Lewis Hamilton is urging Formula 1 to look at ways to improve the Sunday spectacle at the Monaco Grand Prix.
There is great excitement ahead of the sport’s first trip to the Principality since 2019 this weekend after Covid-19 forced the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ to be absent from the calendar for the first time since 1954 last season.
However, there are also very low expectations for an action-packed race as the narrow streets of Monte Carlo are no longer conducive to producing the wheel-to-wheel racing many hope to see.
“These bigger, much faster cars mean there’s almost zero opportunity to overtake in a race, it’s been the case for some time and in my opinion, it needs to change,” Hamilton said via RaceFans on Wednesday.
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“We’ve had the same format for years. It is the best venue and it is the most beautiful place that we get to race at, but you already know that it’s never exciting for the fans.
“It’s a one-stop race with these hard, long stints that we get to do. On the list of difficult places to overtake it is off the scale, highly unlikely you’re ever going to get an opportunity to do so.
“I don’t think fans enjoy that. I don’t know what the solution is, but I’m hoping when we are looking forward to future generations, it can be a more exciting race for people.”
Since 2004, only four times has the polesitter not won in Monaco, with rain and strategy the cause for the changes of position.
And instead, the main highlight of the weekend now comes on Saturday in qualifying.
“Just driving the track, going through the tunnel, up into Casino, the whole experience for the weekend is mesmerising and that never changes,” Hamilton, a three-time Monaco winner, conceded.
“The feeling of winning here is never any less. Every year is unique and special if you are lucky enough to get the opportunity.
“But we’ve got a lot of tracks that we go to where you see racing. I think it’s been an exciting start to a season where you are seeing people overtaking and you see the whole field closed up.
“Here, you’re going to just see a train, naturally, on Sunday. The fans already know that’s what’s going to happen this weekend however it’s still exciting to watch, somehow.”
