means that the losses are even bigger,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been so much aerodynamic development [since 2022] that again they have become so much of an aerodynamic machine that as soon as you follow you lose the performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oscar & Lando nearly touch in TENSE move | 01:32<\/p>\n
While the C6 tyre has been thought of as a Monaco special, it will in fact be used at other circuits to try to boost variability where aerodynamics have stifled the action.<\/p>\n
In fact it was already used last weekend in Imola.<\/p>\n
Imola is a dramatically different circuit, with lots of demanding high-speed corners to stress the rubber. However, it also has a low-abrasion surface, qualifying it for the new compound.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t work exactly as intended.<\/p>\n
First, most drivers were finding the C6 was so soft it couldn\u2019t even make it to the end of one qualifying lap \u2014 though that\u2019s not unheard of at other circuits.<\/p>\n
Second, despite this year\u2019s hard and medium compounds being last year\u2019s mediums and softs, the 2025 race could still have easily been completed with just one stop for most drivers. Certainly Max Verstappen and Lando Norris would\u2019ve made it with just one stop before the late safety car made it a no-brainer to take fresh rubber.<\/p>\n
The tyre\u2019s next evaluation will be at the Canadian Grand Prix next month.<\/p>\n
But if the new compound really doesn\u2019t do the trick, then F1 has one other idea up its sleeve.<\/p>\n
The sport is reportedly considering raising the pit lane speed limit to entice teams to consider making more pit stops.<\/p>\n
The speed limit is fixed at 80 kilometres per hour at every grand prix except Australia, Monaco, the Netherlands and Singapore, where narrow pit lanes mean the limit is set at 60 kilometres per hour.<\/p>\n
Truncating time spent in pit lane means drivers will fall less deeply into the pack after a pit stop, which could see strategists more openly consider making two or more stops in a race.<\/p>\n
Given the difficulty overtaking in modern F1, avoiding slow traffic is one of the key considerations in pit stop timing. At circuits like Monaco, where passing is even harder, it\u2019s the key consideration.<\/p>\n
Originally there had been plans to raise the speed limit by 20 kilometres per hour across the board, which could see time spent in pit lane drop by as much as five seconds per lap.<\/p>\n
According to <\/a>The Race<\/a>, the sport might now start only with races with the lower limit, bringing them to parity with the broader calendar.<\/p>\n Zandvoort and Singapore are two circuits that could certainly use some additional strategic variability given the difficulty overtaking at both.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear whether it\u2019ll be agreed to raise Monaco\u2019s speed limit by next season given the unique and narrow pit lane in the principality.<\/p>\n Leclerc fumes as VSC benefits Max | 01:36<\/p>\n MONACO REMAINS \u2014 MUST REMAIN \u2014 UNIQUE<\/b><\/p>\n So where does all this leave Monaco?<\/p>\n While the tweaks made for this year and potential changes next year could improve things, the bottom line for motorsport\u2019s most famous race is that F1 cars have outgrown the sinewy circuit.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s F1 car has a bigger footprint than a Range Rover and weighs close to a tonne with a full fuel tank. Combined with super effective brakes that massively shrink braking zones and therefore the margins of battle, it\u2019s no wonder there\u2019s so little racing.<\/p>\n And yet late last year Monaco was offered a fresh contract that will see this usually soporific race run to the end of 2031.<\/p>\n As part of recent contract negotiations F1 has won back historic concessions that allowed Monaco to produce the television world feed and sell its own on-track advertising. It no longer pays a bargain-basement sanctioning fee, and from next year it will move from its traditional May date to the first full weekend in June to benefit the scheduling of other races.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s little in this new deal that will fundamentally improve the race.<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n The answer is simple.<\/p>\n Despite all its ills, there is no spectacle in Formula 1 and perhaps in all of motorsport like qualifying in Monte Carlo.