F1 must look at ways to overhaul Monaco GP procession – Horner

MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Formula One must look at ways to improve Monaco’s legendary F1 race to avoid a repeat of Sunday’s parade race.

Although Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc provided a compelling storyline with his first win on home soil, the Monaco Grand Prix was briefly halted by a collision between the Sergio Perez and Haas drivers on lap one.

That stop means drivers can change tires before the restart, meaning most won’t need to pit again during the race.

For the first time in any race since the formation of the F1 championship in 1950, the top ten finished in the same position as they started.

„It was a very consistent race,” Red Bull boss Christian Horner said on Sunday evening. „Top ten it started and the red flag effectively killed the race because everyone was going to run until the end of the race.

„It’s something we have to look at collectively. When you’re three or four seconds off the pace, it’s not racing because the other car doesn’t have a chance to overtake. Monaco is a very special place to race.

„But the cars are so big now, we have to see if we can 'do something to introduce an overtaking area’ or at least the possibility of overtaking, because the top ten started on stages and there wasn’t one. Overtaking the top 10.”

He added: „It’s a great place, so much history here, but everything is evolving. The cars are so big now, they’re almost twice as big compared to ten years ago.”

Red Bull struggled all week in Monaco, with Max Verstappen sixth, his lowest finish since the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Red Bull has failed to win two of its last three races and McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed the Miami Grand Prix in early May, but Horner downplayed the notion that the championship had suddenly opened up.

The Monaco result moved Leclerc to within 31 points of Verstappen, while Red Bull now leads Ferrari by 24 points — both margins that have been much slimmer than F1 fans have been for the past year and a half.

„You’ve got to go, we don’t take anything for granted in the championship,” Horner said.

„This race was won on a Saturday and obviously we had a bad day yesterday. Now we have a huge amount of data to understand what the issues were with the rider and the barriers. The races to come.”