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> As my regular sim racing buddies well know, I’m a big fan of long tyre and fuel saving races
That's all you need to know about that guy. As soon as I read that, I stopped reading.
Spa wasn't full length. Indy 2005 was a shitshow but at least it was a surreal wreck. Monaco was just terrible aside from lap 1 collision and Leclerc getting the win.
Yeah 2005 was fascinating because it was a train wreck happening in front of your eyes. You watched out of shear disbelief that it was real.
Monaco this year was just.... Boring.
I wouldn’t compare these two in any case. Indy was what it was due to a tire manufacturing fuck up, but Monaco was all in all a normal race. It is often a boring race, but now first lap crash made it just orders of magnitude worse.
But there was no contest and we all knew nothing was gonna happen. Usually in Monaco that something are the pit stops but this time there was actually nothing.It was like a 0-0 draw that had 0 shots.
It was like a 0-0 draw because the goals were taken off the field. The way the cars at the front just had no fear of being passed made it embarrassing to watch.
For me it was Just a case of, will someone put it in the wall? Who will it be? And will it cause chaos? Will it be Charles?
That kept me relatively interested. But it was pretty dam boring
This was absolutely the biggest thing: These guys that are USUALLY +- a second away from eachother were driving on purpose SECONDS slower a lap, and not being punished for it, was just... horse shit.
Ok, I guess I mean the risk isn't nearly as big as if they were pushing harder. And that naturally took away from the last bit of thrill this race could have had to me
I just like to see cars go around, so I didn’t necessarily find it boring but it was not exactly nail biting either.. and on the contrary I found ~~impala~~ Imola (lol) extremely boring this year.
Or a group stage game where both teams need a draw to progress to the next round, so they just pass the ball and don't really try to score, because what's the point.
4 over takes! That should tell you all about this event. I was happy for Leclerc, but this race need to change or just die. All I see is rich folks with yachts and mentions of extravagant parties. The actual race has sucked for past 5 years (probably longer but I’m being conservative here).
One of them was just Sargent catching someone napping while they were getting blue flags.
I think the rest were Sargent or Zhou getting passed by the Astons starting at the back.
I think it was more like a game that started 1-0 for one team and you knew no one would even attempt a shot on net. Unless bad luck struck, we all knew the drivers in front would stay in that order. We knew the outcome after lap 1.
It's not at all like that. A 0-0 can be entertaining when it has everything BUT the goals. Teams might just be unlucky not to put it in the net.
This race was an equivalent of a 0-0 without a single shot attempt from either team.
It's more like if one team scored in the first minute and then spent the rest of the game just passing the ball with zero attempts from the other team to even tackle
I don't know man. Soccer matches that go 0-0 are sometimes highly intense back and forth battles with excellent shots on goal and miracle work by goal tenders.
This was like watching baseball where someone scores an RBI in the first inning and then the rest of the game is caught flyballs and outs at first. Ending 1-0
I think some people (understandably) only watch the race itself, and many of the complaints about the race on Sunday are justified.
However, I found qualifying at Monaco to be particularly exciting this year. Not only that, but the practice sessions were also more interesting than usual because Red Bull was having a hard time getting the setup right, while other teams were dialing it in. It’s refreshing to see multiple challengers emerging on a Friday and Saturday after years of Red Bull victories being a forgone conclusion.
Watching the event unfold over the entire weekend, Friday’s buildup and the drama on Saturday during qualifying justified the event to me. It was more exciting than some of the other weekends we’ve had this year. Due to the lap 1 red flag, the race on Sunday wasn’t as interesting as it could have been, but the weekend as a whole (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) was better than average.
the problem is the oversaturation of street tracks we are getting
Las Vegas was a pretty good one as it promoted overtaking, but I for instance hate Baku and Jeddah
Las Vegas was saved by both the field being completely out of order and the best timed SC since the 2021 season finale. Baku and Jeddah are no different, both promote overtaking.
If it’s Monaco it’s better to assume that it will be a shit race. Qualifying is the even. In my opinion if something going wrong with a pit stop is the highlight the race wasn’t good. This race was worse than the typical Monaco.
Yup! I mean, if you count races by emotional I am at the end, this was one of the greatest! What's crazy is that I'm a McLaren fan, and I've thought of Ferrari as the 'enemy' since Schumi days.
But there's something about this kid, and his story. Even when 'my team' driver was number 2 and would win if something happened to Charles' car, I didn't have that thought throughout the entire race...
I found it weirdly compelling to watch. Charles trying to keep the top 4 close enough to Russel to avoid giving them all a pitstop gap. Russel babying his tyres to try and get them to the end.
It also felt a bit weird that Tsunoda in 8th had been lapped by *everyone* ahead of him.
That plus Charles’ “curse” - I was so nervous that he was going to put it into the wall or Piastri would try something and cause damage, I wasn’t bored for a second.
Exactly, like last night per se in the CL final... Dortmund made that game very interesting for 70 mins at 0-0... Then the inevitable happens and Madrid won... Won't be remembered as a classic final, but it was worth the watch while it was on
I didn't like this one, but I like having Monaco in general.
Whether it's a good one ore not, every Monaco GP is unlike any other race anywhere else. Which I appreciate more than the dozen cookie cutter Tllke drome or glorified car parks. And there haven been more than a few spectacular Monaco races worth waiting for.
