Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has said that the mandatory two-stop rule at the Monaco Grand Prix is “great” for encouraging more entertainment.
Ahead of this weekend’s race, the FIA implemented the one-off rule for this race, in a bid to increase further drama on-track to ensure the event, which has become more mundane in recent years.
Many drivers, including Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, have publicly commented that the rule could see drivers further down the order come into play during the race, potentially affecting the result for those nearer the front.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport Week from the Corinthian Sports yacht, two-time Monaco-winner Coulthard said that now retired and working in teleivsion, his opinions on the rule are different to what it would have been if he were still driving.
“Well, during my time, if they brought that in, I would be like, ‘damn’, because if you qualify well, one stop, you can control the race,” he said. “Working in television, therefore, it’s not affecting me on track, I think ‘great’.
“It will mean that undercuts, overcuts, strategy, if you have a bad qualifying, you can still come back into play. You know, this isn’t Imola, but look at Ferrari, they didn’t perform on the Saturday, but managed to have a much stronger race day.
“So, I think it will make it a more interesting Grand Prix. Again, as a driver, you don’t want an exciting Grand Prix. Frankly, you want to qualify at the front and win the race, but for everyone that invests their money and comes here, yeah, we want to see good racing, don’t we?”
Monaco can ‘shake up’ F1, even with standout cars
Coulthard spoke of his belief that Monaco can always provide something to alter the status quo of an F1 season, despite the increased reliability in cars since his time as a driver.
But the likelihood of a Safety Car or any other form of truncation to the race can always ensure there is something to keep fans watching.
“Yeah, I think Monaco, historically, even in a season when you’ve got a sort of running order, Monaco can shake that up a little bit,” he said.
“It’s a short lap, so the times can be pretty close. Yeah, anything can happen here. I’ve finished Grands Prix here where there’s only been, I think, four cars finish the race.
“We’re in a different era of reliability. If it doesn’t rain, then there’s, you know, obviously less likely to be crashing, but there will be incidents, accidents, Safety Cars, all that good stuff.”
When asked to predict a winner, Coulthard was hesitant, noting that holding the race prior to the Spanish Grand Prix leaves some guess work to be done.
“Normally we’d have Barcelona the weekend before, and then that last sector, whoever’s quick in the last sector, tells you all about low speed performance.
“We haven’t had that opportunity, so I’m not sure in the previous races, we haven’t been close enough to see who’s been good at low speed.”
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