(Reuters) – Formula One’s showcase Monaco Grand Prix will have two mandatory pitstops per driver to liven up the racing, the sport’s governing body said on Wednesday.
The ‘strategic overhaul’, doubling the current minimum, was approved by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council at its first meeting of the year.
“Following recent discussions in the F1 Commission, a specific requirement for the Monaco GP has been approved mandating the use of at least three sets of tyres in the race,” the FIA said.
A minimum of two different tyre compounds will have to be used if the race is dry.
Overtaking is extremely difficult around the Mediterranean principality, with qualifying and pole position even more crucial than at other races.
“Monaco is super-exciting on a Saturday, for us drivers it’s incredible, it’s the best qualifying of the year,” Ferrari’s Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc said last week after the measure was discussed by the F1 Commission.
“Then on the Sunday it can get a little bit… there’s not much happening. So I think this is a way to spice things up a bit more.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in Bahrain, editing by Christian Radnedge)
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