Yahoo Autos Horner backs Verstappen call for Monaco circuit changes
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner agrees with Max Verstappen that changes should be considered to the layout of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit to improve the quality of racing.
Sunday’s race was hurt by a first-lap crash that forced a red flag period, allowing the entire field to change tires and remove the need for a pit stop during the rest of the race. That meant there were no position changes in the top 10 and the pace was extremely slow to prevent pit windows opening up. Horner agrees with Verstappen that trying to create an area where overtaking is possible would benefit the event as a whole.
“It was a very static race,” Horner said. “The top 10 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. Thank God for Lance Stroll, the only guy that managed to overtake.”
While the existing streets and buildings make it tough to change the track in a number of places, Horner says ongoing development in Monaco could open up options.
“Monaco keeps reclaiming land! It’s such a great place, so much history here, but everything evolves,” he said. “The cars are so big now — if you compare them to cars of 10 years ago they’re almost twice the size.”
Sebastian Vettel’s smaller Red Bull Racing RB10 at Monaco in 2014. Alastair Staley/Motorsport Images
Horner also sided with Sergio Perez’s call for an explanation as to why there was no investigation into his first-lap crash with Kevin Magnussen.
“I was surprised it wasn’t investigated because it was quite a hefty incident,” Horner said. “Given [Magnussen] had a wheel up the inside in a part of the track that only ever narrows, you would have expected him to back out. Not only has he destroyed Checo’s race and the car, he’s also destroyed his teammate’s race, so not very clever.”
