Max Verstappen and George Russell on Monaco GP fix: ‘Bananas’ or ‘sprinklers’?
Max Verstappen and George Russell have offered tongue-in-cheek solutions to spice up the Monaco Grand Prix after a chaotic but ultimately controversial race with new rules, with “bananas” and “sprinklers” both suggested.
The governing FIA debuted two-stop regulations for the Monaco GP this year, meaning every driver pitted at least twice for three different sets of tyres. But while this led to more action in the pit-lane, the on-track drama was limited and Lando Norris still emerged victorious from pole.
There were also controversial tactics deployed by teams such as Racing Bulls and Williams, with their ‘second’ drivers slowing up the pack – often by multiple seconds – to allow their leading drivers to pit without losing position.
Drivers were critical of the rules after the race, and reigning world champion Verstappen, who finished fourth, told Sky Sports: “You can’t race here. It doesn’t matter what you do. One stop, 10 stops.
“Even at the end, I was in the lead, my tyres were completely gone and you still can’t pass.
“Nowadays with an F1 car, you can just pass an F2 car around here. I get [the new rule] but I don’t think it’s worked.”
Told about potentially having pit windows for the stops, Verstappen said: “Honestly we were almost doing Mario Kart.
“Then we have to install bits on the car and maybe you can throw bananas around! Slippery surface!”
Russell had a nightmare Sunday, stuck in traffic before picking up a drivethrough penalty for overtaking a slow Alex Albon illegally through the chicane. He finished 11th, with neither Mercedes in the points.
“Every driver should have a button where you put the sprinklers on around the track,” Russell suggested.
“You can do it in qualifying, in the race, but you can only do it once. It spices it up a bit.
“Or you could do two qualifying sessions.. I don’t know, because the race is pretty silly. This is not really a race.”
Formula 1 next heads to Barcelona for the final installment of a European triple header. The Spanish GP runs from May 30 to June 1.