“This has nothing to do with racing,” concluded Max Verstappen after last year’s Monaco Grand Prix. It fits a pattern: Saturdays are spectacular in the principality, but Sundays tend to offer limited to almost no action. This is obviously due to overtaking with today’s large F1 cars being virtually impossible around the streets of Monte Carlo.
In the 2024 race, an early red flag compounded the situation. It gave all drivers a free tyre change, after which everyone could run to the end without further stops, due to Monaco’s low tyre degradation. Normally, these pitstops are the only opportunity to shake things up in Monaco — but even that aspect disappeared in 2024.