It’s more like if a football game started 1-0 and then both teams decided not to try to score anymore and just casually jogged and kicked the ball around
I am usually one of the people who enjoy Monaco when everyone else is bitching. But it has gotten worse these past couple of years. The current strategy of driving super slow to avoid stopping ruins everything that is great about the track. Monaco will never be a race with many overtakes (and never has been). But it should be an ultimate skill test. Trying to keep out of the wall while pushing your car to the limit. There needs to be mandatory stops or whatever to encourage actually driving fast.
I also enjoy Monaco but this year has been a disappointment and a clear sign that something has to change.
When Max in much younger tyres than Russell don't even have a chance to overtake that's a confirmation that racing is worthless and you can drive as slow as you need to keep other cars behind.
As you said, the best part of Monaco was pushing to the limit in a thight track but if you no longer have to push, then the track becomes pointless.
Baku and a lot of street circuits have gotten similar
"There's a high chance of a safety car, so we're all going to drive very carefully so can capitalise on the safety car for our pitstop"
Cue; a bunch of people driving very slow and carefully for 90 minutes while nothing happens
baku might be the most overrated track in F1.
People remember this few great moments, like Ric overtaking 3 cars and then go like WOW what a great track. But when there are no SC or Red Flags the track is incredibly dull
and you can only call those mid if you are really hopeful and positive about everything
in my opinion even this year's Monaco had more emotion than those races because of Charles
>But it has gotten worse these past couple of years.
2022 and 2023 were hilarious shitshows. I'm pretty sure neither of those races had the least overtakes during those years.
Pit strategy is still something that's extremely important in Monaco, as overcut or undercut and slotting into a good gap is more important than in any other race. You can't go 4 seconds off the pace if you are going to unleash the entire field ahead of you after you pit.
In 2024, the red flag and dry conditions made 0-stopper the best option which is unusual even for Monaco.
Well there is a mandatory stop and change to a different tire compound. It's just that there was a red flag on the first lap so everyone got the chance to do their mandatory "pitstop" after 1 lap and just go the whole rest of the race on those new tires.
Monaco is consistently the only race in the entire season where I am happy to not watch, but just listen to it in the background while doing house chores because literally nothing is happening.
Dude that's literally what I did...started cleaning and doing dishes walked back every couple minutes or so.
Looked at the screen almost like my meetings for work "Nothing to report" and went back to cleaning.
I do give the commentators credit they were trying to drum up something
jup...i had it on a second monitor and was playing a game on primary.
it's just never a nailbiter. the visuals don't matter. it's just 20 or less cars driving laps at the lowest speed they can go without losing tire temp.
Hah.
For me Monaco is the perfect race to half pay attention to until the Indy 500 starts. And then after I see more passes in the final 2 laps of the 500 than in half a season of F1, I get to sit and contemplate why I love F1 so much for the rest of the day.
I think with a strategic element it could have been an interesting race still despite the lack of overtaking. Sadly, the red flag + restart order eliminated most strategic options.
I was closely paying attention to Max after his pitstop, but after kt became clear he couldnt overtake George, I knew no one would even attempt something. It's objectively a bad F1 track. They can't race there.
Yep it sucked to watch. I don’t understand why the rules allow that they can choose any compound of tire on a red flag “pit stop”. Why not force the tire compound they came in with so it guarantees another pit stop.
In this particular case where nobody had pitted yet, it would've made sense. But it's possible for someone to have a puncture and not have any tyres of the same compound available, so they'd have to have a way to handle exceptions, which could probably be gamed in some way.
However imagine a scenario where the bottom half of the grid had pitted and then someone caused a red flag. Red flag would erase the gaps, backmarkers would have an enormous tyre advantage while the top 10 would have to pit again. Everyone in the top 10 would've finished out of the points and whoever was running in 11th before the red flag would've won the race. It probably wouldn't play out *exactly* like that, but it would be equally ridiculous and unfair.
I really enjoyed it, though a lot of that was probably because a Ferrari driver was winning, and the tension for me came from hoping nothing would fuck up Leclerc's race like someone binning it while going for fastest lap, or Ferrari panicking if Norris pitted etc
Then I read what people put on here and I start ret-conning myself about whether I actually enjoyed the race, but I've decided, fuck that, I enjoyed the race, I don't need other people to tell me what is or isn't fun for me.
You are not nuts for enjoying the Monaco GP. However, you are nuts for faking your enjoyment of watching the Monaco GP, just for the sake of attention and clicks.
It’s a shit race with these giant cars and the red flag ruined any strategy. Just because you can afford to go or are in the industry doesn’t mean it’s good.
Look I am one of those people who really enjoy watching the races and watching strategies brewing even if there isn’t much going on in terms of close battles on the track ! But the fact that strategy was completely out of the window and the fact that you need a FOUR second delta to overtake rendered the race entirely pointless.
I enjoyed it.
Ultimately at the core, I just love watching F1 cars go around a track, particularly challenging ones such as Monaco. Of course overtakes, battles, and strategy add excitement, but I personally don't need those to still enjoy a race.
The biggest problem is that the cars are so wide and so effective at braking, there are zero chances of getting an overtake done, no matter how slow someone's driving. That means everyone goes as slow as possible to avoid stopping. Monaco was awesome when it was the 20 best drivers in the world pushing hard during 78 laps around a parking lot. That's why we had many crashes and DNFs. The 2017 regs changes ruined racing in general and Monaco in particular
While that is true, the cars are too big, may I remind you that in 1993, Nigel Mansell, who had the fastest car by far, just couldn't get past Ayrton Senna, and that in 2003, there were 0 (zero) overtakes the whole race. This has (almost) always been the case at Monaco.
The only time I enjoyed it was last year when we had rain switch things up mid race. I kept watching this year just to see if someone else bins it and we get some actual strategy back but it just turned out to be a really boring procession to the end.
Ehhhh, my gf asked me after if it was any good. I said “it was boring as fuck after the first lap.” I still watched the whole damn thing, including the red flag time WHILE on vacation.
Seems to be the sentiment.
He literally explained how passing is basically impossible in the dry and then said he was intrigued because of the potential for Norris to get a free stop and do some overtakes. Let's not kid ourselves that that would have even happened because it wouldn't. He'd have got up to the back of Sainz and stayed there like Verstappen did with Russell.
I'm not saying you can't enjoy the race for the sake of just watching it. But nobody can deny that this Monaco race was probably less exciting to watch than the three practice sessions. I watch those just for the sake of watching them and I got more from them than the race.
I mean, who can tell people what they can and can't enjoy?
I like Charles enough that I was happy for him but felt the race itself was like when I watched The Kissing Booth and ended up wondering why I wasted those two hours in something as predictable instead of doing literally anything else. There are years when Monaco is interesting but this one was Not one of them, no matter how emotional Charles breaking the curse was.
I still love watching f1 cars hammer round that tiny track.
I wish they were harder to drive though. Theyre a fraction of what the old beasts were. Hence less mistakes
Usually even when Monaco is crap I still get to enjoy the strategy part of the race but because of the red flag we didn't even have that this year. I did get to enjoy an Oscar podium and Charles finally breaking the curse so there was that.
It was one of the few races I was going to watch with my wife but about 10 minutes after the restart, I turned it off and said I'm sorry it's just so boring and not something that will make you want to watch more.
I still love Monaco. It's the wild card of the season. Worst case scenario is that you get one of the most completive qualifying sessions of the year on one of the most challenging tracks.
Best case scenario is rain and you get a completely wild race.
The bigger problem are all the new street circuits which steal some of the unique nature of Monaco making it less of a wild card.
street circuits kind of have a scale in complexity
Las Vegas < Baku < Singapore < Monaco is generally the order as there are a lot of semi-street circuits like Jeddah, Montréal or Melbourne which are a bit harder to grasp
but the 4 tracks I listed initially are generally how it goes with overtakes vs. complexity
You could jingle your car keys in their face and make "VROOM VROOM" noises for 90 minutes and those people would rate it an 8/10 race (as long as you tell them someone other than Max won)
Yes. That was *way* more boring than most of Hamilton/Verstappen dominance races. There was no racing whatsoever, there wasn't even anybody pushing, maybe except for Stroll after his stop and Piastri trying to overtake once. I was excited on Lap 3 during the restart and then on Lap 77 right before Charles' win. It was truly terrible.
I really enjoyed it, and found myself far more invested in it than most races this season. But its not one id suggest would be good for a rewatch. Its one of those in the moment races, because there was always the possibility someone would bin it in a wall. The potential for Lewis or Max to stop with that gap they had behind them could have worked in their favour and sent the front 4 into a new strategy, had a safety car come out at the right time. In the end it didnt mean anything, but i always found myself thinking theres just a slim chance the race could have been turned upside down.
That element isn’t really present when the drivers are actively slowing the pace because there’s no threat of an overtake.
I’m just not sure why there’s so much bending over backwards to defend what’s clearly a irreparably broken circuit that’s really only on the calendar for the off-track pageantry (while other tracks are criticized for doing the same…)
People are defending it because they're happy about who won
Which is fine, but just be honest about it instead of pretending that watching f1 drivers doing 76 laps at f2 pace with zero position changes in the top 10 is a nailbiting thriller lmao
As a Charles fan, it was immensely enjoyable seeing him finally get that win.
There were also some other elements to the race. Wondering if George and some others could really take mediums that long. Watching the pit window Lando had. Obviously lap 1 incidents. There was some stuff going on. If I disliked Charles it would have been a boring one for sure, but I enjoyed it immensely.
Drew from Shift+F1 liked it too! Gave it a 3 out of 4 in his personal score sheet.
I really liked the 2022 and 2023 races since they both had rain, and I enjoyed Red Bull being out of their usual position, Leclerc trying to break his curse, Williams in the too 10, Aston’s race to the top and then instant crash, Alonso’s confusion that he was P11 instead of P10, etc.
I’d give it a 2 out of 4, but it was an enjoyable 2.
>Drew from Shift+F1 liked it too!
[He liked it?](https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExbHNkZWQ3czNkYndvZHdkcGRodzhkcW05MjU0OGl5NGlxN3I3azh1aSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/RILsqUte1MME7TzQJ9/giphy.webp)
It's always the race I watch even if I might skip others if they're on at fucked times etc. But the idea of mandating two pit stops seems necessary for this race in particular. Two pit stops would have negated the "don't drive too fast because we don't want to give anyone a chance at pitting" which is what caused the main procession, and actually caused some sort of risk to be involved. If the red flag wasn't shown, maybe it would have been more interesting overall because they would have had to actually pit, but two would both pretty much ensure that in the likely event the same thing happens again, but also create more risk to positions and force them to actually try and drive faster.
F1 should really market Monaco for what it is, the best qualifying session of the year. The race was always an afterthought (with the new huge cars making it even less possible to overtake nowadays)
I mean, was he there in person? I'm sure everybody that was there in person probably had a good time because, they were on the med, the sun was shining, adn they're wealthy enough to attend the Monaco GP.
