FIA Two Stop Rule for Monaco Grand Prix 2025: Can It Finally Save F1’s Most Boring Race?

OK so…

Let’s talk about Monaco.

Not the Instagram version with champagne showers and helicopter shots over the harbour. Not the “crown jewel of Formula 1” that the broadcasters gush about.

I mean the real Monaco…

The Monaco GP: unmatched glamour, iconic scenery — and, until now, not much racing.

The race that, if we’re being brutally honest, often feels like a glorified parade with zero overtaking and one tyre stop (if we’re lucky)

For years, it’s been the same story…. Qualifying is electric. The drivers are on a knife’s edge. The walls are SO close it’s a miracle anyone makes it through Sector 3 with all four wheels.

Buttttttt then Sunday arrives… and everyone just kind of settles in.

Single-file. No risks. A few pit stops. The occasional lock-up.

And that’s your race.

As a fan, it’s frustrating.

You want to love it. You do love it (for the most part); the atmosphere, the tension, the legacy.

But come race day, you’re often left wondering if you should’ve just watched the highlights...

That’s exactly why the FIA two stop rule for Monaco Grand Prix 2025 was introduced — to force strategy, shake things up, and hopefully give fans a race worth staying awake for.

So… what’s different this year?

This year, the FIA finally decided to stop pretending everything was fine and actually do something about it.

For the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix, they’re trialing a new rule:

👉 Every single driver is required to make two pit stops during the race. 

👉 And in dry conditions, they must use at least three different types of tyres (so none of that one-stop-hard-tyre-to-the-end nonsense)

This is HUGE.

Soooo, why now?

Last year’s Monaco GP was the last straw.

There was an early red flag, and drivers took advantage of a loophole that let them change tyres without technically counting it as a stop.

The result?

Only six drivers made pit stops under normal race conditions.

Yeah, you read that right…

SIX (6) – Out of 20

😳😳😳

Everyone else just cruised around in tyre-saving mode. No strategy battles. No surprise undercuts. No drama.

Even die-hard fans were struggling to stay awake. And the FIA, for once, must have felt it too, because here we are.

What this rule could change

This isn’t going to magically turn Monaco into Silverstone.

The streets are still stupidly narrow. The track layout is still more suited to 1965 than 2025.

But now, teams can’t rely on just getting track position and defending forever.

They’ll have to think. And take risks.

Like…

Do you pit early and hope for a Safety Car?

Do you gamble on tyre choice and hope you’ve got enough grip left at the end?

Do you split strategies across teammates and try to box someone into a bad window?

There’s no easy answer. And THAT’S exactly the point.

This weekend, strategy will ACTUALLY matter again – and that opens the door to unpredictability.

• More pit stops = more chances for mistakes.

• More chances for timing to go wrong (or brilliantly right)

• More chances for someone in the midfield to roll the dice and come out ahead.

And honestly? That’s what we’ve all been BEGGINGGGGG for.

What the drivers are saying about the FIA two stop rule for Monaco Grand Prix 2025

Charles Leclerc leads the way at his home Grand Prix in 2024 — the year he finally broke the Monaco curse.

Charles Leclerc (our very own "Prince of Monaco") is on board with the change, even after FINALLY winning Monaco in 2024:

“I think it will definitely help the Sunday, especially with strategy. The excitement on Sunday is maybe a bit less than what you would hope. The Saturday is incredible but the Sunday maybe needs a little bit of spice and hopefully this will give it.”

Lewis Hamilton says the idea has been a long time coming, and one he’s personally been rooting for:

“I’m pretty sure that was my idea anyway. If you go back and look at some of the transcripts of previous years, I’ve been mentioning the two-stop for years.”

Love it or hate it, the drivers know something needed to change, and now, it finally has.

The fine print

If you want to be specific, here’s EXACTLY what’s being enforced:

• Two mandatory pit stops, regardless of tyre wear or race length.

• If the race is dry, drivers must use at least three different compounds (e.g. soft, medium, and hard).

In wet conditions, the rule still technically applies, but with some leeway because of how extreme weather impacts race flow and pit timing.

So if it rains (as Monaco sometimes does) chaos may still reign supreme, just in a different form.

So… will it work?

We don’t know yet.

Monaco is still Monaco.

Track position will always matter. Passing will always be a nightmare. And a badly timed Safety Car could still turn it into a procession.

Buttttt this rule gives us something we haven’t had at this track in a long time: uncertainty.

We don’t know who’s going to pit when. 

We don’t know which teams will gamble. 

We don’t know if someone might pull off a surprise podium with a perfectly timed second stop.

And that makes it worth watching.

This might not be the most radical rule change F1 has ever seen, but for Monaco? It’s seismic (in my opinion)

For fans like us, who’ve sat through far too many follow-the-leader Monaco races… It’s a win :))