After arguably one of the most boring Monaco Grands Prix in history last season, Formula 1 has introduced a mandatory two-stop rule for the 2025 race.

But if you ask former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer, the issue isn’t the pit stops, it’s the sport’s red flag rule that meant no one had to make a pit stop last season.

Monaco pit stop rule labelled ‘gimmicky’ by Jolyon Palmer

Formula 1 announced on Wednesday that this year’s Monaco Grand Prix would include two pit stops come rain or shine.

While every other race on the calendar will include one stop as a minimum, unless it is declared wet, Monaco will have two stops in a bid to add some spice.

“The FIA World Motor Sport Council reviewed a proposal regarding the implementation of a mandatory 2-stop strategy (in both wet and dry conditions) for the Monaco GP, with the primary intent of improving the sporting spectacle of this race given the notable difficulty in overtaking at this circuit,” a statement from the FIA World Motor Sport Council read.

“Following recent discussions in the F1 Commission, a specific requirement for the Monaco GP has been approved mandating the use of at least three sets of tyres in the race, with a minimum of two different tyre compounds to be used if it’s a dry race.”

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Former F1 driver Palmer is not a fan of the idea as he doesn’t believe it will actually resolve the issue.

“It’s a bit gimmicky. Isn’t it?” he told F1 TV.

“The thing is with Monaco compared to Qatar, I don’t think that’s going to necessarily lead to everyone being able to push on the ragged edge of the whole race because it’s just so traffic dependent.

“So all the pit stops are going to be cagey. All the pace is going to be measured as it was last year based on strategy and gaps to everyone else. It may well be we get more sort of manufactured gaps.”

Instead he believes the big problem last season was the red flag regulation that meant when the drivers pulled into the pit lane at the end of lap 1 following Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen’s huge accident, they could all swap compounds and therefore didn’t have to pit again.

It created a race where the drivers nursed their tyres with only Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in the top 10 making an additional stop. There were four overtakes the entire race.

“[Last year] various people [were] trying to stay within a pit stop of the car ahead or dropping back to allow their team-mate a free pit stop to come out ahead and change the race,” Palmer said.

“It was a really bad Grand Prix because the red flag came. And maybe the red flag rules need tweaking rather than the two pit stop rules.”

“If you think back to previous races, 2023, Verstappen won,” he continued. “Alonso was second in the Aston Martin. You had Esteban Ocon third in Alpine. The rain came down in the second half. It was chaotic, and it was brilliant seeing them all dancing on the edge.

“2022, Sergio Perez won. Carlos Sainz was right sniffing all around him in the last dozen laps trying to fight through for a win.

“Somehow, we’ve not had the overtaking, but I’ve been gripped by the Grand Prix.

“And I don’t know if adding this second pit stop is going to make it feel more gimmicky than, and admittedly, really difficult to pass. Sometimes, it is just a bit of a showpiece event, but it’s got a history and still feels like a normal Grand Prix.”

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