The circuit may be iconic, but overtaking on the streets of the Principality is extremely difficult. Photo: Getty Images/Dan Mullin
The Circuit de Monaco has undergone many changes since its inception. Some of these were minor changes, others were slightly more significant. However, in fact, this is approximately the same track as 94 years ago, operating on the same piece of land.
In recent years, there have been claims that Formula 1 has literally outgrown the Monaco Grand Prix. The new regulation cars are huge, much wider and longer than even 15 years ago, which makes overtaking on the track even more difficult.
Formula 1 sticks to current regulations, so smaller cars for the next 10 years or so very unlikely. If the sport wants to improve racing in the Principality, the circuit layout in Monaco must change.
This is not an easy task. The streets are already narrow and heavily built up around. There are various tunnels, elevation changes, flyovers and new developments that make any significant change expensive and difficult – all for a 12-month race.
Monaco Formula 1 track, 2005
But that would be wrong. not consider some changes if Monaco remains relevant to F1 and that it is more than a billion pound annual march. We have tried to ensure that our proposal is not too outlandish or fantastic, although some of them are more realistic and achievable than others.
Probably little can be changed in the first sector due to the topography of the area around the area and lack of alternative roads of sufficient width for laying the route. The limiting factor is the length of the pit “in a straight line”, not the angle of rotation.
It might be wise to turn left at Massenet and walk up the Avenue Princesse Alice, rounding the other side of the Hotel de Paris. Drivers would then turn left, then right onto Avenue de la Costa, then turn right onto Avenue de la Madon, and then take a tighter left turn before Mirebeau and the station hairpin. See the diagram below for this.
The Hotel Paris is a memorable landmark. Photo: Getty Images/Mark Thompson
In doing so, you will lose the famous Casino Square and the infamous Mirabeau docking point, and gain nothing but track length. Of course, there are no clear overtaking points in what would be a twisty and undulating addition.
The first option for a realistic change, then, comes to Portier, the narrow right-hand drive that takes you into the tunnel. The current road layout makes it easy to change from a simple right to an extended loop.
Some changes to the road surface will be needed to make it tighter (and more rewarding) than just using the current road layout, but this is probably not necessary as the speed at this point will be too low to make room for overtaking.
Ideally, this change would occur as a group of potential changes in the second quadrant, as it would be of minimal importance on its own. If Portier were re-profiled into this loop (highlighted in red, see the figure below), this would mean that the speed of entering the tunnel and, more importantly, leaving it would increase.
Nouvelle Chicane was installed in 1986 (replacing the old Chicane du Port) and repurposed several times. It's a rather awkward pair of corners these days, where an overtaking attempt is more likely to result in a crash than a clean pass. Why not just remove it altogether? Or turn it into a small movie.
Can the chicane be removed or turned into a movie? Credit: Getty Images/Jeff Pachud
To facilitate overtaking at this point, it may be necessary to add a second DRS zone, starting at the exit of the tunnel. The length of this flat section at this point (about 1 km) may be sufficient for slipstream overtaking, but a little DRS may help.
3005 Monaco Track Changes 1
An additional help would be to make the braking zone heavier in the next corner on Tabaka. This would have been achieved by lengthening the run to it and removing the chicane. This would be a good start and could work on its own, but it might not automatically create a great overtaking spot. In fact, Tabac would need to be completely repurposed to make any significant changes.
In recent years, land has been reclaimed along the Mediterranean Sea, resulting in a large complex of buildings outside of Portier. This may be the best option for Tobacco's redevelopment. There is a harbor on the inside of the corner, but any changes other than minor changes will be costly and may simply be impossible.
The most drastic change that could have had a positive effect on overtaking chances comes back to Portier and drastically changes the area of the track.
3005 Monaco Track Changes 2
Instead of a small loop (in red) as suggested above, there is option (blue) turn left, walk half a kilometer straight up and then down Princess Grace Avenue.
The first of these straights could be turned into a DRS zone and then into a hairpin, perhaps just for the race, to give drivers a real chance to overtake. The main problem with this proposal is the width of the streets.
Narrow streets that a potential new straight line could pass through
To get two adjacent straight lines with a barrier in the middle and sides, greenery and furniture in the middle should be significantly narrowed or, more likely, removed altogether. Sidewalks will also have to be removed or redone.
Currently, the width from the far end of the carriageway to the other is about 16 meters. In comparison to another street circuit, the parallel straights in Baku (turns 6 to 7 and 19 to 20) have a total roadway width of 23 meters, which shows the difficulty of making the circuit in Monaco suitable for any kind of racing, let alone to facilitate overtaking .
Straight side by side in Baku Photo: AP/Sergey Grits
Nothing is impossible, but this change will require the biggest shocks and may just be too complicated and expensive for one weekend of the year. And that's the key to making any major layout changes at Monaco.
The lack of overtaking here is not exactly a new development – if a simple solution were possible, it would be found by now. Changes must certainly not be ruled out if the Monaco Grand Prix and the Automobile Club of Monaco are to remain relevant for the coming decades, rather than resting on the laurels of the previous 94 years.
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