2024 Monaco GP: Post Race Analysis

Those great races were usually due to special events happening - rain, somebody losing gears in their gearbox or having some other issue they were driving around, a crash that changes the order, fuel saving strategy etc. Monaco has never featured straight up duels with cars passing each other. Even the 60's it was largely processional, just instead of nose to tail it was spread out with often 5-10 seconds separating the cars (and usually over half of the grid crashing or breaking down). It's rose colored glasses to think otherwise. That's just how Monaco is and always was. The problem now is as it was stated, the cars are MUCH more reliable, drivers much better with data to understand how to drive minimally quickly and still keep the car behind (ie save all of your deployment and tire for the three possible passing zones and then just conserve the rest of the lap) etc. In a dry race with no crashes, you get a procession, period, always have.

 

Many years ago, the Monaco GP was longer (100 laps), and mostly a race of attrition.
The cars were more fragile, so usually half the field didn't reach the chequered flag. 5 finishers some years !!
The race was also more physically demanding than now, leading to driving errors and DNF.
We will never go back to that, even with smaller cars; they are too bloody reliable and easy to drive !!!
We shouldn't fool ourselves with wallpapering over the cracks. It's Formula Snooze.

 

Once in my 246 I found myself stuck in rush hour traffic surrounded by 18 wheelers--front, back and both sides for several miles. Never have I felt more vulnerable in a car.

 

i was there. will never forgive Schumi for parking in Rascasse. I think Alonzo was on a flyer at that time too.

 

Niki Lauda's win from Pole in 75 and 76 were not due to anything other than great driving... the 1984 race was spine-tingling... as was 85. My first Monaco Race in 1990 was full of overtaking... and DNF's... however if you look at Modern F-1 there still is not much overtaking. The races in the 1960's had plenty of passing...but frequently - Jim Clark for sure just did not make it to the end.

 

Yeah, I mean you had a pole competing car starting last, so a bit of a special circumstance.

The other modern 'problem' is also that the top 9 were separated by 7 tenths of a second in qualifying, so they're all roughly the same speed. You need either a car issue or a driver mistake to allow overtaking, and the drivers were too good and the cars too close in performance. The whole 2-3 seconds faster thing was incorrect, a driver could be that much faster on a push lap vs. a conserve lap, but if there was a position on the line the cars were only separated by a couple of tenths and the leading driver would save all of the tire and deployment for the areas on the lap where passing was possible, meaning the speed differential was virtually nothing. Stroll on fresh softs was able to make a couple of passes, even with the big cars, but the reality is that's the only time in the race where there was a decent speed differential between cars. The rest of the time they were all within a few tenths in the areas of the track that mattered. It's not that the cars are too big, they can pass, but there were no situations created in the race where there was a real speed differential to allow it.

 

I don't care that Monaco is not a great track for racing. Charles and Ferrari did everything right to get the win. I'm going to savor this for the next two weeks until Montreal brings me back to reality. Forza Ferrari!

 

I would argue that even with some significant speed difference, overtaking is virtually impossible. Alonso voluntarily drove slower so that Stroll would build the gap allowing him to pit without losing a position, and still the cars following Alonso could not pass. Of course Alonso had to avoid driving slowly everywhere, because otherwise there would have been a few possibilities of overtaking - but for most of the track, a far slower car cannot be passed.

 

That's the point, he wasn't 'actually' far slower, he was just slower in the parts of the track where passing is impossible. In the parts where it is, he was the same speed or faster than the following cars. There's no way to fix that without making passing possible on the entire track, meaning make it 2-3x as wide, or make them race motorcycles. Even then, given the low speed nature and that you'll have to go a much larger distance to make a pass given the super tight diameter turns, you won't get passing, you'll just get faster pace on the whole lap. Maybe that creates a few more pit stops mixing things up a bit, but that's about it.

 

I'm not sure if that's a 'modern problem' as I have a qualifying time sheet from Mosport in '76....10 cars were within a second of each other.

 

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That is the problem, not the track. Also:
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What is there to analyze on 2 hours of driving a parade round a billionaires party? This race needs to be replaced with litterally anything else, every year again this race is a ****ing snoozefest, I never feel like I waste time watching F1, but I do when watching Monaco GP every year again, and yet every year im hoping again to be proven wrong, yet it never happens, last year the last 10 laps were only fun due to some rain but otherwise same story there.

 

It's a strange one isn't it? I can't come up with a cogent argument that contradicts your view, yet I always look forward to and enjoy the Monaco GP. I love seeing the cars on the streets and I love the fact that cars have been racing on those same streets for nearly 100 years. I think my view used to be the majority view, but is probably more of a minority opinion these days. I'm pretty sure the race's days are numbered.

 

Indy 500 IS racing. The Monaco GP is a parade.

The purists may cringe at that statement, but this is reality.

 

The overt element of 'management' on display this year, with radio messages stating its not worth it to drive faster, should be enough for Liberty to tell the Prince and his casino - au revoir!

 

Yet, I expect it will be very difficult to dislodge F1 from the rock.
There are too many vested interests for a status quo.
Monaco becoming an "event" more than a race, suits Liberty perfectly.

 

As someone that never liked Nascar/Indy as its only Left turns, i watched Indy500 this year for the first time as I didnt get my "racing shot" during the F1 monaco, now im still not thrilled by the form of racing with only left turns, but its alot better than watching Monaco GP...

 

The 5'er was way more exciting.

 

Oval racing like Indy is the purest form of racing, with high speed and stressed engines, IMO.
Mistakes are swiftly punished with no appeal.

 

I agree with you. However the down side of drive to survive is that many new fans have no understanding - nor care about the history of F1. Frankly if you lose Monaco, the only thing that makes it F1 any more is Ferrari. otherwise it could be the European IRL series. History and Legacy is what makes F-1 so special. any series can be NASCAR or Indy Car...

 

Formula Spec Miata?

 

one team domination is whats wrong not the tracks.