Max Verstappen wished he had brought his pillow with him on the radio. That’s how boring the Monaco Grand Prix was in his eyes. The traditional race in Monte Carlo has been highly controversial for years. Today’s Formula 1 cars are too wide. Overtaking is a rarity on the course. Due to the red flag at the start, there were hardly any pit stops this year, which usually add a bit of momentum to the race. For the first time in the history of Formula 1, the top 10 crossed the finish line in their starting order. Is that still acceptable? We asked our motorsport expert Christian Danner, who gave five arguments FOR keeping the Monaco race.
Argument 1: A classic that fascinates
Formula 1 without the Monaco Grand Prix? In recent years, there has been repeated discussion about whether the place in the F1 calendar for the race in the principality is still justified. With the addition of new tracks, such as Vegas and Jeddah, some fans fear a decline in the classics. The premier class has been racing in Monaco since the 1950s, on a track that has remained almost unchanged to this day.
The race, which takes place in front of a dream backdrop and is unrivalled in terms of glamour, has become a classic and symbol of Formula 1 over the years. “The Monaco Grand Prix is of global importance,” says former driver Christian Danner. “The Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo is simply well known.”
Although the race often offers few highlights, the Grand Prix as a whole is fascinating. This also applies to the F1 expert who was a commentator for RTL over the Monaco weekend. “It fascinated me when I was young or as a child,” recalls the 66-year-old. “And I have to say, when I was there again, the fascination remained.”
Argument 2: Monaco, the eternal anachronism
When watching the 2024 Monaco race, Danner felt like many others. “It was typically boring, a typical Monaco Grand Prix,” said the former driver. “The question that of course keeps coming up, and which was also raised by Christian Horner and Toto Wolff, is whether you can still drive there at all. They say we need a different track and you need this, you need that.”
Nothing new, remembers Christian Danner. “This question was already asked when I was travelling there and it was also asked in the 70s. So I would say that we just have to live with the fact that it has now become such a slow train. Oscar Piastri said they were driving Formula 2 times.”
The fact that the drivers were able to finish the race without a pit stop after the red flag is a peculiarity of Monaco and the difficulty of overtaking on the track. “It was clear from the start that no matter which tyre you set off with after this collision, that was it. You stay on the track and finish,” Danner knows. “It’s not as if all this hasn’t happened before. This is nothing new for Monaco.”
The F1 expert does not deny that the Monaco GP is outdated, but that is precisely where its charm lies. “Monaco is an anachronism,” concludes Danner. “It is something that is actually not contemporary at all. But it is great.”
Argument 3: Qualifying is the main actor
Every Formula 1 fan knows that in Monaco it’s Saturday that counts. The main attraction is the qualifying, not the race. Danner doesn’t see any problem with that. “Monaco is a track that has a very special characteristic, namely that the qualifying has to be right there. More than anywhere else,” says the former racing driver. “It’s different to Azerbaijan, Vegas or Jeddah. So that’s just the way it is.”
The narrow Monaco, whose walls do not forgive mistakes, offers the perfect place for a spectacular qualifying session, which can reward you with victory. “Whoever is in front stays in front. That is the speciality here in Monaco,” says Christian Danner. “You just have to make sure that you get everything sorted out in qualifying. The drivers have already done a great job there and you don’t see such an exciting qualifying session every day. For that reason alone, I think we should stay in Monaco.”
Argument: 4: Monaco conversion and adaptation possible
Is there a way to redesign the Monaco track to allow more overtaking maneuvers? This was discussed lively by both team bosses and drivers last weekend. “There are plenty of funny ideas,” says the Formula 1 expert. “The realistic idea, however, is to think about whether the track can be changed somewhere. I’m sure this will be discussed.”
However, several parties must agree for the track to be adapted. “It is a question that must be discussed between the Automobile Club Monaco, the FIA and of course the GPDA, the drivers’ association,” said Danner. “It would be possible to change the track a little to make it easier to overtake. But that would involve a lot of extra work and of course the Automobile Club Monaco or the state of Monaco would have to play along. They would have to pay for it. We will have to see how realistic that is.”
In addition to the track, the cars themselves could also be adapted, says the former racing driver. He thinks it would be wrong to remove Monaco from the calendar just because the F1 cars are too big and wide for the track. “Basically, I think you should never get rid of a track because of the generation of vehicles,” says Danner. “You have to adjust and set up the vehicles so that you can cope with them on this track.”
Argument 5: Monaco GP offers something special
And then there is the specialness that Monaco undoubtedly has and which speaks for the race in the principality. Even if the race was boring for many. “Monaco is not contemporary, it has never been contemporary, but it is always crazy,” concludes Danner in the current issue of the ‘AvD Motorsport Magazine’. “What we saw is incredibly special.”
Uniformity? Our F1 expert can do without that: “I really don’t like this kind of uniformity, where everything is always the same. Tracks should be special, should be specific. They should be difficult and Monaco is incredibly difficult. It has its own peculiarities and its own idiosyncrasies and of course different priorities than Qatar, for example.”
Christian Danner is not the only one who has a weakness for the Monaco GP. Many F1 drivers also defend the traditional race loudly. Here are their arguments: