Monaco: Does it really still belong?

[HeyDarHey]

Its F1, they run a lot of special parts for monano anyway.

Build special cars for Monaco that take the existing engines. No wings, no ground effects. Mandate a short wheelbase with narrow cars.

Can't remember the details but I believe the track is or has been modified in 2 sections to allow for passing.

[BADGER]

I recall when I first saw that and my first thought was sadness.

Looking at that, I wonder if the cars would shorten up a bit if they limited the area of the ground floor. Right now, they go as long as possible or the limit is set by a clearance to the front wheels. If you limit that area as viewed from above, you could keep it just as long, but it would be skinny, or shorten the floor and keep existing length.

[happyscrappy-t]

The longer cars have made the cars absolutely dull to watch. They just lumber around the track, and at record pace, but look slower than school bus. I really hate the current era cars. I want twitchy cars that are a handful to keep straight. Monaco would be great with 800hp Formula Vees.

[FormulaFox]

I assume much of the extra length is to accommodate the extra battery and alphabet soup for the hybrid system.

Partially. It also helps with yaw stability(same thing that made the Porsche 962 perform better than the 956 despite the chassis being mostly identical save for wheelbase).

But they really don't need to be as long as they've gotten to fit all the hybrid junk in. But it and the larger fuel cells needed to accommodate the no-refueling requirements are a not insignificant chunk of it - if you look at the comparison image you'll notice there is a big increase in length the moment they moved to the no-refueling cars. If the new engine regulations brought back refueling it'd probably be pretty easy to shrink them down pretty close to what came before, and if you apply the immobilizer technology IndyCar uses you can certainly solve the safety issues of pitstop refueling.

But it would likely still have to be mandated because the shorter cars would be more twitchy in corners - good for the viewer, not necessarily for the driver/team.

[atrackforumfan]

Jeezus Chrysler. It's one track out of over 20, like Talladega, and it has been operating for nearly a century. It is what it is.

[Jim Wilke]

The width of the cars is not an issue, it's entirely the excessive length. At a maximum width of 2,000mm the current cars aren't even the widest that have ever raced in F1. Few well-known examples:
Ferrari 312T: 2,030mm
Lotus 79: 2,146mm
McLaren MP4/4: 2,134mm
I could list more, but I think the point is made.

So yeah, we just need to get the ridiculous length taken care of and things should improve drastically. It's not like narrowing the cars in 1998 discernibly improved anything at Monaco(though they did have the grooved tires messing with things).

I assume much of the extra length is to accommodate the extra battery and alphabet soup for the hybrid system.

[FormulaFox]

The width of the cars is not an issue, it's entirely the excessive length. At a maximum width of 2,000mm the current cars aren't even the widest that have ever raced in F1. Few well-known examples:
Ferrari 312T: 2,030mm
Lotus 79: 2,146mm
McLaren MP4/4: 2,134mm
I could list more, but I think the point is made.

So yeah, we just need to get the ridiculous length taken care of and things should improve drastically. It's not like narrowing the cars in 1998 discernibly improved anything at Monaco(though they did have the grooved tires messing with things).

[PaddockMoose]

Its F1, they run a lot of special parts for monano anyway.

Build special cars for Monaco that take the existing engines. No wings, no ground effects. Mandate a short wheelbase with narrow cars.

[VirtualBalboa]

Monaco
Indy 500
World 600

Such a great day of racing. Replacing Monaco with, for example, Istanbul, just wouldn't be the same. Though Istanbul is a much better track, the pageantry and tradition of Monaco mean something. I don't know if anything can be done to improve the track, but I hope they figure something out.

If the replacement was something like Monza or Spa or another historic circuit, I doubt people would be upset. I've said that Monaco is a race I might actually make because its comparatively easy logistically for me and my wife (who is not a racing fan). That's still true. But I can't sit here and say I'm that excited for it after Q3 is done Friday. You're just tuning in to see who takes out 1/4 of the field in turn one at that point and hoping for either a light sprinkle or the leader to bounce off the wall.

[Openracer]

I would be on board if there were examples of pretty much any overtakes each year at Monaco. Honestly, there are very, very few such examples recently. And the reason is this (current cars are far left):

formula-1-car-size-over-the-years.jpg

This is the answer. The current cars are too wide and too long for the track size.

BTW - the 312T and the 312B1 are just gorgeous.

[FormulaFox]

My short answer: Yes.
My long answer: Yes, but the current F1 cars don't belong on it.

[Baulz]

Sometimes progress sucks but the body count would be much higher now if they were still running little cigar shaped tubes full of fuel.

I don't think anyone wants to go back that far, but the mid-2000 cars were a perfect size compared to the monsters of today.

[PastorOfMuppets]

Monaco
Indy 500
World 600

Such a great day of racing. Replacing Monaco with, for example, Istanbul, just wouldn't be the same. Though Istanbul is a much better track, the pageantry and tradition of Monaco mean something. I don't know if anything can be done to improve the track, but I hope they figure something out.

[KevMcNJ]

Well, the sport would have gone out of existence.

My point exactly. Progress.

[Coastal Eddy]

Sometimes progress sucks but the body count would be much higher now if they were still running little cigar shaped tubes full of fuel.

Well, the sport would have gone out of existence.