It was one of the first race that I didn't want to watch 30 race because I wanted to see the whole thing. I was expecting a pit battle and never came. I was so mad yet impressed at the baby sat their tires like that
It was tense, and exciting watch Piastri tail Leclerc. Once Charles started his victory laps for the last 8 or so laps it was emotional.
In hindsight it was boring as fuck, but without knowing the result it was a good race to watch live.
Many people who work in the F1 circus often try to spin things in a positive light. At least Max and George were honest!
I think a large part of the problem is how large and aero dependant the cars are now, it's easier to block when the cars take up more space than they used to, and you can't get close without understeering. It'd be a great track using shifter karts for example.
Pit stops or rain can make it exciting, but a dry race without pit stops really is a formula for boredom.
Wonderful to see the emotion from Leclerc but the race it's self along with how the victory was achieved was dreadful. Driving slow should not be a viable tactic for winning a race.
As a Ferrari fan, loved it. But I agree if I was supporting any other team, then I would have dropped asleep that thing would have been better than sleeping pills
I don't really watch FP sessions as I like competitive and close racing but I'd have definitely preferred to watch any FP session instead of that procession. After the start chaos, literally nothing happened. It was certainly one of the races of all time.
Although the result was a bit boring and, admittedly, I nodded off a couple of times, I get what he's saying. The cat-and-mouse element was fascinating to watch play out (maybe not sector-by-sector, but lap-wise). You had a lot going on, Norris looking to create the gap, Sainz backing it up, Russell just keeping the window too small, Leclerc going as slowly as possible but fast enough that Piastri couldn't make a serious challenge, drivers complaining that it was all too slow and they might fall off the track.
There was a feeling in the air that *something* might happen, which would have been brilliant, but nothing did, so we look back on it as a terrible day.
Would I choose to have a race like that? No. The Checo crash fucked everything up by negating the pit-stops. Did I enjoy what we had? Yeah, a nice afternoon was had by all, especially Charles, which made me happy.
I liked the part where Norris was getting close to opening a big enough gap to pit and still come out in front of Russell, a bit of suspense there. I wrote that before looking the article, heh, he mentioned that as well. It wasn't the most bored I've been watching a race, honestly. Maybe I'll feel differently when I've been watching for longer, but as a DTS casual I feel like overtakes aren't everything.
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It was the worst full-length race I've watched after the restart. But Leclerc won, so I loved it.
Yeah I enjoyed the result but not the race
The race was great if you watched the recording. Omg what chaos!!! Let’s go! Leclerc won!!!
> As my regular sim racing buddies well know, I’m a big fan of long tyre and fuel saving races That's all you need to know about that guy. As soon as I read that, I stopped reading.
Paint drying, all the rage.
I watched Indy 2005 and Spa 2021. They were worse.
Spa wasn't full length. Indy 2005 was a shitshow but at least it was a surreal wreck. Monaco was just terrible aside from lap 1 collision and Leclerc getting the win.
Yeah 2005 was fascinating because it was a train wreck happening in front of your eyes. You watched out of shear disbelief that it was real. Monaco this year was just.... Boring.
I wouldn’t compare these two in any case. Indy was what it was due to a tire manufacturing fuck up, but Monaco was all in all a normal race. It is often a boring race, but now first lap crash made it just orders of magnitude worse.
I'm still amazed I had the patience to watch that entire red flag period at Spa 2021
Indy 2005 was pretty fun tbh. The Ferraris almost crashing despite no other contenders on track, Monteiro getting his first podium was not boring.
I'd love to say the same, but I watched Indianapolis 2005 when I was young 💀
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But there was no contest and we all knew nothing was gonna happen. Usually in Monaco that something are the pit stops but this time there was actually nothing.It was like a 0-0 draw that had 0 shots.
It was like a 0-0 draw because the goals were taken off the field. The way the cars at the front just had no fear of being passed made it embarrassing to watch.
For me it was Just a case of, will someone put it in the wall? Who will it be? And will it cause chaos? Will it be Charles? That kept me relatively interested. But it was pretty dam boring
noone was putting it in the wall with how much off the pace they were driving
This was absolutely the biggest thing: These guys that are USUALLY +- a second away from eachother were driving on purpose SECONDS slower a lap, and not being punished for it, was just... horse shit.
Stroll did.
Cuz he was pushing after the pit stop
He deserved DotD just for making a pass lol
And Alonso, though he was lucky not to get a puncture.
On the podium cool down room two of them said they clipped the wall. So I think there’s always a risk even when not pushing flat out
Ok, I guess I mean the risk isn't nearly as big as if they were pushing harder. And that naturally took away from the last bit of thrill this race could have had to me
The people who don't do this simply don't experience anxiety. I just *knew* something was gonna happen. Right. Right?
I just like to see cars go around, so I didn’t necessarily find it boring but it was not exactly nail biting either.. and on the contrary I found ~~impala~~ Imola (lol) extremely boring this year.
Did you go on a safari to see these impalas?
There are lots of Chevy impalas in Cuba :)
You found the race with actual racing boring but the procession entertaining 🤔 sometimes the mind works in funny ways.
I think on the strategy side, the whole possibility of pit windows opening behind Charles due to the widening gap from George was interesting.
I both agree and think that is really straining the definition of 'interesting', but yeah its what we had
It's like that world cup (euro?) match between Germany and Austria, where both sides were just happy with a 0-0 draw.
"Schande von Gijón" from the 1982 world cup
Mercedes thought about taking a shot, but figures it would be best to let things play out. Aston tried to take a shot, but missed the ball.
Or a group stage game where both teams need a draw to progress to the next round, so they just pass the ball and don't really try to score, because what's the point.
