Alexander Albon expects Formula 1’s new tyre rules for the Monaco Grand Prix will lead to more teams trying to tactically delay their rivals.
Overtaking is so difficult at the narrow Monaco circuit that drivers can easily lap much slower than race pace while not being held up by rivals behind them.A team could use that to their advantage this weekend as F1 has introduced a special rule requiring every driver to change tyres twice during Sunday’s grand prix. While their leading driver laps at normal pace, their second driver could be told to slow down, creating a gap for the first car to pit into.
Albon pointed out Haas used a similar tactic at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last year. He collided with Kevin Magnussen, who was lapping slowly to allow his tema mate Nico Hulkenberg to pull away.
“In the midfield, it’s [about] team mates and how they help each other,” he explained. “A good example would be Jeddah last year with Haas, when Kevin made a race where he basically parked the bus and allowed Nico to have a free stop.
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“Around a track like here with two stops, that’s definitely possible. You don’t want a race like that.
Another possible scenario could see multiple drivers pitting at the end of lap one to complete their first mandatory pit stop as quickly as possible.
“Obviously we’re doing this to shake it up and the worry is that it doesn’t shake it up and it just creates a lap-one situation where everyone starts to come into the pits and just tries to take some of the space and use lap two, three, four, five – whatever it may be – to push.
“Who knows? The biggest thing if you speak to the team, and I think every strategist, is that we don’t really know how it’s going to play out.”
Oliver Bearman, one of Haas’s current drivers, said teams will wait to see where they qualify before working out the implications of the new rules.
“Prior to qualifying, we’re not really sure what to do, because the ideal strategy is quite dependent on where you start,” he said. “So we have to really hope to qualify well first off. And then Saturday night will be a very busy one, trying to understand what we aim for on Sunday.”
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2025 Monaco Grand Prix
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Craig
22nd May 2025, 18:35
Whether you like it or not it’s a strategy so long as they’re not back markers and being shown the blue flag.
MichaelN
22nd May 2025, 19:03
Indeed, like Albon himself in 2022 when he openly admitted he ignored the blue flags on purpose.
And then the FIA did, well, nothing.
Jonathan Parkin
22nd May 2025, 19:05
What makes this situation even sillier, is the only driver last year who actually drove through the debris was I believe Tsunoda
Everyone else didn’t drive through any debris as the crash happened behind them. Therefore they shouldn’t have had a free tyre stop.
And it should have been a fresh race from zero to 78 laps like the old days
MacLeod (@macleod)
23rd May 2025, 8:10
So the last one pit directly drive to the rear of the pack while the other save their tyres…
then repeat …
If the top save their tyres this is going to hurt them as the last guy is going to win.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
23rd May 2025, 10:37
@macleod Only if the leaders pay no attention and don’t react to what drivers are doing behind them. If the backmarkers pit first, the leaders at some point will start to stretch their legs to make sure they don’t get undercut.
Patrick (@anunaki)
23rd May 2025, 10:25
so you qualify 1 and 2,
2 holds up to create a gap for 1 to pit,
1 and 2 switch positions and do the same thing
repeat for 2nd pitstop
Grapmg
23rd May 2025, 13:18
This was always a possibility even in the current “one stop” rule. I think the strategy advantage in the.new rules is to gamble and stop extremely early or extremely late and hope for a SC advantage
Fawkes
23rd May 2025, 12:26
Happy now, Red Bull/Max supporters? Well, this is basically “It’S aLlOwEd iN dA rUlEs” approach you guys were defending here. Just because something will earn you an advantage does not mean it is moral. And yes, this applies to all teams. Yes, I remember Mercedes doing this in Monaco to double stack pit Lewis and Bottas some years ago. It’s just silly, anti fair play.