Sainz renews Monaco Q1 split-session push

Carlos Sainz has renewed his call for Formula 1 to split Monaco Grand Prix Q1 into separate groups, arguing that this year’s 22-car field will make an already traffic-heavy session even more of a lottery on the tight street circuit.

The Williams driver said he still does not understand why the idea has not been adopted after raising it repeatedly in previous seasons. His preferred solution is to divide the field into two groups of 11, similar to the format used in other categories, with only the bottom three eliminated. Sainz argued that such a change would reduce congestion without changing the true competitive order.

“I still don’t understand why we don’t do separate groups in Q1,” Sainz said ahead of the weekend. He described Monaco’s opening qualifying segment as “a bit of a lottery, with traffic and flags, so it can happen to anyone.”

His concern carries extra weight this year because Monaco remains the shortest and narrowest track on the calendar at 3.3 kilometres, while the grid has expanded to 22 cars, the biggest field at the principality since 2016. With overtaking traditionally difficult in the race, any extra randomness in qualifying carries even more importance.

Not every driver agrees with Sainz’s fix. McLaren driver Lando Norris said split sessions would simply create a different set of complaints, with one group likely to feel disadvantaged relative to the other. Norris said traffic can still be managed if drivers check their mirrors properly and teams use the radio as intended to warn about cars on quick laps.

Charles Leclerc also acknowledged the scale of the problem, saying 22 cars on such a short circuit would be “quite tricky” and “not ideal for Q1.” But the Ferrari driver stopped short of backing a split format, saying he still prefers everyone to run in the same conditions rather than divide the field into separate groups.

For Sainz, the frustration is that the issue keeps resurfacing without any action. He said the topic is raised every year in Monaco’s Friday drivers’ briefing, only to be forgotten until the next visit, leaving one of the calendar’s most obvious qualifying problems unresolved as the field gets bigger.