Monaco should change F1 circuit - Hamilton
- Published on 28 May 2018 14:38
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- By: Jeroen Jonkers
World champion Lewis Hamilton thinks Monaco should think about tweaking its iconic F1 street circuit.
Many drivers agreed after Sunday's race in the Principality that the race was not exciting.
"If I was bored I don't want to image the fans at home watching the race," said Force India driver Sergio Perez.
The Mexican thinks Pirelli has done "a good job" with its 2018 tyres generally, but they did not cope with the Monaco race and drivers had to cruise.
"If I was on the couch I would have fallen asleep," Mercedes' Hamilton said.
"It's amazing how little I pushed. Less than I can remember ever."
He said the problem is unique to Monaco, where overtaking is also almost impossible.
"This race needs another format," said Hamilton.
"Recently I told the Prince that maybe it's time to make the track longer. Over the past few years, more roads have been built here so maybe we can make it better.
"Or maybe we need to change the format of the race. I don't know. Monaco is an excellent track but maybe we need two races here. It was the longest 78 laps of my life!" Hamilton added.
Toto Wolff, Hamilton's team boss, played down the quadruple world champion's comments.
"Lewis always freely expresses his opinion, but this is Monaco and without serious accidents or a safety car it's always similar. Football also has good and bad games," he said.
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Replies (12)
Login to replyJutlandia
Posts: 191
Why not let them race in Gocarts, that would be much more fun.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I disagree with Hammy.
2GRX7
Posts: 108
Hahaha- of course you do!!!
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Not necessarily of course, but it is true that I mostly dont agree with him. :)
Jojo
Posts: 4
8 out of 10 most exciting races have been rain races. So why not let sprinklers flood the streets?
jaybee
Posts: 16
Without for a second downplaying Daniel's superb display of driving in a car down on power, the fact that Seb didn't look like passing him does support Lewis's idea. Even Max couldn't pass Hulk.
blade
Posts: 341
Daniel's 'superb display' of slowing down a race to a procession - it was embarrassing and hardly the spectacle F1 should be celebrating. It says everything that the most interesting aspect of this showcase event was a driver driving 20-30KMs slower in straights than he usually does. It puts everything into perspective about Monaco that even then, it was impossible to overtake. JOJO is right - make it a wet race, Monaco would then retain credibility and it would test the drivers with added skill needed, the winner would still be the person on pole but thinking about that a bit more - it might mean driving even slower for precaution and still no-one would overtake !!!!! I think the issue in Monaco is it is just too small, period.
Jojo
Posts: 4
Pirelli could decide that only intermediates would be available.
Freguz
Posts: 160
Why change the track?
Change the cars instead for better overtaking, and it will also benefit all other boring street circuits like Albert Park etc
Major Tom
Posts: 152
Whilst it might not have been the most exciting race in terms of changing positions it was sublime watching them 'thread the needle' thro the streets lap after lap. I think the championship is the better for the inclusion of a single Monaco race.
dr002
Posts: 141
I agree, it is worth it being on the calendar if only for the possibility of on track mishap!
reg
Posts: 162
Well despite Ham's criticism I for one thoroughly enjoyed watching the Monaco GP on Now/Sky. The way Daniel was able to outperform Ham and even pull away, leaving Ham trailing with large lumps of HP missing just show how good Adrian and his team really are! And Daniel of course, a real masterclass in controlled aggression, something Max could learn from methinks!
It was a great afternoon's watch and am now keenly awaiting Montreal!