Two-stop strategies might have been the talking point among the drivers after Sunday’s race, but other changes to the way Monaco looks could be on the way.

Those are expected before certain extra races are added to the calendar, too, while there was also a driver unluckier than Fernando Alonso racing this weekend…

Africa looking a long way off

One week on from a race that looks set to drop off the calendar at Imola, there was a little bit of chatter in Monaco about future events that could be joining the schedule.

The first revolved around a potential new addition in Thailand, with the plans for a Bangkok street race still being worked on. The Thai Prime Minister – Paetongtarn Shinawatra – was present in Monte Carlo on Friday, once again visiting Williams as Alexander Albon showed her around his car.

Her visit was a short one, and sources suggest there’s still some way to go before anything could be finalised to take F1 to Thailand. Not as far to go as there is in Africa, though.

Adding a race on the continent is one of Formula 1’s priorities, as it feels it is a region that it should have a presence in as a global championship. The problem that the series currently has is that while there are three different projects – one in Rwanda, and two in South Africa in Johannesburg and Cape Town respectively – none of them are emerging as a clear frontrunner.

On top of that, there appears to be a bit of fighting between the various projects, so no single one has a solid enough business plan in place to move forward more seriously. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali admitted on Saturday in Monaco that “Realistically speaking, I don’t think that we’re going to have an outcome in the very short term”, and although he said talks are progressing, it is understood that progress is extremely slow, and a long way from coming to any sort of fruition.

Speaking of Imola earlier, though, there does remain a slight chance of a reprieve next year. Construction work on the Madrid circuit will be monitored, and while F1 currently doesn’t have any concerns over that new race being ready to go in 2026, should there be any significant delays then Imola is likely to be the first port of call to fill the gap.

F2 gets some heat

If you want to feel sorry for a racing driver this weekend, feel sorry for Leonardo Fornaroli.

The reigning Formula 3 champion won last year’s title without securing a race victory, and has stepped up to Formula 2 in impressive style, continuing his consistency. With three podiums and not finishing lower than eighth in any race, Fornaroli is just six points off the championship lead, but, remarkably, he has not won in over 100 starts in his junior career.

In Bahrain he had a spell fighting for victory and was quite emotional afterwards about how much he wants another victory – with just one to his name since stepping up to single seaters in 2020. And Sunday in Monaco appeared to finally by the day. Until…

Starting third, Fornaroli had escaped the Turn 1 chaos that saw the top two of Alexander Dunne and Victor Martins collide, then led the entire race when it restarted. That included two virtual safety car periods – when you’re not allowed to make your mandatory pitstop in F2 – but the second one became a full safety car just after the top three passed the pit entry.

Jak Crawford dove into the pits and jumped from fourth to third as Fornaroli and the rest of the top three stopped a lap later, but shortly afterwards the race was red-flagged due to the need for barrier repairs. And that was that.

Crawford was declared the winner and Fornaroli had to settle for second place.

Many observers were extremely angry at the timing of the switch from VSC to safety car, believing it was obvious a full safety car would be needed as the medical car had been deployed to the scene of Dino Beganovic’s crash at Casino Square, and the car was buried in the Techpro barriers. For such a call to completely switch the order and no restart be possible was also a contentious topic.

Crawford and his DAMS team simply took advantage of the rules as they are written, but Fornaroli must be wondering what he has to do to be able to call himself a race winner once again.

Traffic an issue, whatever you drive

For the first time in Monaco, Pirelli was able to run its Hot Laps programme that allows guests to receive a passenger ride around different F1 circuits. The logistics have always made it too challenging, but Thursday saw a number of runs take place, and I was lucky enough to jump in a McLaren 720S for a lap.

What I got was the true Monaco experience, as professional driver Andre D’Cruz floored it out of Anthony Noghes and very quickly caught the back of a Ford Mustang that doesn’t possess the same track capabilities as the McLaren.

Into Sainte Devote, we were already held up, and we’d sit behind the Mustang all the way until the exit of the Nouvelle Chicane, where a quick blip of the throttle allowed us to pass into Tabac. Just a few metres later, it was time to instantly slow down again as the runs started and ended at Rascasse, so most of the lap was driven well below what the car and driver were capable of.

It was still an awesome perspective of the racetrack, but it also gave me a tiny window into how it feels to be staring at the back of another car knowing you can go so much quicker, and not being allowed to. I think I might have even more respect for the drivers who don’t send a desperate lunge at some stage, because the frustration must be extremely tough to handle when that happens over 78 laps.

Monaco motorhomes could disappear in 2026

I never knew I’d get so defensive about motorhomes, but I was pretty sad to hear there’s a chance they won’t be lining up on the Monaco harbourside again in future.

The logistics of the tight circuit mean teams have all of their engineering rooms above their garages, while the hospitality trucks are on the outside of Rascasse, stretching along the harbour and down towards the sea.

But next year, motorhomes might not be used in Monaco, as the arrival of Cadillac squeezes how much space is available even more. So unless the race organisers find a solution to create more room, they are instead likely to supply temporary hospitality buildings that can all fit into the same space, in much the same way that circuits at flyaway events provide the facilities for the paddock.

For those trucks not to be driving to a European event is only a small thing in isolation, but you never know, it could be the first step towards all tracks having to construct buildings for teams instead, and the motorhomes disappearing altogether.

And that would be a real shame, because even just the sight of them on the road is cool, let alone being able to go inside them during a race weekend. And they help create a familiar paddock at each European venue that makes it instantly identifiable as an F1 event. I know it’s a minor detail, but they come with character.