'Hated it': Drivers rip 'dangerous' Monaco rule change

Following one of the dullest races in the event's history in 2024, organisers this year mandated each driver must make two pit stops.

But instead of producing a strategic battle that left questions unanswered until the final laps, it produced several examples of "dangerous" driving where teammates were deliberately slowing down to back the pack up and create gaps.

Lando Norris won his first race since the Australian Grand Prix in March from Charles Leclerc and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

Having produced only four on-track overtakes for position last year, this year's race didn't have a single legal move.

Lando Norris of Great Britain leads Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri in Monaco.

And in terms of shaking up the results, it failed on that front too. The top-four finished in grid order, while Lewis Hamilton's strategy got him past Isack Hadjar. The rest of the top-10 all finished as they started, but moved up one position courtesy of a DNF for Fernando Alonso.

In coverage for Sky Sports, legendary commentator Martin Brundle was first to whack the changes as the cars crossed the line, declaring "the focus was on pitting, not on racing".

2009 world champion Jenson Button added the sport looked "a bit silly".

Max Verstappen said it's so difficult to overtake, it doesn't matter what organisers do to spice up action.

The four-time world champion had the lead until the second-last lap when he was forced to make his second pitstop. He had been gambling on a late-race red flag which would have allowed him to bolt on a new set of tyres and almost guarantee him the win.

"You can't race here anyway, so it doesn't matter what you do," he told Sky Sports.

"One stop, 10 stops, even at the end, right, I was in the lead but my tyres were completely gone and you still can't pass.

"Nowadays, in an F1 car, you can (only) pass a Formula 2 car around here."

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Earlier in the race, Brundle suggested a change in the rule could mandate the two stops be taken either side of half way, or another similar window.

But Verstappen said doing so would turn F1 into "Mario Kart".

"Then we have to install bits on the car, maybe you can throw bananas around. Yeah, I don't know. Slippery surface?"

Racing Bulls and Williams were the two teams who implemented the slow driving the best. Early in the race, ninth-placed Liam Lawson twice held the pack up to create a gap his teammate Isack Hadjar ahead of him could emerge from the pits into.

Later, Alex Albon did similar after his second pitstop, which allowed teammate Carlos Sainz to scamper up the road, make his pitstop and keep track position.

Mercedes driver George Russell was stuck behind the Williams pair for much of the race. Tensions boiled over when he accused Albon of "driving dangerously slow" and "slamming on the brakes" in a terse radio message to his team.

He eventually deliberately cut the Nouvelle Chicane to get past, telling his team he would cop the penalty when it inevitably came from the FIA.

But instead of the five-second penalty he was expecting, he was handed a drive-through penalty. It dropped him back behind Albon and he finished 11th – his worst finish for the season.

Alexander Albon backed the pack up late in the race so his teammate could build a gap.

Williams' tactics netted the team a double-points finish, but neither driver was happy with having done it in such a manner.

"It shows the two-stop change is nothing around Monaco," Sainz said.

"People are still going to do what we did, manipulate the final result with their driving.

"I'm happy if they want to try things ... we tried (changing the rules) – for me it didn't work.

"I must say, it's not the way I like to race – it's not the way I dream about racing around Monaco."

Albon said he felt like the sport "put on a bad show for everyone", before looking down the camera and apologising to fans.

Norris was blunt when asked his thoughts.

"Hated it," he said, before later adding it had led to "manufactured racing".

Race winner Lando Norris celebrates in parc ferme with teammate Oscar Piastri.

He did however accept the rules were not introduced for the drivers.

"I wish it was a one-stop, it would have been a lot more chilled. It's not for me. The rules are not made for me. They're not made for us to enjoy it more or whatever," he said.

"They're made for the fans. They're made to provide more entertainment for the viewers. I don't know if that was the case.

"There hasn't been any more overtaking here. I thought that was what was wanted. Now you just give people opportunity by luck – by waiting for a red flag, waiting for a safety car.

"You're not getting a more deserved winner in the end of things, which I don't entirely agree with."

Norris said winning the race in Monaco – one prong of an unofficial 'triple crown' that also includes the Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans 24hr – was the realisation of a childhood dream.

Starting on pole position, Norris locked up a wheel into the first corner but still managed to hold off Leclerc, the local boy who won the race last year.

Norris celebrates on the podium with McLaren chief executive Zak Brown and teammate Oscar Piastri.

"It feels amazing. It's a long, gruelling race, but good fun," Norris said.

"This is what I dream of. This is what I did dream of when I was a kid."

It was McLaren's record-extending 16th win in Monaco and its first since a victory for a young Lewis Hamilton in 2008. Hamilton went on to win his first championship that year.

McLaren leaves Monaco with six wins from the first eight races of 2025 as its two drivers battle for the title. Even with just a third of the season gone, a second successive constructors' title for McLaren looks all but assured, as the team's 319 points are more than double the total of any other team.

Piastri was on the podium for the second year running in Monaco, and being disappointed with third was a sign of the progress he's made in those 12 months. Second place a year ago was only the third career podium finish for the Australian, who had yet to win a grand prix. Third place was Piastri's seventh podium finish in a row.

"If this is a bad weekend," Piastri said, "then it's not going too badly at all."

The F1 season continues at the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona next weekend.