Last Updated on May 28 2025, 6:20 pm

Once upon a time in Formula One land, Monaco was deemed the jewel in the crown venue for motor racing as the fifties Hollywood set along with European royalty graced the streets of the famous French Riviera principality.

And it will then been surprise to learn that the drivers with the most multiple victories all (but 2) come from an era before the turn of the millennium. Ayrton Senna with 6 wins tops the table, followed by Michael Schumacher and Graham Hill with 5 and behind them is Alain Prost with four victories in Monte Carlo.

Over the last quarter of a century, F1 in Monaco has lost its pizazz and is challenged Singapore in terms being a place of corporate attendance where deals outside of F1 are being done. The drivers of course love the history draped streets of of Monaco, yet the real challenge and excitement now comes on Saturdays, as the qualifying hour gets under way.

 

 

 

Monaco winner not the most dependent on pole

Being on pole position is important in Monaco, yet surprisingly there are other circuits where the ratio of poles to F1 wins is higher than in the principality. In fact just 14 of the last 25 events held on the shores of the Mediterranean have been won from pole position, so whats the the annual obsession with criticising the historic F1 venue, given in Barcelona pole decides the winner in around 75% of the races held in Montmelo.

Last weekend, Lando Norris added to the list of pole winners to claim the top step of the podium outside the Monaco Automobile Associations famous doors and once again the Grand Prix was damned with faint praise as a spectacle, yet for Norris this was an important turning point in his season.

This was the emphasis taken by the Times of London, who noted the British driver has suffered at the hands of his team mate for much of this season and come the end of the six flyaway races he was already sixteen points behind the Australian. Now the gap is down to just three points and the race between the papaya liveried drivers is back on for a maiden drivers F1 title.

Dutch publication De Telegraaf focused on how their home son faired. Verstappen qualified fourth and its where he finished despite leading much of the race due to a quirk in this year’s pit stop regulations. The message emanating from th world champion is that his RB21 was no better around the slow corners and high kerbs than was its difficult to drive predecessor.

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Verstappen says car worse than last year

Max observed he was in fact slower in qualifying this year than he was twelve months ago, when he started the Grand Prix in P6. Verstappen’s sarcastic appraisal of the mandatory two stop regulation was also a feature. He suggested to assembled media that maybe next time the drivers should throw banana skins from their cars to impede rivals with a slippery surface.

Australian tabloid, the Herald Sun, decided their focus would not be on their driver who came only third, but on the consequences of the new mandatory two pit stop rule. It was described as making F1 a “laughing stock” and suggesting “Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix problem is beginning to look terminal. That’s the widely-held view that’s emerged after the annual procession around the streets of the French principality on Sunday night,” it concluded.

The problem with Monaco as we’ve discovered is not merely the fact that pole is important for the win, but that all the way down the field the lack of overtaking is painstakingly obvious. 

Italy’s Gazzetta attempted to see things in a positive light. Whilst accepting the two stop rule didn’t work, the event was more of a spectacle this year than in 2024 when on lap one the red flag was thrown, and each driver switched tyres which they ran to the endow the race on – at a pace around 3-4 seconds slower than the cars were capable of.

 

 

 

Italian optimism for Mañana

“The hope is that with next season’s cars – also modified in size by the new regulations – things can finally change,” is Gazette’s optimistic conclusion. Yet of course the new cars will be not much smaller in their footprint and the field is unlikely to have a pace differential of around 3 or more seconds per lap, which is  what is required to make a pass around the streets of the principality.

The French, who once threatened to invade and capture Monaco, preferred to focus on their new rising star, Isack Hadjar. L’Equipe reported in its sports section the young Racing Bulls driver had his best weekend since joining F1 this year.

Having qualified sixth, he started fifth after Lewis Hamilton’s grid penalty. However, with Fernando Alonso’s retirement from the race, he was able to hold on for finishing position he should have occupied at the start, despite the Ferrari undercutting him through the stops.

The 20-year-old heavily benefitted from Liam Lawson’s selfless team play. The New Zealander backed up the rest of the pack from eighth to afford Hadjar time to complete both his mandatory pit stops. The French-Algerian qualified sixth, was promoted to fifth on the starting grid following Lewis Hamilton receiving a grid drop penalty.

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Hadjar best ever F1 result

Hadjar did benefit from team orders and help from his team mate, who slowed down the field behind to allow Isack to build a gap large enough to make his stop and return without losing a place. This happened up and down the pack resulting in just five drivers finishing on the lead lap.

In the USA where F1 is experiencing something of a renaissance, the Washington Post was scathing in its opinion of the ill fated mandatory two stop rule for this year. “Formula 1’s attempt to shake up the prestigious race fizzled”, was the headline followed by a list of criticism from drivers, pundits and fans alike.

Once again a fairly uninteresting May Sunday in Monaco has spawned a thousand ideas of how the historic event can be saved. TJ13’s particular favourite is that F1 produce a small and nimble and relatively cheap Monaco spec racing car, based roughly on the small cars of the 1960’s.

Whilst this is unlikely to happen, the next best solution would be to continue with the mandated two pit stops, but have trigger points,  the first at say 20 laps, where the first round of stops must be completed. Whatever the eventual solution, Monaco again took a pounding from the world’s media, the glitz and glamour of the 50’s and 60’s long gone and replaced by an unsatisfying weekend of F1 (not) racing.

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F1 sells its soul to Red Bull rival

MUSINGS FROM TJ13NOTEPAD – Formula 1 signs multi-million dollar deal with PepsiCo: Snacks, Sprints, and Sting Operations with F1’s latest pit stop, the snack aisle – In a move that experts are describing as either a visionary marketing strategy or a subtle cry for help, Formula 1 has announced a new multi-year sponsorship deal with the global snack and sugar giant, PepsiCo.

Described as ‘groundbreaking’ by those contractually obliged to say so, the deal will see the elite showcase of Formula 1 engineering align itself with the time-tested power of carbonated caffeine and fried corn.

Yes, you heard it right. The sport that preaches marginal gains through aerodynamics, carbon fibre and multimillion-dollar simulators will now feature advertising for Doritos, Gatorade and a product called ‘Sting Energy’, which sounds more like a WWF wrestling finisher than a beverage…. READ MORE