Monaco could stay, but at a price: This is what is changing in F1
General
- Ludo van Denderen
If there is one Grand Prix that causes varying opinions, it is the race in Monaco. Some love the history, the glamour, and the always exciting qualifying. The other, on the contrary, abhors racing through the principality, as modern F1 cars are not made for serious battle in the narrow streets - resulting in the world's most expensive parade. Nevertheless, Monaco will remain on the F1 calendar until 2031. But that contract did not come without concession.
Monaco was and still is a unique Grand Prix on the F1 calendar. For years, moreover, the race had an exceptional position, with, for example, the two first free practice sessions on Thursday. Also, the organisers of the Grand Prix were always allowed to provide the TV coverage themselves, with the result that the most important action was regularly not on screen. Both issues have already been put to an end in recent years by Formula One Management (FOM).
Monaco loses fixed date on F1 calendar
With the new contract, Monaco loses another long-standing privilege, namely that the race is held on the last weekend of May. This makes the Grand Prix always happen on the same day as the Indy 500, another historic motorsport event. By moving the race to June in the future, FOM is taking an important step in the regional clustering of Grands Prix.
Indeed, it was increasingly a thorn in FOM's side that F1 was criss-crossing the globe, not only costing a lot of unnecessary money, but certainly bad for the environment. Take the '24 season, in which Formula 1 visited Miami, then had two races in Europe (including Monaco), only to fly across the big pond again for only the Canadian Grand Prix.
Monaco the opener of the European F1 season?
It seems likely that this unnecessary flying will come to an end, and from 2026 Miami and Canada will be consecutive races, with the European part of the season only kicking off in June. Perhaps Monaco will then be the opening race in Europe, as the Barcelona Grand Prix will likely disappear from the calendar and the Spanish race will happen in Madrid later that year.
For Monaco - a place fond of tradition - the move on the calendar was probably a bit a tough pill to swallow. But to guarantee a place in the future too, there was probably nothing else to do but make that concession.