Toto Wolff Reveals Rule Changes He’d Make to Save Monaco GP

Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, has given his ideas on how to improve races at the Monaco Grand Prix after another low-key Sunday despite the new rule about enforcing two-stop strategies.

While the Principality is a historical jewel of Formula 1 and motorsport in general, races in recent years have been prone to increasingly dull affairs with little to no overtaking or even any sort of change in the qualifying order.

WIth the modern-day F1 car proving unsuitable for racecraft in the tight streets of Monaco, the future of its place on the calendar has been shrouded in doubt, unless a solution is found to remedy this. Thus, a new rule was implemented for this year’s race, where every driver must make a minimum of two pit stops. The idea was that the extra enforced stop would create more risk-taking strategies, particularly with the higher likelihood of red flags and Safety Cars. Yet, the result failed to meet expectations as the race was once again dull and devoid of action, with little change of positions at the front of the field.

Toto Wolff’s Thoughts on Monaco

He’s provided his ideas on how to improve the race

With the two-stop rule unable to show signs of improving the spectacle, Wolff shared his thoughts on the dilemma of Monaco, and offered some suggestions of his own as experiments in the future.

“I think, you know, even if this was a zero-stop race, and we’re doing autocourse on the Sunday, it’s still a mega venue, and then it’s the Saturday shootout that matters.

Monaco GP 2025 top 5
Position	Driver	Team	Points
1.	Lando Norris	McLaren	25
2.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	18
3.	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	15
4.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	12
5.	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	10

“But I think what we can look at is to create some Monaco-specific regulations so that there’s only a maximum [amount] of back off that you can have. You can’t hold up a train. Overtaking anyway is difficult, but you can say ‘You can’t go slower than x seconds from the leaders’. That will probably create a little bit more of a closer field. Does it improve the overtaking? I don’t think that’s feasible.

“We need to talk also with maybe ACM [Automobile Club de Monaco] here to say, ‘Is there anything we can change on the layout?’ It’s difficult, we’re in a city, we’re limited by a mountain and the sea, but I see the positive. This is an unbelievable spectacle.”

Wolff’s words about the Saturday spectacle remain true, as the qualifying sessions in Monaco are still the most exciting to watch each season and the general atmosphere of the weekend is quite special. Yet, it is the Sunday races that are the main draw of a race weekend, and if that is lacking, then concerns are valid.

With the layout very difficult to alter, it is more likely that different Monaco-based rules are the way to go as Wolff proposed, although a maximum gap requirement might be hard to enforce.

Other options are changes to current car regulations, by making them smaller to cope better with the narrow circuit, or to remove the event altogether, though, the latter is what all drivers and fans would like to avoid if possible.

Mercedes Woes at Monaco

It was a bad weekend for George Russell & Kimi Antonelli

Wolff’s team had a torrid time at this year’s race, as neither George Russell nor Kimi Antonelli were able to score points. The two were left to start 14th and 15th respectively on the grid and could not make their way back up into the top 10, as other teams ran one car slower in order for the other to pit without losing track position.

Russell finished 11th, two laps down, while Antonelli was 18th after playing the team game to help his British teammate, ultimately to no avail.