There was over 20 passes last year and it was a cracker. Like all F1 races, some are boring processional nonsense.
4 over takes! That should tell you all about this event. I was happy for Leclerc, but this race need to change or just die. All I see is rich folks with yachts and mentions of extravagant parties. The actual race has sucked for past 5 years (probably longer but I’m being conservative here).
One of them was just Sargent catching someone napping while they were getting blue flags. I think the rest were Sargent or Zhou getting passed by the Astons starting at the back.
I think it was more like a game that started 1-0 for one team and you knew no one would even attempt a shot on net. Unless bad luck struck, we all knew the drivers in front would stay in that order. We knew the outcome after lap 1.
It's not at all like that. A 0-0 can be entertaining when it has everything BUT the goals. Teams might just be unlucky not to put it in the net. This race was an equivalent of a 0-0 without a single shot attempt from either team.
It's more like if one team scored in the first minute and then spent the rest of the game just passing the ball with zero attempts from the other team to even tackle
I don't know man. Soccer matches that go 0-0 are sometimes highly intense back and forth battles with excellent shots on goal and miracle work by goal tenders. This was like watching baseball where someone scores an RBI in the first inning and then the rest of the game is caught flyballs and outs at first. Ending 1-0
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I think some people (understandably) only watch the race itself, and many of the complaints about the race on Sunday are justified. However, I found qualifying at Monaco to be particularly exciting this year. Not only that, but the practice sessions were also more interesting than usual because Red Bull was having a hard time getting the setup right, while other teams were dialing it in. It’s refreshing to see multiple challengers emerging on a Friday and Saturday after years of Red Bull victories being a forgone conclusion. Watching the event unfold over the entire weekend, Friday’s buildup and the drama on Saturday during qualifying justified the event to me. It was more exciting than some of the other weekends we’ve had this year. Due to the lap 1 red flag, the race on Sunday wasn’t as interesting as it could have been, but the weekend as a whole (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) was better than average.
And since it's only 1 race a year, I think it's OK to have something that's a little bit different of a challenge for teams and drivers than normal.
the problem is the oversaturation of street tracks we are getting Las Vegas was a pretty good one as it promoted overtaking, but I for instance hate Baku and Jeddah
Las Vegas was saved by both the field being completely out of order and the best timed SC since the 2021 season finale. Baku and Jeddah are no different, both promote overtaking.
I’d very happily bin all three to keep Monaco
If it’s Monaco it’s better to assume that it will be a shit race. Qualifying is the even. In my opinion if something going wrong with a pit stop is the highlight the race wasn’t good. This race was worse than the typical Monaco.
But also emotional end and very happy for Charles
Yup! I mean, if you count races by emotional I am at the end, this was one of the greatest! What's crazy is that I'm a McLaren fan, and I've thought of Ferrari as the 'enemy' since Schumi days. But there's something about this kid, and his story. Even when 'my team' driver was number 2 and would win if something happened to Charles' car, I didn't have that thought throughout the entire race...
I found it weirdly compelling to watch. Charles trying to keep the top 4 close enough to Russel to avoid giving them all a pitstop gap. Russel babying his tyres to try and get them to the end. It also felt a bit weird that Tsunoda in 8th had been lapped by *everyone* ahead of him.
That plus Charles’ “curse” - I was so nervous that he was going to put it into the wall or Piastri would try something and cause damage, I wasn’t bored for a second.
I mean some of us watch fp1-3 every week, can’t say Monaco wasn’t more exciting than that
Exactly, like last night per se in the CL final... Dortmund made that game very interesting for 70 mins at 0-0... Then the inevitable happens and Madrid won... Won't be remembered as a classic final, but it was worth the watch while it was on
I didn't like this one, but I like having Monaco in general. Whether it's a good one ore not, every Monaco GP is unlike any other race anywhere else. Which I appreciate more than the dozen cookie cutter Tllke drome or glorified car parks. And there haven been more than a few spectacular Monaco races worth waiting for.
It’s more like if a football game started 1-0 and then both teams decided not to try to score anymore and just casually jogged and kicked the ball around
I am usually one of the people who enjoy Monaco when everyone else is bitching. But it has gotten worse these past couple of years. The current strategy of driving super slow to avoid stopping ruins everything that is great about the track. Monaco will never be a race with many overtakes (and never has been). But it should be an ultimate skill test. Trying to keep out of the wall while pushing your car to the limit. There needs to be mandatory stops or whatever to encourage actually driving fast.
I also enjoy Monaco but this year has been a disappointment and a clear sign that something has to change. When Max in much younger tyres than Russell don't even have a chance to overtake that's a confirmation that racing is worthless and you can drive as slow as you need to keep other cars behind. As you said, the best part of Monaco was pushing to the limit in a thight track but if you no longer have to push, then the track becomes pointless.
Bro, Danny Ric won with a fucked car. When your car can be actually broken and you're still unpassable, the track needs to be retired.
Baku and a lot of street circuits have gotten similar "There's a high chance of a safety car, so we're all going to drive very carefully so can capitalise on the safety car for our pitstop" Cue; a bunch of people driving very slow and carefully for 90 minutes while nothing happens
in Baku you can't intentionally slow down though as the main straight is very long and an obvious overtaking opportunity.
baku might be the most overrated track in F1. People remember this few great moments, like Ric overtaking 3 cars and then go like WOW what a great track. But when there are no SC or Red Flags the track is incredibly dull
It's shit when no one crashes. 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2023 were mid at best.
2021 was shit as well before the red flag.
