McLaren's Lando Norris secured victory at the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix starting from pole position in a race that witnessed only four overtakes.
Lewis Hamilton is anticipating the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend.
"It's the one track where power is not king," the Ferrari driver states. "It's definitely car performance. Our car could be really strong there."
While Hamilton and his teammate Charles Leclerc expect a favorable weekend around Monaco's narrow streets due to the reduced impact of their engine's power deficit compared to Mercedes, they are not the only drivers eager for the race.
Indeed, nearly every driver is looking forward to it because Monaco's unique characteristics suggest the race will differ from others this season. There is even a possibility—though less likely—that the very nature of the Monaco Grand Prix could change.
In qualifying, drivers anticipate being able to drive at the limit throughout for the first time this year; their primary complaint about this year's cars has been the inability to do so. In the race, there is speculation that overtaking might become possible under certain conditions. However, as one senior figure remarks,
"in the end, it's Monaco. It won't be about overtaking."
Let us examine how Monaco might alter the racing dynamics.
The racing
Monaco has gained a reputation in recent years for uneventful races where the leader controls the pace from the front to secure victory, aware that overtaking is nearly impossible.
Last year's 78-lap race featured only four overtakes in total. By comparison, the average number of overtakes in the 24 grands prix of 2025, excluding sprint races, was 66.9.
Formula 1 has evolved this year with increased overtaking and prolonged on-track battles, with drivers exchanging positions multiple times.
Could this development alter the character of the race where overtaking is most challenging?
On paper, there are reasons to believe it might, at least to some extent.
Drivers have criticized recent cars for being too large—too long and wide—to race effectively within Monaco's tight streets.
Although the 2026 cars are 10cm narrower and slightly shorter, they remain 10cm wider than the cars from two decades ago. Moreover, overtaking has been nearly impossible at Monaco between cars of comparable competitiveness for at least fifty years.
If any factor is to change Monaco's racing nature, it is the new engines, which feature a nominal 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power, and most notably, the new overtake mode.
Overtake mode grants a driver within one second of the car ahead an additional 0.5MJ of electrical energy per lap. This feature is central to the new racing dynamics this year and the battles many in the sport, including drivers, have described as "yo-yo racing."
Cars often remain closely matched for several laps because the trailing car uses overtake mode to pass the leader, only for the advantage to revert to the overtaken car when it activates overtake mode.
Drivers have found it challenging to break free from this back-and-forth, and every race this season has demonstrated such battles.
It remains uncertain how overtake mode will influence racing in Monaco until Sunday afternoon. However, if it is to make a difference and allow drivers to attempt overtakes, this will likely occur in conjunction with disparities in tyre degradation.
If the leading car suffers from rear tyre wear, limiting grip during acceleration, combined with overtake mode, it might become vulnerable to the pursuing car.
Nonetheless, Monaco's nature means certain aspects of overtake mode will not be applicable this weekend.
Many overtaking maneuvers this year have resulted from the two cars being in different states of energy deployment.
The extra energy provided by overtake mode enables the trailing car to deploy electrical power longer than the car ahead.
Consequently, when one car has an additional 350kW (480bhp) compared to its rival, it is likely to overtake. This phenomenon has led two-time champion Fernando Alonso to describe many overtakes this year as "avoiding actions." This perspective is shared by Max Verstappen, albeit expressed differently.
This situation arises because the cars are fundamentally energy-starved this year—they cannot recover sufficient electrical energy to maintain full power whenever desired.
Monaco, however, is the least energy-starved circuit of the year. Therefore, power disparities of this nature will be far less frequent.
Qualifying
Qualifying is where the new cars face the greatest limitations, primarily due to energy starvation.
In Monaco, unlike many other tracks this year, the cars will be energy rich. The high number of corners and limited straights facilitate easier energy recovery and reduce opportunities for energy deployment.
This means energy recovery will occur naturally during braking rather than through methods used on straights, allowing drivers to have full power available throughout a qualifying lap for the first time this year.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri, whose team celebrates competing in its 1,000th grand prix this weekend, commented:
"We'll be at full power everywhere, as far as I'm aware, or very close to it on all straights, which is good."
Leclerc, who has secured pole position at Monaco three times in the past six years and never qualified lower than third during that period, said:
"Monaco is actually going to be one of those races where these cars might be very good. First, we have now lighter cars, which is, I think, a good thing and we can definitely feel that. And for a track like Monaco, I think this has its benefits.
And I think the electric side is going to be a lot less big in Monaco, just because we'll be recharging quite a bit with all the corners that there are. So I'm quite excited for Monaco."
The FIA is implementing various changes to car settings on safety grounds.
Straight-line mode, where the front and rear wings open on straights to increase speed, will be disabled.
Additionally, the electrical component of the engine will only be able to deploy the full 350kW up to 200km/h (124mph), after which a ramp-down slope will begin.
Despite these restrictions, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella stated:
"Monaco, there will be less of the issues that we see in tracks where you are energy starved.
It should be more normal, and if anything it will be quite a lot of power to drive a Formula 1 car in the streets of Monaco. So, I think different challenges in terms of having to harness so much power for the tyres, for the car itself and for the drivers.
So, it should be an interesting one."
The race takes place from 5-7 June, with the main event at 14:00 BST on Sunday.
Live commentary will be available on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2 and 3, with live text updates on the website and app.
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