Monaco Grand Prix: Does It Still Have a Place in Modern Formula 1?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: May 26, 2011

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It’s been a pretty good year for Formula 1.

We’ve seen the return of overtaking and excitement after the addition of gadgets and tyres that wear out faster than a cheap set of retreads.

Yes, it’s contrived and manufactured racing, but it’s exciting and makes a refreshing change from the processions that we’ve seen over the past decade.

Then, just when we’ve come to terms with the new and improved F1, we go back to Monaco.

It is one of the most widely known motor sport events in the world, holding pride of place next to the Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans 24-hour. It is iconic and the most glittering prize in the F1 calendar.

And it’s also dead boring.

Overtaking is almost impossible on the tight street circuit and the crash barriers that line the track are absolutely unforgiving on any errors or overshoots. The circuit is so unsuited to modern F1 racing that the teams have to install modified steering systems just to allow the cars to navigate the Grand Hotel hairpin.

It may well also be the only track this year not to utilise the DRS during the race. Monaco is very different.

It’s the only race in the F1 calendar to have Thursday practice, so that the city can be opened to "breathe" again on the Friday—whatever that means. Yes, it’s a living city and it needs to operate, but either way it only loses one weekday.

Monaco is an anachronism; a throwback to a gentler time of F1 racing, a time when there were no wings, when drivers sat up high in the cockpit wearing leather helmets and goggles.

It no longer sits comfortably in the modern F1 world. In amongst the modern Hermann Tilke tracks that have been saved by KERS and DRS, Monaco stands out as the ugly duckling. Nothing can make racing exciting in Monaco, it all comes down to the unsatisfying combination of qualifying and pit strategy.

As uncomfortable as it is, Monaco is also tigh...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

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