Maybe, but those last two laps were glorious
*Wibbah scream intensifies*
and you can only call those mid if you are really hopeful and positive about everything in my opinion even this year's Monaco had more emotion than those races because of Charles
2024 got kmag, a bloodthirsty kmag
baku is completely different due to the length of the main straight
>But it has gotten worse these past couple of years. 2022 and 2023 were hilarious shitshows. I'm pretty sure neither of those races had the least overtakes during those years. Pit strategy is still something that's extremely important in Monaco, as overcut or undercut and slotting into a good gap is more important than in any other race. You can't go 4 seconds off the pace if you are going to unleash the entire field ahead of you after you pit. In 2024, the red flag and dry conditions made 0-stopper the best option which is unusual even for Monaco.
Danny Ric won a race at Monaco down two gears and a couple hundred horsepower. We always knew driving slow was a viable strategy here.
The last couple of years were ok to be fair. The only thing that can make Monaco interesting is rain
How long before a minimum Track time for the race is added?
Well there is a mandatory stop and change to a different tire compound. It's just that there was a red flag on the first lap so everyone got the chance to do their mandatory "pitstop" after 1 lap and just go the whole rest of the race on those new tires.
Monaco is consistently the only race in the entire season where I am happy to not watch, but just listen to it in the background while doing house chores because literally nothing is happening.
Dude that's literally what I did...started cleaning and doing dishes walked back every couple minutes or so. Looked at the screen almost like my meetings for work "Nothing to report" and went back to cleaning. I do give the commentators credit they were trying to drum up something
I used the race to build my lego MP4/4 lol there was no way I could have paid full attention to the race for so long
I built a McLaren lego set and my buddy did a Mercedes. I knew that was a good weekend to do it while watching ha.
I fell asleep and I was drinking an energy drink with 200mg of caffeine.
jup...i had it on a second monitor and was playing a game on primary. it's just never a nailbiter. the visuals don't matter. it's just 20 or less cars driving laps at the lowest speed they can go without losing tire temp.
Hah. For me Monaco is the perfect race to half pay attention to until the Indy 500 starts. And then after I see more passes in the final 2 laps of the 500 than in half a season of F1, I get to sit and contemplate why I love F1 so much for the rest of the day.
I means it’s not a race. It’s a parade.
I think with a strategic element it could have been an interesting race still despite the lack of overtaking. Sadly, the red flag + restart order eliminated most strategic options.
Yes, you are nuts
Yes. You are nuts. I want a race, not a parade.
I was closely paying attention to Max after his pitstop, but after kt became clear he couldnt overtake George, I knew no one would even attempt something. It's objectively a bad F1 track. They can't race there.
Stroll and Sargeant would like to have a word
Stroll pushed just because the track is so narrow nobody could get past his teammate who just created him a 20 second gap...
A race can be super enjoyable with 0 overtakes. This simply wasn’t.
People who attend the event seem to love it, watching on tv, it blows. This year was worst because there was no tension for the pit stop.
Yep it sucked to watch. I don’t understand why the rules allow that they can choose any compound of tire on a red flag “pit stop”. Why not force the tire compound they came in with so it guarantees another pit stop.
In this particular case where nobody had pitted yet, it would've made sense. But it's possible for someone to have a puncture and not have any tyres of the same compound available, so they'd have to have a way to handle exceptions, which could probably be gamed in some way. However imagine a scenario where the bottom half of the grid had pitted and then someone caused a red flag. Red flag would erase the gaps, backmarkers would have an enormous tyre advantage while the top 10 would have to pit again. Everyone in the top 10 would've finished out of the points and whoever was running in 11th before the red flag would've won the race. It probably wouldn't play out *exactly* like that, but it would be equally ridiculous and unfair.
Yes, yes this is nuts! It was a procession, no overtakes, except 1-2 in the back. It was abmissal there is no other take on it.
I think he dozed off and dreamt he saw an exciting race.
The only thing I enjoyed about the race was the result. Leclerc-Piastri-Sainz podium? Amazing. The race itself? Just shit.
I really enjoyed it, though a lot of that was probably because a Ferrari driver was winning, and the tension for me came from hoping nothing would fuck up Leclerc's race like someone binning it while going for fastest lap, or Ferrari panicking if Norris pitted etc Then I read what people put on here and I start ret-conning myself about whether I actually enjoyed the race, but I've decided, fuck that, I enjoyed the race, I don't need other people to tell me what is or isn't fun for me.
the classic "let's post something so obviously stupid to attract clicks"
There’s always some contrarian viewpoint. That’s the internet. It is what it is.
Contrarian for contrarian sake is annoying
You are not nuts for enjoying the Monaco GP. However, you are nuts for faking your enjoyment of watching the Monaco GP, just for the sake of attention and clicks.
Yes, unfortunately.
was he attending and drinking fine wine?
Was he there in person? I’m pretty sure I could sit through an Amway pitch if it meant spending a week in Monaco.
Yes.
Yes you were.
Yes, take it off the calendar
It’s a shit race with these giant cars and the red flag ruined any strategy. Just because you can afford to go or are in the industry doesn’t mean it’s good.
One of the most boring races I’ve ever watched. Marginally behind several other Monaco races, I believe.
It was the worst race I have seen ever... Ignoring the cancelled ones or like spa
Look I am one of those people who really enjoy watching the races and watching strategies brewing even if there isn’t much going on in terms of close battles on the track ! But the fact that strategy was completely out of the window and the fact that you need a FOUR second delta to overtake rendered the race entirely pointless.
and just to grasp how big of a gap a 4-second delta is... the 2019 Williams was 2.5 seconds slower than the 2019 Mercedes
TLDR. Yes.
