2025 Monaco Grand Prix Preview: 5 Big Talking Points Heading into the Weekend

Linus O'Howell
1 day ago
3 min read

The Mandatory 2-Stop

After years of Monaco hosting the best Qualifying and then worst Race of the season, Formula 1 have implemented a mandatory 2-Stop strategy in order to try and add a bit more entertainment to the Grand Prix! I personally like the change, mainly because it will at least add a couple more laps of excitement which is far more than we got 12 months ago! In theory, it might also mean that you might not finish where you started, which is a good thing, and it’s going to be interesting to see how some teams play it. Personally, if I was at the back, I’d box on Lap 1!

Can Aston Martin Take Advantage of their New-Found Pace?

After a poor start to the season, Aston Martin brought in plenty of new upgrades for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, and they seemed to pay off in a big way in Qualifying as Fernando Alonso scored a fantastic P5 whilst Lance Stroll also did a great job to qualify 8th! However, in the Race, things didn’t go to plan for Aston at all, they got unlucky with a Virtual Safety Car, but they also lacked pace as they somehow came away from the weekend on the same points total as they entered it! Overall, it was a mixture of emotions for Aston Martin last weekend, but they’ll be hoping the pace sticks because if it does, they should score points this time around!

Will Max Verstappen Go Back-to-Back?

It’s crazy how fast things can change in Formula 1, 2 years ago in Monaco we were talking about whether Max Verstappen will win every Race for the rest of the season (he nearly did), and now it’s been almost a year since he won back-to-back Races! However, I want to pose this question because Max’s Qualifying this year has been on point, he’s done such a good job, and his win in Imola last weekend was a typical Verstappen masterclass! After 7 Rounds, Max finds himself 22 points off Championship leader Oscar Piastri, with Lando Norris 9 points ahead in second! For Verstappen to win this year’s Championship, he’s going to need to win at tracks where McLaren might be a bit more vulnerable, or simply at a track where it’s difficult to overtake! Arguably, both of those things are Monaco in a nutshell!

McLaren’s Special Livery

Over the years, we’ve come to expect a special livery from McLaren, particularly at Monaco, and that’s exactly what the team has produced for both this weekend and next weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix! Personally, I like this a lot, I’d much rather this be their actual livery because I think it looks better honestly! I also like that it’s more of a tweaked livery than a special livery, it’s still papaya and black, but it just looks cooler! The numbers are also very retro style which is awesome, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri also have all-white suits for the weekend which I like, and yeah, good job from McLaren!

Charles Leclerc’s Monaco Dream

Monaco 2024 will forever be one of the more iconic Race Wins of the 21st century, after years of heartache around the streets he used to walk to school on, Charles Leclerc finally lived his dream of winning his Home Race, the Monaco Grand Prix! Whilst the Race was absolutely diabolical, that win was special, whether you like Charles or not! However, things are very different this year to what they were last year, Ferrari were super quick, they fancied a run at both Championships, and they won another 3 Races after Monaco! However, this year things are not going well, the team have scored just 1 Podium all season (not including Lewis Hamilton’s Sprint results), and the Scuderia are 165 points off the lead of the Constructors’ Championship! That is simply not good enough, and there are massive concerns that Charles could be absolutely miles off the lead this weekend! However, I wouldn’t count Leclerc out yet!