Fernando Alonso, Alpine, Monaco, 2022

Alonso rubbishes ‘social media talk’ over F1 dropping Monaco Grand Prix

2022 Monaco Grand Prix

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The Monaco Grand Prix faces an uncertain future as its promoters are yet to agree a deal to keep it on the calendar beyond this year.

The track is notorious for producing processional races, as Formula 1 cars long ago became too large and quick to race on it effectively.

However F1 drivers, many of which live near the circuit, regard the narrow, barrier-lined course as one of the most demanding venues the series visits, and are eager to see the historic race continue.

“It’s a track which is full of challenges,” said Sergio Perez. “At any point you can make a small mistake where in a regular circuit it would not impact at all your result, but here it makes a huge difference.

“Being committed, being patient, being precise, it always pays off here. But you have to build up confidence to the weekend from FP1 already. Track time here is very important.

“I look forward to it. I think Q3 we are all very excited. We all feel like we can make the difference in Q3. That’s why the drivers love this place.”

Perez’s team mate Max Verstappen said the track isn’t up to the standard of modern facilities but doesn’t believe it should lose its race.

“If they would propose the plans nowadays with how the track layout is, probably it would not be on the calendar,” said last year’s Monaco Grand Prix winner. “But I think because of the historic value to it, I think the amazing weekends we’ve had throughout the years, I think it belongs on the calendar.

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“Of course, with the cars we have now, they’re a bit too big, a bit too long, a bit too heavy for the track layout. But it is something special and I do we should continue.”

Gallery: Monaco Grand Prix practice in pictures
The venue has other shortcomings, noted Carlos Sainz Jnr, but he also doesn’t want F1 to leave.

“I think Monaco deserves to be on the F1 calendar,” said the Ferrari driver. “It’s a great place to come to. When you think about Formula 1, a lot of people think about Monaco.

“It would be nice to put an overtaking place, I’m not going to lie, the show could be a bit better on Sunday. But even if not, I still think everyone knows a weekend here is about qualifying, around the pit stops and everyone is already expecting that. So it’s not like we’re missing out in much.”

Fernando Alonso, who won the race back-to-back in 2006 and 2007, rubbished the idea of dropping it from the schedule.

“I think it has to be in the calendar,” he said. “I don’t see any reason why it should not be in the calendar.

“Because overtaking is difficult? It is difficult also in Singapore. It has been difficult in Barcelona, it has been difficult in Budapest, before DRS. Before 2011 there were no overtakes in Budapest or in Barcelona or in Monaco, in Singapore, and they were not talks about removing those races in the calendar.

“Now there is a lot of talks, with social media, how the world is, you need to talk constantly about things, random things, and this is one thing that doesn’t make sense.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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9 comments on “Alonso rubbishes ‘social media talk’ over F1 dropping Monaco Grand Prix”

  1. Surely Monaco must remain. Overtaking is not the be all and end all of F1. I’ve always found the unique challenge of Monaco highly entertaining and there’s nothing quite like qualifying here. If you can’t win he world championship, winning Monaco is the next best thing. How many people would remember Olivier Panis were it not for his 1996 victory?

  2. I think it is important to remember that just because something is said by people on social media, that doesn’t mean it’s what the majority think. Admittedly, racefans readers seem to be older than the average F1 fan and aren’t really representative of fans as a whole, but it would be interesting to see a poll on here of what people currently think about the Monaco GP.

    1. Agreed with you @f1frog – it would be nice to see a poll about this – I am probably in the older bracket at 55, but I think Monaco is done really, so there’s my vote in advance :)

    2. @f1frog I think maybe the best indicator we have of what fans think is the fan survey F1 conducted last year which I think 250,000+ fans took part in & that had Monaco voted as the 5th most popular circuit (Spa, Silverstone, Suzuka & Monza were 1-4).

      It was also up somewhere towards the top of the prior surveys conducted by F1, The FIA & GPDA over the past 10-15 years.

  3. the cars are way too big. that’s the problem. i recall that even in the 2000s F1 cars were overtaking in places around Monaco.

    1. In the 2000s overtaking at Monaco was as it is now. It only happened if someone made a mistake or a faster car was behind a much slower car ( a fast car starting at the back or tyres completely gone like the Renaults that year). It was pretty much the same in the 90s too. Overtaking stats since 2000 can be found on Reddit and even older stats (Brian Lawrence? can be found somewere)

      The difference to the 2000s I that it was then it was very hard to overtake at all tracks. Overtaking is now easy everywhere except at Monaco.

    2. Adrian, I think Bernoldi and Coulthard might want a word with you…

  4. Electroball76
    28th May 2022, 10:10

    Keep the racetrack and drivers, but change the vehicles for this event. Have them all go out in shifter karts.

  5. Dropping Monaco from the schedule isn’t a bad thing as such, as the track is rather dull and having F1 cars muck around in 2nd gear is not interesting, but only if it meant replacing it with tracks that allow F1 cars to both show their capabilities as high performance, high downforce cars and also allow for proper racing (i.e. not just include a generic 1,5 kilometer DRS-friendly straight).

    But we all know what Liberty really wants is not more tracks like Suzuka, Spa-Francorchamps or Silverstone, but rather to get their hands on the Monaco trackside advertising income or, failing that, to have more Miami-style events on temporary ‘tracks’ that are even less interesting than Monaco.

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