Hamilton: New Monaco format would boost drama

MONACO — Lewis Hamilton said he believes Formula One should consider an alternative weekend format for the Monaco Grand Prix to inject extra excitement into the long-standing event.

The street circuit dates back to 1929 and became synonymous with Formula One during an unbroken run on the sport’s calendar between 1955 and 2020, when the 78th running of the event had to be postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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In recent decades, the circuit has been criticised for its lack of overtaking as its tight layout has remained largely unchanged since the 1970s while the size of F1 cars has increased significantly.

While Hamilton still loves racing in Monaco, saying it is “more special than any other street circuit,” he said the lack of action in races in recent years means F1 should explore new ways of making it more exciting.

Six sprint race weekends have been introduced to the F1 calendar in recent years, featuring a shortened race on Saturday as well as the usual full-length grand prix on Sunday.

Hamilton said it would not make sense to apply the sprint format to Monaco, but believes similar flexibility in the schedule could improve the show.

“Whether or not we have sprint weekends or… they can definitely come out with a specific weekend,” he said in Thursday’s media sessions.

“You’ve got the sprint things that they’ve added, but for this particular weekend, I think they should come up with some new formula for it rather than it just be the same.

“That’s just my opinion. Do you guys [the media] not fall asleep on Sunday watching the race? Yeah. So, creating something else somehow, I don’t know how you do it.”

Hamilton also believes Monaco-specific tyres, designed to degrade at a faster rate and induce more pit stops, could also add extra excitement to the race.

“Monaco continues to be Monaco, it’s not really changed much,” he said.

“The cars are getting bigger. You can’t really overtake without the risk of colliding, so I wish we had bigger roads and the track could be wider, but I don’t think that’s ever going to be the case in Monaco because it’s just a small place.

“The race is continuously pretty much the same. It’s a one-stop race. I would say maybe special tyres for this race, so you have more pit stops that create more variability.”