Featured Image Credit: Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
Topics: Formula 1, FIA, Motorsport
Chris Byfield
Topics: Formula 1, FIA, Motorsport
Fans believe the FIA’s rule change for the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix could feature a major loophole.
In February, the FIA approved a rule to make Monaco a minimum two-stop grand prix in a effort to improve the quality of racing.
The iconic street circuit has often been criticised due to a lack of overtaking, while drivers last year complained after an early red flag allowed a free tire change. This subsequently saw drivers adhere to the regulated stop before completing the circuit without further changes.
In turn, the FIA hope that by enforcing a minimum of two-stops, teams and drivers will be made to implement more creative race plans while it also may offer more overtaking opportunities.
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However, writing on Reddit, some fans have noted that teams may be able to gain an advantage by pitting early, and banking on a safety car being introduced later in the race.
One person said: “Yeah there’s definitely a little more complexity to this. If nobody has pitted before the SC period then yeah sure everyone will have to pit twice immediately. As soon as one car has pitted it becomes more complex.
“There’s a scenario here where if you’ve qualified at the back, you pit immediately on lap 1 (and potentially even again on lap 2) banking on a safety car being thrown later on.
“You’d make the time back and potentially gain track position. It’s risky, but I’ve got a feeling a Haas or someone might go for it.”
Another wrote: “I imagine if there were to be a safety car for multiple laps cars would pit once complete the lap and then pit immediately again whilst the safety car is still out.
“It’s going to look ridiculous when this happens and Charles Leclerc somehow gets shafted again by it.”
However, on whether a team may choose to bank on an early stop, Sky Sports F1's strategy expert Bernie Collins said: “I think if it's not under a safety car, then it would be a risk.
“We've seen Esteban Ocon do it at Imola, box on lap one, and try to run two sets from there. I think to stop twice that early on, you probably wouldn't do if it wasn't under safety car conditions. You might do it once, but you probably wouldn't do two.
“If there is an early safety car, anyone in the bottom five to ten, it might be worth cycling through a tyre.
“Let's say you start the race on a medium, for example. If it was me and there was a full safety car on lap one and I was 15th, I'd start the race on that medium, pit lap one for the soft, pit lap two for the hard, and run that hard to the end.
“I would try it if it was me because a full safety car allows the pack to close back up. The difference in that being if you don't have a safety car, you're two pit stops behind.
“So very quickly you'd be into being lapped to do that at the back. And once you've been lapped, it's very hard to make up the ground again.”