Monaco Grand Prix Preview, Part 1: the Challenges of Monte Carlo

Monaco is the most challenging (or should that be daunting) and glamorous event on the F1 calendar and is always capable of turning the formbook on its head. And unlike other tracks on the F1 calendar it is a massive test on driver skill. 

Despite how advanced the cars are these days drivers can still make a big difference themselves so can take their car to the front even if their car is a bit off the pace of the front runners.

There is a whole array of unique challenges that Monaco will present to the drivers this weekend, which they will have to deal with in order to finish and get a good result. Lets take a look at some of them:

Finding the best setup

At all racetracks teams and drivers strive to find the sweet spots on their cars. At Monaco, engineers admit that this is just not possible. In Monaco, the teams have to find the best compromise on their cars in order to allow the drivers to be comfortable enough to push throughout the lap.

As the street track rubbers in, the track constantly feels different so the teams and drivers have to avoid being caught out by this as well and avoid making huge changes to the setup of the car at any point.

Close barriers leave no room for errors

At the tracks we have been to so far (3 of them have been Tilke tracks) an error doesn’t really cost you very much but here one slight error can put your car in the barrier and damage your car, in practice this means a loss of running time to prepare for the race but in the race itself instead just losing a position or two you are likely to be out of the race completely.

Focus and concentration are required even on the pit straight. On the Spanish or Bahrain track you can relax on the main pit straight and have a slight break before the next lap comes, that isn’t possible here. A few of the barriers have been moved back a bit so the lap is now a bit easier than it was, but easy is never a word you can use to describe Monaco.

Corners like St Devote, the Loews hairpin, casino square and Rascasse and the exit onto the pit straight see the drivers having to hug the barrier on the apex in order to get the most speed out of them contributing to a good lap time, getting this right every lap for 90 minutes is an almighty challenge.

Even the longest straight on the track through the tunnel curves and goes dark as you enter so you can to take caution here too.

Nowhere to overtake so qualifying takes on huge importance

Overtaking at Monaco is near impossible; the only realistic opportunity is coming out of the tunnel into the tight chicane however anyone who does that has to be really brave, there is hardly any space to use. If you don’t go into the move 100% committed a DNF is the most likely outcome. 

You can’t be indecisive, you just have to go for it if you are going to try. Therefore getting the qualifying lap right is really important.  Generally speaking the race has only ever been won from the front two rows of the grid, and mainly the front row at that. 

For example, the last four years it has been the pole sitter who has gone onto win the race. Some drivers may decide to fuel themselves a bit lighter to increase their chances. 

With three teams this weekend probably with cars able to win the race (BMW, Mclaren and Ferrari) expect an almighty scrap as all six drivers go for pole which they will so desperately want. The ones who end up in fifth or sixth will have a tough afternoon. If you are not right at the front of grid will most likely end up in a traffic jam and lose a lot of time to the drivers you want to be competing against out front.

The other problem is that pushing too hard on the qualifying lap and crashing will send you even furthur back.   That can cause a very long afternoon. If you end up at the back of the grid, not much progress is going to be made.

With the qualifying format as it is i.e. having to get through the Q1 and Q2 and the added pressure that this creates there is more opportunity for the drivers to make mistakes. Not only this, but there can be problems if you encounter traffic on your hot lap.  Even if you manage to get by very quickly, the effort to do so will lose you time due to the lack of space. 

This aspect can send the big guns out early, whether they are the ones blocked or the ones doing the blocking themselves. The stewards come down like a ton of bricks on driver blocking each other. There are always one or two caught out at Monaco.

The added pressure of qualifying well at Monaco along with the difficulty of the track itself and the issue of other drivers getting in the way make this by far the most dramatic qualifying session of the season by a long chalk.

Lapping traffic

With so little room even overtaking the back markers in the race is a titanic struggle. If there is a tight midfield scrap going on, it can be incredibly hard for the leaders to barge their way through.  They have to navigate through the traffic fast enough not to destroy their race, but not lose their nose.

Some drivers are better at overtaking back markers than others.  This can often have a huge influence on the result as big chunks of time can be gained and lost. In the past, this alone has decided who has won the race. No other track comes close in terms of the sheer difficulty of lapping the back markers.

And as mentioned in the section above, the problem of overtaking slower cars applies to qualifying as well, getting a past a slower car whilst trying to set a hot lap can cost you very valuable tenths of a second.

Tire Wear and no traction control

Monaco is very tough on the rear tires and without traction control the challenge to keep the tires fresh will be even harder. With lots of bumps, kerbs and cambers the tires are giving a real workout.

For drivers hard on their tires, the laps leading up to their pit stops will be very difficult and they could lose a lot of time to the drivers they are battling with. The drivers will also want to avoid locking the brakes up as much as possible as this can flatspot the tires and make them wear even faster.

No traction control will ensure all errors are punished.  No traction control will make a much bigger difference than at any other track due to the bumps and low grip nature.  If the driver goes into the corner a little bit wrong, their action will no longer be corrected.  This could mean a one-way ticket to the wall.

The lack of engine braking could cause wheelspin in the very slow corners if not taken probably, which the traction control used to prevent of course. This adds to the tire wear issues.

No traction control will definitely lead to more mistakes and therefore a higher attrition rate in the race than has been seen for the last few seasons.

The other main factor involving the wearing of the tires is that the tires grain a lot at Monaco, more so than at most tracks.  This throws small marbles onto the track off the racing line. If a driver accidentally moves an inch offline, those marbles are enough to send them off the track and into the wall.

The amount of marbles left becomes worse as the race goes on and the available clear racing line becomes less and less.

Unpredictable weather this weekend in Monaco

There are forecasts suggesting the possibility of rain throughout the GP weekend.  A wet Monaco track will be very treacherous as the surface doesn’t offer that much grip even if it is dry.  Add in all the white lines and bumps which will be made even more slippery with rain.

Without traction, controlling the cars will be even harder to handle in these conditions. The odds will be well and truly evened.

In 1996 a wet race resulted in only 4 cars finishing the race, the conditions sent even the big stars into the barriers. Last season in a wet practice session Adrian Sutil topped the timesheets proving how even the wet conditions will make the contest in Monaco.

Safety Cars

Due to the high probability of accidents in Monaco, the SC is very often used and teams have to take this into account when adopting how much fuel they start with. Low fuelled drivers will gain a disadavantage when it comes to the safety car coming out.  In this situation drivers with more fuel will benefit as the field bunches up, so there is a very fine line to play with here.

Often the teams will put their two cars on different fuel loads to cover both situations, putting their cars on the same fuel could well play to their advantage if the race pans out as the team hopes.  However if it goes wrong both cars suffer and end up losing potential valuable points. For instance last season both BMWs gambled that there would be SCs so fuelled up very heavily, there wasn't one so they both lost out and finished further back than they should have done.

All these factors will make this weekend’s Monaco GP very challenging indeed for the drivers. There are more variables in Monaco, which can affect the race than at any other standard track on the calendar. So it is very easy to see why past drivers have called a win at Monaco the equivalent of half a championship.

The lack of overtaking at Monaco may be a problem but Monaco usually has a habit of causing strange results due to the big difference drivers can make and the attrition rate that the difficulty of the track causes. When you add in the tactical element mixed with safety cars it can become very interesting. Add in the sight of seeing the cars on the narrow streets and you have a great spectacle to watch this weekend. Don’t miss it.

Watch out for PART TWO of my Monaco preview when I look at the form guide for the weekend and see which teams are likely to be fastest around the streets of Monte-Carlo.