Max Verstappen slams Monaco GP rule experiment: ‘We were doing Mario Kart'

Telegraph

25-05-2025

Max Verstappen likened Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix to 'Mario Kart racing' as he led criticism of the 'two-pit stop' rule imposed for the race, dismissing the experiment as gimmicky and saying it 'had not worked'.
Red Bull's four-time world champion added that F1's drivers might as well 'throw bananas around' to make the track 'slippery', as they do in the Nintendo game, if the sports' rulers were that intent on spicing up the action.
The lack of overtaking on Monaco's tight and twisting street circuit has become an annual talking point. After last year's race, in which the top 10 drivers finished in the same order they started for the first time in the sport's history, F1's rulers decided to impose a rule forcing cars to run three different sets of tyres, effectively turning the race into a two-stopper.
The experiment was met with a mixed reaction following Lando Norris's victory. Although it created more jeopardy, which Verstappen himself tried to exploit by waiting until the penultimate lap of the race to make his second stop, hoping for a red flag which would have given him the win, it did not lead to better racing.
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There were no overtakes. And although different strategies created intrigue, many teams ended up using one driver as a 'buffer', holding up the field safe in the knowledge that no one could pass them, so that their team-mate could get a free stop.
Mercedes' George Russell became so frustrated sitting behind a slow-lapping Alex Albon that at one point he went straight on at the chicane, passing the Williams, and then refused to give the place back when ordered to by his team. 'I'll just take the penalty,' he said.
Russell was handed a drive-through penalty by the stewards, but ended up finishing 11th, having started 14th. 'Ironically, I finished in a higher position by doing my manoeuvre with Alex than I would have done if I hadn't,' he said. 'So that in itself proves the system's pretty flawed.'
Some felt Russell's actions were unsporting but Williams were actually apologetic. Albon called the move 'cheeky' but conceded that Russell 'had to try something' given he was backing him up so blatantly, while Williams team principal James Vowles even sent a text message to Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff during the race apologising for his driver's blocking tactics.
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Asked what the message said, Wolff replied: 'It said, 'I'm sorry. We had no choice given what happened ahead.' I answered: 'We know.'' Russell said there were also no hard feelings with Albon. 'I'm having dinner with him tonight, so he'll definitely get the bill,' he joked.
Russell reserved his criticism for the two-stop rule. 'I appreciate them trying something this year, but the two-stop clearly did not work at all,' he said.
Russell did suggest one solution. 'For all of the drivers, qualifying is the most exhilarating moment of the weekend. So do we accept that there should be no race and it's a qualifying race? You do one on Saturday, one on Sunday, and the guy who qualifies on pole gets some points and gets a little trophy,' he said.
'Because that's what we love most. I think that's what you guys enjoy watching the most. And 99 per cent of the other people in Monaco are here sipping champagne on a yacht, so they don't really care.'
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was more positive about the two-stop experiment, saying he felt it had made the race more interesting. 'I would say it was an improvement [on last year],' he said. 'It was strategically more interesting. There was more jeopardy to it. Certainly better than what we saw last year where there was just a procession. The fundamental problem is you cannot overtake here, and you can drive around three, four seconds off the pace, so that's the fundamental problem.'
Horner said Monaco's organisers should re-examine whether they could alter the layout of the track to create an overtaking zone. 'Either on the exit of the tunnel or turn one, if there was any way of creating a longer braking zone somewhere, you know, we should really investigate it,' he said. 'The cars are so big now that you just don't have a chance to get alongside.'
Wolff said the sport could look at stopping drivers from driving too slowly, forcing them to lap within a certain percentage of the leaders. But he conceded that would not help with the lack of overtaking. 'It's difficult when we're in a city, and we're limited by a mountain and the sea,' he said. 'But you know, I see the positives [of Monaco]. It is an unbelievable spectacle.'
Verstappen, as he often is, was the most blunt with his criticism. 'Of course I get [what F1 was trying], but I don't think it has worked,' he said. 'You can't race here anyway, so it doesn't matter what you do. One stop, 10 stops.
'We were almost doing Mario Kart. Then we have to install bits on the car. Maybe you can throw bananas around. Yeah, I don't know. Slippery surface.'