Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has defended the series’ decision to introduce its special rule for the Monaco Grand Prix forcing drivers to change tyres twice.
The new regulation dominated discussion around last weekend’s race in the principality but led to few changes of position in the race. Aside from Fernando Alonso’s retirement due to a technical problem, the only change in order among the top 10 drivers came as a result of Lewis Hamilton’s pit stop.
However Domenicali said the increased discussion around the team’s strategies justified the decision to experiment by changing the championship’s rules for a single event.
“We know that the width of the street is [limited] and the cars are quite big, so the attempt is to create attention to that,” he told Sky.
“It was great to see that the day before everyone was thinking that everyone has to [do a pit] stop on the first lap, and a lot of discussion, so no one understood exactly anything. I think it was the right attempt and the attention was definitely there.
“Of course you know that teams took the strategy out of it. The good thing is that we are talking about it.”
Several drivers criticised the rules change afterwards, pointing out it had led teams to pursue more extreme ‘manipulation’ strategies. These involved instructing one driver to deliberately lap slowly, holding up rivals behind them, in order to allow their team mates ahead to make their pit stops.
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Alexander Albon, one of the drivers who followed instructions to deliberately drive slowly, called the race “very ugly” and apologised to fans afterwards. His team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr said the new rule “backfired” and pace manipulation was “not [the] way I dream about racing around Monaco.”
Lando Norris said F1 was trying to “manufacture” races by giving drivers more opportunities to win through luck rather than skill. “The last thing I want is manufactured racing,” said last week’s winner. “We definitely need to stay away from that and do a better job with cars, with tyres. Then you might start to see more racing, but not by just introducing so many pit stops.”
Domenicali said the series has spoken to the event promoters regarding making changes to the circuit, which has run on the streets of Monte-Carlo since 1929.
“I think that [over] 75 years, they want[ed] to try to do something different,” he said. “I mean, we are talking with the city, but as you can imagine, it’s not easy at all. So let’s enjoy the event that has been, at the end of the day, fantastic.”
“The Monaco event has been amazing,” Domenicali stressed. “We never had so many people, so many boats, so much attention. That means that the event itself is what Formula 1 wants, and that is really great.”
Before the event, Monegasque racer Charles Leclerc said F1 should be prepared to drop the rule if it failed to improve the racing. Domenicali did not indicate whether it will remain in place for next year.
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