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.

Analysis: How will F1’s new Monaco tyre rule work – and how might teams try to exploit it?

“That’s not to say I think it’s a bad idea to do a two-stop. I think we need to try something – but it may not really change the style of the race.”

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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