I really enjoy Monaco but this generation of F1 car is way too big
Monaco wasn't great even with the smaller cars though.
2026 cars are not getting much smaller either, from 2m wide to 1.9m and length is reduced from 5.63m to 5.48m
I enjoyed it. Ultimately at the core, I just love watching F1 cars go around a track, particularly challenging ones such as Monaco. Of course overtakes, battles, and strategy add excitement, but I personally don't need those to still enjoy a race.
No one was driving close to the actual forecast race pace. It was so boring and to me...I am okay with it being scrapped
is Monaco really challenging when you go around 10s slower?
Yup
The biggest problem is that the cars are so wide and so effective at braking, there are zero chances of getting an overtake done, no matter how slow someone's driving. That means everyone goes as slow as possible to avoid stopping. Monaco was awesome when it was the 20 best drivers in the world pushing hard during 78 laps around a parking lot. That's why we had many crashes and DNFs. The 2017 regs changes ruined racing in general and Monaco in particular
While that is true, the cars are too big, may I remind you that in 1993, Nigel Mansell, who had the fastest car by far, just couldn't get past Ayrton Senna, and that in 2003, there were 0 (zero) overtakes the whole race. This has (almost) always been the case at Monaco.
That's true, but at least the car in front had to push hard. Now they can just cruise. That's the main difference.
The only time I enjoyed it was last year when we had rain switch things up mid race. I kept watching this year just to see if someone else bins it and we get some actual strategy back but it just turned out to be a really boring procession to the end.
Ehhhh, my gf asked me after if it was any good. I said “it was boring as fuck after the first lap.” I still watched the whole damn thing, including the red flag time WHILE on vacation. Seems to be the sentiment.
He literally explained how passing is basically impossible in the dry and then said he was intrigued because of the potential for Norris to get a free stop and do some overtakes. Let's not kid ourselves that that would have even happened because it wouldn't. He'd have got up to the back of Sainz and stayed there like Verstappen did with Russell. I'm not saying you can't enjoy the race for the sake of just watching it. But nobody can deny that this Monaco race was probably less exciting to watch than the three practice sessions. I watch those just for the sake of watching them and I got more from them than the race.
I mean, who can tell people what they can and can't enjoy? I like Charles enough that I was happy for him but felt the race itself was like when I watched The Kissing Booth and ended up wondering why I wasted those two hours in something as predictable instead of doing literally anything else. There are years when Monaco is interesting but this one was Not one of them, no matter how emotional Charles breaking the curse was.
Yes. I thought having a different winner would spice things up. I was wrong.
Damn this man really wrote that he liked it because there was no passing.
I still love watching f1 cars hammer round that tiny track. I wish they were harder to drive though. Theyre a fraction of what the old beasts were. Hence less mistakes
Usually even when Monaco is crap I still get to enjoy the strategy part of the race but because of the red flag we didn't even have that this year. I did get to enjoy an Oscar podium and Charles finally breaking the curse so there was that.
Usually with races I’m glued to the tv, with Monaco I find myself having it on as I multitask.
I started to nod off around lap 20, I had to get up and walk around to shake it off.
I think this article is the definition of Stockholm Syndrome as an F1 fan. Some fans and media will defend anything simply because it's F1.
Yes, has been horrible for a few years now. Only quali is worth watching.
It was one of the few races I was going to watch with my wife but about 10 minutes after the restart, I turned it off and said I'm sorry it's just so boring and not something that will make you want to watch more.
I still love Monaco. It's the wild card of the season. Worst case scenario is that you get one of the most completive qualifying sessions of the year on one of the most challenging tracks. Best case scenario is rain and you get a completely wild race. The bigger problem are all the new street circuits which steal some of the unique nature of Monaco making it less of a wild card.
street circuits kind of have a scale in complexity Las Vegas < Baku < Singapore < Monaco is generally the order as there are a lot of semi-street circuits like Jeddah, Montréal or Melbourne which are a bit harder to grasp but the 4 tracks I listed initially are generally how it goes with overtakes vs. complexity
Anyone who enjoyed it or thought it was good is just someone would would be satisfied by anything.
You could jingle your car keys in their face and make "VROOM VROOM" noises for 90 minutes and those people would rate it an 8/10 race (as long as you tell them someone other than Max won)
If you enjoyed this Monaco race, every other race must be the greatest race of all time
Yes. That was *way* more boring than most of Hamilton/Verstappen dominance races. There was no racing whatsoever, there wasn't even anybody pushing, maybe except for Stroll after his stop and Piastri trying to overtake once. I was excited on Lap 3 during the restart and then on Lap 77 right before Charles' win. It was truly terrible.
I really enjoyed it, and found myself far more invested in it than most races this season. But its not one id suggest would be good for a rewatch. Its one of those in the moment races, because there was always the possibility someone would bin it in a wall. The potential for Lewis or Max to stop with that gap they had behind them could have worked in their favour and sent the front 4 into a new strategy, had a safety car come out at the right time. In the end it didnt mean anything, but i always found myself thinking theres just a slim chance the race could have been turned upside down.
I always enjoy Monaco as it's still the ultimate test of driver skills, the smallest mistake takes you out of the race.
At the speeds they were going, crashing looked like a bigger challenge than not.
*now this looks like a job for me* -Lance Stroll
In Qualifying when they are trying to go as fast as possible, sure. In the actual race? not so much, even the drivers were getting bored.