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not until you\u2019ve seen a Formula 1 car bounding between the barriers, dancing in the millimetres separating disaster from delight, peril from pole position, that you truly understand the bravery, skill and daring of the drivers. The adrenaline rush in unparalleled for drivers and punters alike. There is nothing and nowhere like it.<\/p>\n And while the racing is dependably poor, on those few occasions it\u2019s good, it\u2019s inevitably really good.<\/p>\n That\u2019s before you throw in the history of the race, which this year celebrates the 75th anniversary of its first running in the world championship. The race featured on the first world championship calendar in 1950 and was won by the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio, the five-time world champion.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been talk \u2014 and undoubtedly there will be again this weekend \u2014 about what organisers could do to expand the circuit and generate some overtaking opportunities, but that would only do untold harm to the things that make this event so special.<\/p>\n Monaco is Formula 1\u2019s great contradiction. It\u2019s the best and the worst of the sport all in one weekend.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what makes it iconic, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s here to stay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year\u2019s Monaco Grand Prix was one or the ages \u2014 if you\u2019re Charles Leclerc. Leclerc, just the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[22619,521,186,22631,54105,54116,6872,5070,52166,54091,54121,54100,54110,29609,299,4199,54126,54098,54090,707,4200,47221,54113,22626,22596,54095,54106,54117,47238,2199,2122,54114,32906,1711,54107,54087,54093,54124,54096,1073,54083,37029,54102,1477,22617,54123,54101,54088,54082,54104,54089,54111,54094,25010,22646,54119,54086,54120,22604,54115,22640,54097,29623,54108,54092,54125,706,2143,54084,54122,54109,42196,43259,54103,79,54112,54085,22607,29618,54099,54118,16,15,17669,54127,20873],"class_list":{"0":"post-121332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-andrea-stella","9":"tag-asia","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-benefited-race-leader","13":"tag-braking-zones","14":"tag-carlos-sainz","15":"tag-charles-leclerc","16":"tag-closing-stages","17":"tag-contract-negotiations","18":"tag-difficulty-overtaking","19":"tag-dirty-air","20":"tag-driver-stops","21":"tag-eastern-asia","22":"tag-europe","23":"tag-f1","24":"tag-famous-race","25":"tag-famous-trophy","26":"tag-five-time-world-champion","27":"tag-formula-1","28":"tag-formula1","29":"tag-frederic-vasseur","30":"tag-fuel-tank","31":"tag-getty-images-inc","32":"tag-grand-prix","33":"tag-grand-prix-history","34":"tag-grid-order","35":"tag-home-hero","36":"tag-imola","37":"tag-italy","38":"tag-japan","39":"tag-juan-manuel-fangio","40":"tag-kevin-magnussen","41":"tag-lando-norris","42":"tag-lane-drop","43":"tag-lane-means-drivers","44":"tag-low-abrasion-surface","45":"tag-low-energy-street-circuits","46":"tag-mandatory-stops","47":"tag-max-verstappen","48":"tag-modern-grand-prix","49":"tag-monaco","50":"tag-multiple-race-winner","51":"tag-netherlands","52":"tag-oceania","53":"tag-on-track-advertising","54":"tag-oscar-lando","55":"tag-perpetual-frontrunner","56":"tag-pit-lane","57":"tag-pit-lane-speed","58":"tag-pit-lanes","59":"tag-pit-stop-timing","60":"tag-pit-stops","61":"tag-pit-talk","62":"tag-pole-position","63":"tag-position-changes","64":"tag-positive-effects","65":"tag-quali-championship","66":"tag-qualifying-session","67":"tag-race-suspension","68":"tag-race-winner","69":"tag-regulation-changes","70":"tag-rule-changes","71":"tag-ryan-pierse","72":"tag-safety-car","73":"tag-season-highlight","74":"tag-sergio-perez","75":"tag-singapore","76":"tag-sizzling-pole-position","77":"tag-soporific-race","78":"tag-soporific-spectacle","79":"tag-south-eastern-asia","80":"tag-southern-europe","81":"tag-speed-limit","82":"tag-sports","83":"tag-team-race-simulation","84":"tag-television-world","85":"tag-time-offer","86":"tag-title-fight","87":"tag-two-stop-rule","88":"tag-tyre-degradation","89":"tag-uk","90":"tag-united-kingdom","91":"tag-western-europe","92":"tag-wet-grand-prix","93":"tag-world-championship"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}