The hope of an exciting race was scuttled very early on when team strategies came into play. Exciting and Monaco do not normally go together, but there was wishful thinking amongst racing fans.
One has to take their hats off and congratulate the F1 race organisers for trying to change the race format by including the compulsory 2 pit stops. Unfortunately this was negated by the racing teams strategies and turned the entire race into a complete joke.
Look at the gap Lawson created for his team mate ahead Hadjar so he could pit twice and guarantee a points position.
Monaco is one of the race tracks that offers zero opportunity for overtakes and track position is everything. There was no safety car or red flag which can change the race so there was nothing to really race for and team strategies by the mid to lower teams was more about creating bottlenecks and banking championship points.
For some teams like Williams and Racing Bulls (Torro Rosso) this strategy of backing up the field helped them overall, but negated the race and the two pit stops. Liam Lawson backed up the field by as much as 1 minute allowing his team mate Hadjar who was ahead of him to pit twice guaranteeing a top 10 finish. Albon and Sainz for Williams did the exact same strategy and both cars finished in the points. You cannot blame them really as they were never going to challenge for the podium so they banked guaranteed points which is money for the team.
George Russel with Mercedes was being backed up by Albon and cut the chicane which is leaving the track and gaining an advantage, This is normally a 5 or 10 second penalty which would have been worthwhile but the penalty given by the stewards was a drive through penalty. The drive through does not count as a pit stop and that penalty is around 20 seconds.
Quite ridiculous when you consider that besides the top 5 in front there was a massive margin behind them and unless there is a safety car or red flag the race is not a race. If they are going to use pit stops to generate more interest clearly a compulsory 2 pit stop is not the answer and needs to be tweaked.
Maybe having set windows where those pit stops happen like within the first 15 laps and every 15 laps thereafter. If the F1 Group don't get this right then Monaco will not be on the calendar and I truly believe it has to be removed. Those who want the Monaco Grand Prix to remain need to come up with a solution very quickly because no one wants to see what we witnessed today.
This is not a race and is more of a day out for the rich and famous showing the glitz and glamour of the Monaco Principality showcasing this as a tourist venue. Racing fans do not want to see this event even though the event has F1 history and is the oldest original street circuit.
Monaco has signed a race extension last year which takes or guarantees the event up to 2031 and I think even this timeline is in jeopardy if no solution is found. A repeat performance next year and this track will be under pressure to stay on the calendar. I would advise them to cancel this race until they find a solution to the lack of racing problem. Monaco makes a fortune from this event and they need to find the solution.