Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg, who started the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix from 13th place and finished 16th, explained his thoughts and feelings about the Sunday race, the novel two-pit-stop rule, and the clean air. Though he stated that he needed to go back and review the race to make a better judgment, his initial opinion about the race was how frustrating it went.
A frustrating race that failed to entertain
According to the German driver, the Monaco GP failed to satisfy the F1 community’s expectations in terms of entertainment due to constantly getting stuck in traffic and the new mandatory minimum two-pit-stop rule. He stated that falling a couple of seconds behind the pace caused him frustration throughout the race. Hülkenberg further expressed that the 2025 Monaco GP was not an enjoyable experience, though having a good race start.
“I had a good start. I even gained one position in lap one.
“Afterwards, I don’t know. I need to review the race obviously a bit. But I just got stuck in traffic many times with teams playing obviously the team game and giving pit windows for their teammates.
“Driving three, four, five seconds a lap off the pace, it’s frustrating. It hasn’t been so fun and enjoyable. I think from a strategic point of view, it’s obviously all legit and allowed. But I think from a spectacle point of view and entertainment, it’s probably not what everyone was hoping for.”
Significance of the starting place and team strategies
The Monaco Grand Prix is known for its narrow streets and the F1 cars’ overtaking difficulty throughout the race. Thus, the Saturday qualifying session possesses great importance for the result of the Sunday race.
In in the print media pen, Hülkenberg touched upon this issue. He remarked that starting at or near the back in the race affects the overall performance, and the new rule couldn’t succeed in changing the pace structure of Monaco. He gave Yuki Tsunoda as an example of boxing earlier, but not gaining anything from it. Nonetheless, the German driver also admitted that the two-pit-stop obligation exaggerated the significance of the team strategies.
“I think so [two sets of stops exaggerated strategic play from teams]. Because they had to give it twice and then back to the teammates.
“So in effect, I don’t know. I got lapped in lap 20 already from the leaders, which is obviously you’re not going anywhere. I think you just had to start in front of the top 10 or inside the top 10 to avoid all this. When you were behind that, I think you were just a victim of that.
“It was well executed also by some of the teams. Yuki was behind me. He pitted on lap one and also didn’t go anywhere. So I think it was just starting behind today was the killer.”
The echo of fans about the new Monaco rule will be heard
When Hülkenberg was asked about what he felt about the minimum two-pit-stop rule with the mandatory use of at least three different sets of tyres, he remarked that it was too soon to comment on it. The German driver mentioned that while he thinks he is not to judge the rule, the experience was not better compared to other races.
He further believes that the echo of the fans’ reaction to the rule and how it affected their race entertainment will be heard.
“I think it’s too, right now, right here, after the race, too soon to say. But I think, we’ll hear the echo, what people, fans, and everyone thought of it.
“It [the experience as a racing driver] was not better.”
“Anyway, I’m not the judge of it.”
