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This results in a 78-lap race, even more laps than any other Grand Prix on the calendar, but shorter than the 92 laps it would otherwise have to be!

The unique street track layout creates the toughest passing threshold combined with the lowest DRS effect and lowest average speed at 104 mph or 168 kph.

The narrow pit lane enforces a 60km/h pit lane speed limit and the distance between the garages is so close that a pit stop is often very slow as there is a high risk of another car blocking to the pilot when entering or leaving the pit box. That must be taken into account in any race strategy.

So what is important to the strategy?

It is a very used cliché in F1 that the points are distributed on Sunday, not on Saturday. In other words, what happens at the beginning of the weekend in qualifying is not as important as the final position at the end of the race.

Obviously this is still true in Monaco, but with the few chances of overtaking the final standings in Monaco, they often match the qualifying order very closely. Therefore, teams look to achieve top ranking positions above all else.

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This may mean compromising set-up for a faster qualifying car at the expense of race performance. It will also mean having the maximum number of soft compound qualifying tires available and not saving extra medium or hard tires for the race. This focus on qualifying starts from the first practice session of the weekend.

The first practice at most Grand Prix is ​​used to test items or parts on the car. However, not only is Monaco a poor track for good test results due to the effects of traffic and a lack of high-speed corners, but the drivers and teams are eager to start practicing qualifying races as soon as possible. possible in this event, given the crucial importance of getting a good place on the grid.

As always, the second practice is the best opportunity to get race tire data. However, in Monaco, teams will reduce the number of laps completed on high fuel for race data in favor of more laps on low fuel on soft tyres.

Also, often in Monaco the high fuel data collected is corrupted by traffic or yellow or red flags and is therefore not too useful when it comes to forming Sunday strategy.

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For race day, there is often only one important question: what is the longest possible stint on each tyre? You rarely find this answer during the long runs of FP2, so the answer comes from the tire departments and the simulation data of the teams.

How to face the Classification?

In Monaco, the fastest way around the track would be a single fast lap on the soft tire with a gap of at least six seconds to the car in front on the track. In the last race of 2022, the fastest qualifying lap time was 1:11.4s, leaving a difference of 3.6s on average between cars.

Also in qualifying for 2022 there were two red flags. So, with traffic compromises and broken sessions, the task becomes to get as many good laps on the board as possible instead of just one perfect lap. This means multi-lap racing with minimal garage time and quick reaction to events on the track.

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What can we learn from the past?

Strategy teams will form a tire model with the expected pace differences between tire compounds and expected tire degradation to calculate the optimal pit stop lap and fastest strategy.

However, in Monaco traffic rules everything. Stopping too early in traffic in an attempt to undercut others can ruin a career. Often, despite being a ‘track position’ race, the first stage in Monaco stretches to the point where the pit window is clear. Strategy departments spend a lot of time simulating how the race could turn out and how best to avoid traffic.

The race is usually run on a one-stop strategy, so what are the main learning points we can take from previous events?