Max Verstappen has expressed his willingness to help Formula 1 find ways to enhance the spectacle of the Monaco Grand Prix. Last weekend's race was widely criticized by fans for being boring due to the difficulty of overtaking on the narrow circuit.
Historically challenging for overtakes, the 2024 edition saw the top 10 positions remain unchanged from qualifying to the race's end, a first in F1 history. Verstappen finished in sixth place, while local favourite Charles Leclerc won the grand prix. However, Verstappen, in a recent media interaction, said that he would like to offer his help to FIA.
Speaking about it with RacingNews365.com he said, “Of course - if they ask for my opinion, I will try to see what is possible. But it also depends on what kind of roads you are going to take.” Verstappen criticized the Grand Prix as "not racing," echoing calls from several drivers for changes to the event.
“There’s no simple fix to the issue”, says Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen’s sixth-place finish was his worst Monaco GP result since 2018 when he climbed from the back of the grid to ninth. One proposed solution is mandatory pit stops, but Verstappen emphasized there's no simple fix to the issue.
He further said, “We have to look into maybe some other things first, just like mandatory tyres or whatever. I mean, it's not the first time. Monaco has always been a bit like this. Probably now more people have an opinion about it. But it's not an easy solution, I think.”
What was Lewis Hamilton’s solution to the issue?
Earlier, Lewis Hamilton also offered his idea to FIA to get back to a long-forgotten idea to improve the racing experience at Monaco Circuit. He had said, "Monaco hasn't changed much, the cars are getting bigger and there is a huge risk of colliding with the barriers. I wish we had bigger roads and that the track could be wider, but I don't think that that is ever going to be the case because it is just a small place.”
"The race is continuously pretty much the same it is a one-stop race, so I would say that maybe having special tyres for this race so you have more pit-stops, creates more variability. They can come up with a specific weekend, for this particular weekend.”
“They should come up with some new formula for it rather than it just being the same. You might fall asleep on Sunday during the race, so creating something else, I don't know how you would do that but it would be good."