{"id":141924,"date":"2025-05-29T17:15:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T17:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/141924\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T17:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T17:15:13","slug":"wurzs-proposed-monaco-track-changes-would-make-1-to-5-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/141924\/","title":{"rendered":"Wurz’s proposed Monaco track changes would make ‘1 to 5%’ difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Changes to the Monaco Grand Prix circuit proposed by Alexander Wurz<\/a> would make overtaking almost no easier, drivers believe.<\/p>\n

The introduction of a new rule forcing drivers to change tyres twice made little difference to Sunday\u2019s race in the principality, which is regularly one of the most processional on the calendar. Some teams with drivers in points-scoring positions ensured they kept them by instructing their team mates to lap many seconds off the pace to create space for them to pit, knowing they wouldn\u2019t be overtaken as passing is so difficult on the narrow track.<\/p>\n

Wurz, the GPDA chairman, subsequently proposed three alterations to the track. It is unclear how feasible they would be to introduce, as one would involve building into the harbour.<\/p>\n

However Carlos Sainz Jnr<\/a>, who is a director at the GPDA, doubts they would have a significant effect.<\/p>\n

\"Start,<\/a>Wurz proposed widening the exit of Fairmont\u2026\u201cOne 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 the entry of [the Fairmont hairpin] wider and the entry to Rascasse a bit tighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose three changes in my opinion would help, but only one to five percent of the issue we have. I think you could still position the car in the middle of the track, go 30kph, and still not get overtaken.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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\u2019s a bit wider. But the cars are so wide you can go as slow as you want, they\u2019re not going to pass you.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lewis<\/a>\u2026realigning the apex at Rascasse\u2026Sainz\u2019s fellow GPDA director George Russell<\/a> also doubts there is sufficient space in Monaco to improve the track layout for racing. \u201cI\u2019ve seen some of the proposed track changes, that definitely will not make it worse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe small problem you have in Monaco is the one overtaking opportunity, which is out of the tunnel. The natural racing line is going from the left, braking through the middle of the track and then you pull over to the right. So it\u2019s very easy for a driver to position his car.\u201d<\/p>\n

F1 will introduce a new overtaking aid next year which Russell hopes will prove useful in Monaco. But he also believes the sport should accept that passing is never going to be easy at the circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, right now, I don\u2019t have the answer,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe the manual override<\/a> would be a solution. You\u2019ve got to do all of this management through the race, if you\u2019ve got a lot more power just to pass somebody in an unconventional space, it isn\u2019t going to make the show worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut part of me just thinks we need to accept Monaco for what it is. Formula 1 is better by having Monaco on the calendar. It is the most exhilarating qualifying of the season. And the race is always pretty boring, but it also makes us appreciate the other races as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Liam<\/a>\u2026and building into the hairpin to enlarge the Nouvelle chicane<\/p>\n

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2025 Monaco Grand Prix
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