How less training on Thursday puts pressure on the F1 drivers in Monaco

For this season, the traditional 90-minute duration for FP1 and FP2 has been reduced to 60 minutes per session, forcing the teams to squeeze their work into a smaller time frame.

In Bahrain, where the teams had tested just before the race weekend, or in Imola, Portimao and Barcelona, ​​all the places that F1 visited in the second half of 2020, that wasn’t a real problem.

In Monaco, however, the reduced mileage will have an impact on the first day, not least due to the uniqueness of the track and the need for drivers to run as many laps as possible to dial in.

The fact that the teams haven’t tried the street circuit since 2019 also means that some will need more time than usual to find the ideal setup.

With 30 minutes missing in both the morning and afternoon sessions, the route is busier than usual on the first day, and all dramas – such as a mechanical problem or accident damage – are accordingly even more expensive than usual in Monaco.

In other words, if a driver has a problem in the morning, they only have an hour in the afternoon to regain track time. Shorter sessions also mean less time to fix minor damage and get the cars back out.

“Everything is very compressed,” says Alfa Romeo chief technology officer Xevi Pujolar. “Certainly it will be of great value in all sessions just to maximize the distance and get so much information.

Yachts in the harbor and the Monaco skyline behind

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“It will be a challenge for everyone. We’ve seen [in Spain] that maybe at the level of downforce some people acted a little differently. So we also need to see what the competitors bring to Monaco once people have made some upgrades.

“But when everything is so tight and we also have to see how everything fares in Monaco with the tires, it could be a challenge, not only in terms of technology, but also for the drivers.”

Monaco is about getting around and building a rhythm and the usual program needs to be accelerated.

Teams have had to slim down Friday routines elsewhere, and that will be even more evident on Thursday in Monaco as it takes less time to work through a running schedule.

“We’re used to doing as many tests as we have before, lots of fuel, little fuel, aero runs, tests, all that kind of thing,” says Lando Norris. “Now it’s just a lot more, can we do enough laps? Can we make the drivers confident enough? Here in particular, you just want the drivers to do as many laps or we want as many laps as possible.

“So yeah, I think that has a lot of priority. Less testing of parts and testing of different things. But a good combination of just letting us do as many laps as we need to make sure that we are confident and that we can win more through our track knowledge and track confidence, then we will make a small difference that we can make in the Automobile.”

Confidence was an issue for Daniel Ricciardo, especially when braking. A shorter track time can inevitably tempt riders to get up to speed a little earlier than usual, and this can be tricky.

Distance advertising in position

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“Funny, we still have to remember that we get an hour less here on Friday or Thursday,” says Daniel Ricciardo. “And above all, because you only want laps after laps on this route, build up this rhythm and find your tracks bit by bit.

“That makes a lot more pressure on Thursday. And because on Thursday you actually want to have enough of having a day off and then get back into the car cold on Saturday morning, you’re already there, so to speak. So it’s going to put a bit of pressure on us to pick up the pace early and likely means less racing sims and more qualifying stuff.

“That is the balance with which you have to be on the right track here. But at some point you also have to find the limit. So I think FP1 is probably just sensible, and then FP2, start playing a little more with the wolves! “

Pierre Gasly believes riders probably won’t end up doing significantly fewer laps than they have in the past, but agrees that the action will be compressed and less time spent in the pits.

“I think it probably won’t affect us that much.” says the French. “We probably lose maybe 15 minutes in total in the time you spend in the garage. I think as soon as we get out on the track, we’ll go there and just do laps.

“Much less waiting time. So it might be more difficult for the teams. And you can no longer make the big changes to the car. As for the number of laps, I don’t think it’s going to have that big an impact. “

The reduced running is particularly frustrating for the three rookies in 2021, Yuki Tsunoda, Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher, and also for Nicholas Latifi, who tested the track in an F1 car.

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, walks the route with his team

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

All Bar Tsunoda know the principality at least from F2. The AlphaTauri driver is facing the greatest challenge of all this weekend and can draw on his only experience from the road races in Macau and Pau.

“My goal is really clear,” he says. “I just have to have really clean sessions before qualifying. Just build up the pace very slowly, as you don’t want to get aggressive on the first lap. It makes no sense.

“Just slowly building up the pace, driving clean sessions and bringing everything together in qualifying. My main goal is like this. Monaco doesn’t have a lot of car effect, more driving effect for the lap time, so you need a lot of confidence through the run. The main goal is to simply build up the pace slowly. “

He left nothing to chance and drove for several days in the Red Bull simulator in Milton Keynes to get to know the intricacies of the circuit.

“I did a lot of the simulator,” says Tsunoda. “Three days of simulator, I’ve never had so many simulator sessions in the past. I need the maximum preparation I can do.

“I wouldn’t say the simulator is too similar to a real car, but I just have to use that experience, just like I said, increasing pace is the most important thing.”