The solutions that F1 brought to Monaco in an attempt to fight the processional nature and lack of overtaking didn’t work: after the race, George Russell offered a few suggestions. This year’s GP didn’t provide any action—after all, it’s customary for few overtakes to happen on the streets of the Principality.
However, in recent years this issue has been worsened by the size of the cars. F1 tried to introduce a fix for the 2025 event, hoping to change things. But the mandatory double pit stop rule led nowhere.
Between those who suggest removing Monaco from the calendar and others who propose a layout change, George Russell came up with two very different ideas. The first, more extravagant, involves a twist linked to track conditions. “I have a really good idea. Every driver should have a button where they can activate some sprinklers around the track. You can choose whether to do it in qualifying or the race, but you can only do it once during the entire weekend. Maybe one driver per team. That way, it spices things up a bit.”
The British driver also suffered through the monotony of the race. In fact, he performed an illegal overtake on Alex Albon, which cost him a heavy penalty. But that was the only way George could free himself from the Thai driver, who had built up a train of cars behind him with a clear strategic aim.
New format in Monaco
George Russell’s more serious proposal involves a complete overhaul of the weekend’s structure. The Principality is always the scene of heart-stopping qualifying sessions that leave no room for certainty, where drivers push to the limit to get as close as possible to the walls and snatch the best time.
Starting from that foundation, the Mercedes driver suggested: “Let’s have two qualifying sessions and award points there. You have a qualifying session on Saturday and that’s a win, and then another qualifying on Sunday and that’s another win.”
“The race is pretty pointless, unless you get heavy rain. We’ve been lucky that in a couple of races in recent years we’ve had rain. But this is Monaco—there’s no other race like it. Probably 95% of the people who come here aren’t here to watch the race, so it’s not really a race.”
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