This season’s Monaco Grand Prix will bring a completely new rule to Formula 1 – for the first time in history, the race will require a minimum of two mandatory pit stops.

But how will this affect the race on Sunday? And will it finally deliver the kind of excitement Monaco has been lacking in recent years?

What’s the problem Monaco is trying to solve?

After last year’s Grand Prix in the Principality, it was clear that something had to change if Monaco was to remain entertaining. The issue? Monaco features the lowest tyre stress on the entire calendar, meaning a one-stop race is the logical (and usually only) strategy – especially on a track where overtaking is nearly impossible.

In 2024, a lap-one incident involving Perez and both Haas drivers caused a red flag. Drivers were allowed to change tyres “for free”, and since they had already switched compounds, many didn’t pit again for the rest of the race.

In the end, the top ten drivers finished in the exact same order in which they started – hardly the drama fans hoped for.

This has been an ongoing problem ever since the cars became as large as they are today.

To add some spice to the Sunday race, the FIA and F1 introduced a Monaco-only regulation for this weekend: every driver must make at least two pit stops and use at least three different tyre compounds, including wet-weather tyres if applicable.

If the race stays dry, the rule states drivers must use at least two slick compounds, one of which must be either the C4 (hard) or C5 (medium).

Another significant change from last year’s race is the introduction of the new C6 compound. While Imola gave teams their first taste of the softest tyre available, it quickly became clear that the C6 degrades very quickly. In fact, some teams actually set better lap times on C5 mediums during qualifying.

Will we see softs on Sunday?

It’s still a bit too early to say for sure, but based on long-run simulations in FP2, most teams seem to favour the C5 medium as their preferred race-start compound.

Leclerc was one of the few drivers who tested the hard compound, and surprisingly, set the fastest pace on it compared to everyone else.

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Early stops, late Gambles – What to Expect on Sunday?

One early theory suggests that some drivers near the back of the grid might opt to pit as early as soon as lap one. Why? Because in Monaco, if you’re stuck in traffic, your race pace is irrelevant. An early stop gives you clean air and the chance to undercut those ahead. Of course, if you’re running closer to the front, that strategy doesn’t really make sense.

Another variable is the likelihood of a Safety Car – always high in Monaco.

That opens the door for strategies that keep drivers out on track as long as possible, hoping for a perfectly timed caution. In these scenarios, even the quick-degrading C6 softs might come into play briefly.

Last year, we saw George Russell spend almost the entire race on the C4 compound — which back then was classified as the medium tyre, but is now considered the hard compound — suggesting that this strategy is indeed a realistic option.

When it comes to the front of the grid, things become a bit more complicated — and that’s exactly the point of the new rule, isn’t it? Teams here will be paying much closer attention to what their rivals are doing and will likely react based on those strategic decisions.

One strategic wildcard, however, could be the “number two driver” role. Red Bull has this clearly defined with Yuki Tsunoda – who could be used tactically to hold up rivals and give Max Verstappen room to breathe. But at McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes, such driver roles aren’t clearly established – or teams simply don’t want to make that call.

That alone could be Red Bull’s biggest asset.

Will the new rule deliver? We’ll find out on Sunday. So much will depend on weather, tyre degradation, and of course, the appearance (or not) of a Safety Car.

But one thing the new regulation doesn’t solve is Monaco’s core issue – the cars are still far too big for this historic layout. Yes, 2026 will bring slightly smaller cars, but not small enough to truly transform the racing.

Still, maybe that’s the beauty of Monaco – its flaws are also what make it iconic.

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