F1 News: Christian Horner Insists Change Is Needed After Monaco GP Disaster

Red Bull's Christian Horner voiced concern about the state of racing in Monaco, citing limited overtaking opportunities after a stagnant Monaco Grand Prix.

Nov 16, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner arrives before practice at Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Monaco Grand Prix started with an early collision involving Sergio Perez and Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg. When the race resumed, no further pit stops were necessary, causing the top ten drivers to finish exactly where they started – a first in Formula 1's storied history since 1950.

Christian Horner, Red Bull’s team principal, expressed his frustration at the lack of action, pointing to the considerable dimensions of modern F1 cars as a significant barrier to overtaking in the narrow streets of Monaco. He commented to the media, as quoted by ESPN:

"It was a very static race. The top ten is as it started, the red flag effectively killed the race, because everybody just was going to run to the end of the race.

"It's something that we should collectively have a look at. It's not racing as such when you're just driving around three or four seconds off the pace because the other car hasn't got any chance of overtaking. Monaco is such a great place to come racing.

"But the cars are so big now that we just need to look at 'can we do something that introduces an overtaking area' or at least the potential of an overtake because the top ten is exactly as it started on the grid and not a single overtake in the top 10.

"It's such a great place, so much history here, but everything evolves. The cars are so big now, if you compare them to cars of ten years ago they're almost twice the size."

Red Bull experienced a less dominant outing at Monaco, with Max Verstappen finishing sixth – his lowest placement since the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Despite this setback, Horner remained optimistic about the championship prospects, placing essential emphasis on analyzing race data to overcome performance challenges in future races. Horner continued:

"There's a long way to go, we've never taken anything for granted in the championship.

"This race is won on a Saturday and obviously we had a poor day yesterday. To understand what the issues were with the ride and kerbs we've got a huge amount of data now to go away and look at and look to address for the upcoming races."