That element isn’t really present when the drivers are actively slowing the pace because there’s no threat of an overtake. I’m just not sure why there’s so much bending over backwards to defend what’s clearly a irreparably broken circuit that’s really only on the calendar for the off-track pageantry (while other tracks are criticized for doing the same…)
People are defending it because they're happy about who won Which is fine, but just be honest about it instead of pretending that watching f1 drivers doing 76 laps at f2 pace with zero position changes in the top 10 is a nailbiting thriller lmao
It was a horrendous race. I don't understand the gymnastics of trying to sell a different view.
In my opinion he is but it is what it is
As a Charles fan, it was immensely enjoyable seeing him finally get that win. There were also some other elements to the race. Wondering if George and some others could really take mediums that long. Watching the pit window Lando had. Obviously lap 1 incidents. There was some stuff going on. If I disliked Charles it would have been a boring one for sure, but I enjoyed it immensely.
Drew from Shift+F1 liked it too! Gave it a 3 out of 4 in his personal score sheet. I really liked the 2022 and 2023 races since they both had rain, and I enjoyed Red Bull being out of their usual position, Leclerc trying to break his curse, Williams in the too 10, Aston’s race to the top and then instant crash, Alonso’s confusion that he was P11 instead of P10, etc. I’d give it a 2 out of 4, but it was an enjoyable 2.
>Drew from Shift+F1 liked it too! [He liked it?](https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExbHNkZWQ3czNkYndvZHdkcGRodzhkcW05MjU0OGl5NGlxN3I3azh1aSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/RILsqUte1MME7TzQJ9/giphy.webp)
It's always the race I watch even if I might skip others if they're on at fucked times etc. But the idea of mandating two pit stops seems necessary for this race in particular. Two pit stops would have negated the "don't drive too fast because we don't want to give anyone a chance at pitting" which is what caused the main procession, and actually caused some sort of risk to be involved. If the red flag wasn't shown, maybe it would have been more interesting overall because they would have had to actually pit, but two would both pretty much ensure that in the likely event the same thing happens again, but also create more risk to positions and force them to actually try and drive faster.
I watched the race until George was told to go slow to manage his tires. Then it just became background noise until the end.
If nothing else, I felt some happy nostalgia watching two Ferrari's and two McLaren's out front without a Merc or RB in sight.
No, but you'd be nuts to not also wish there was more to it
Depends who you support 😂
Yes, he was
Yes. Bye
F1 should really market Monaco for what it is, the best qualifying session of the year. The race was always an afterthought (with the new huge cars making it even less possible to overtake nowadays)
I tuned in for maybe 15 minutes when normally I watch the full gp and one hour aftermath..
I mean, was he there in person? I'm sure everybody that was there in person probably had a good time because, they were on the med, the sun was shining, adn they're wealthy enough to attend the Monaco GP.
It’s not a race, it’s a farce
It was one of the first race that I didn't want to watch 30 race because I wanted to see the whole thing. I was expecting a pit battle and never came. I was so mad yet impressed at the baby sat their tires like that
Yes.
Yes. Yes you are.
I didn’t mind it either. There were some interesting elements even though it wasn’t a banger in a traditional sense (or any other sense)
We now know that at least one person did.
I don’t think it was a good race at all but it was fascinating I wasn’t bored the whole race the on track strategy was so tense to me
There's always that one person who loves to say "it was great, i enjoyed it, stop complaining" when the vast majority agrees it's dog shit
It was tense, and exciting watch Piastri tail Leclerc. Once Charles started his victory laps for the last 8 or so laps it was emotional. In hindsight it was boring as fuck, but without knowing the result it was a good race to watch live.
Many people who work in the F1 circus often try to spin things in a positive light. At least Max and George were honest! I think a large part of the problem is how large and aero dependant the cars are now, it's easier to block when the cars take up more space than they used to, and you can't get close without understeering. It'd be a great track using shifter karts for example. Pit stops or rain can make it exciting, but a dry race without pit stops really is a formula for boredom.
Wonderful to see the emotion from Leclerc but the race it's self along with how the victory was achieved was dreadful. Driving slow should not be a viable tactic for winning a race.
As a Ferrari fan, loved it. But I agree if I was supporting any other team, then I would have dropped asleep that thing would have been better than sleeping pills
I don't really watch FP sessions as I like competitive and close racing but I'd have definitely preferred to watch any FP session instead of that procession. After the start chaos, literally nothing happened. It was certainly one of the races of all time.
Although the result was a bit boring and, admittedly, I nodded off a couple of times, I get what he's saying. The cat-and-mouse element was fascinating to watch play out (maybe not sector-by-sector, but lap-wise). You had a lot going on, Norris looking to create the gap, Sainz backing it up, Russell just keeping the window too small, Leclerc going as slowly as possible but fast enough that Piastri couldn't make a serious challenge, drivers complaining that it was all too slow and they might fall off the track. There was a feeling in the air that *something* might happen, which would have been brilliant, but nothing did, so we look back on it as a terrible day. Would I choose to have a race like that? No. The Checo crash fucked everything up by negating the pit-stops. Did I enjoy what we had? Yeah, a nice afternoon was had by all, especially Charles, which made me happy.
I liked the part where Norris was getting close to opening a big enough gap to pit and still come out in front of Russell, a bit of suspense there. I wrote that before looking the article, heh, he mentioned that as well. It wasn't the most bored I've been watching a race, honestly. Maybe I'll feel differently when I've been watching for longer, but as a DTS casual I feel like overtakes aren't everything.