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Lando Norris has voiced his concerns over the Monaco Grand Prix qualifying solution that Carlos Sainz has proposed to the FIA, highlighting how the vast majority of the grid would instantly be ‘complaining’ about it.
With Cadillac adding an extra two cars onto the F1 grid this year, qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix may prove to be more of a headache than what the current crop of drivers have experienced in recent years.
As such, GPDA director Carlos Sainz has reportedly asked the FIA to consider splitting the first qualifying session into two groups of 11 cars, rather than have the entire grid attempt to navigate the tight streets of Monaco with everyone on track at the same time.
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Speaking via SoyMotor, the Williams star said, “I still don’t understand why we don’t have separate groups in Q1. I’ve suggested it several times.
“It wouldn’t affect the qualifying order at all if it were done with 11 cars and 11 cars, separating teammates or something like that, and the last three didn’t make it through.
“I don’t understand why we don’t do it, because Q1 here is a bit of a lottery with the traffic and the flags, so anything can happen to anyone.”
Sainz then added that the topic is brought up “every Friday evening in the drivers’ briefing”, only for it to be “forgotten” until the following year’s edition of the race.
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Lando Norris disagrees with Charles Leclerc on Carlos Sainz’s Monaco Grand Prix qualifying proposal
During the pre-event press conference on Thursday afternoon, the topic was brought up to Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, who both shared differing opinions on Sainz’s proposed solution.
In the opinion of the reigning world champion, he doesn’t see qualifying as too much of an issue around Monaco, and feels like there would be a swathe of complaints from the rest of the drivers if the sport’s governing body were to split the session into two groups.
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“The thing is, when you do split it up into other sessions, someone’s always going to be unhappy because you’re either going to be the first group and complain about the second group, or vice versa,” he told journalists, via the FIA.
“So, I think you get more people complaining in some essence if you split it up into two different sessions.
“At the same time, if people just actually look in the mirrors and use the radio for the reasons it should be used for, which is to give the drivers information about people on quick laps, I think it should be fine.
“I don’t think it’s going to be terrible, but only if people get out of the way in the correct places and things like that. As soon as people try to take the mick with things, then it starts to become a big problem.”
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Leclerc, on the other hand, would welcome Sainz’s proposal. Following Norris’ comments, the Monegasque replied, “I think it’s a problem. I mean, 22 cars on such a short track will be quite tricky, especially with these cars.
“I mean, a bit less now, but still, whenever you are [within] like three, four seconds on tracks like this, you lose a bit of time. So it’s going to be tricky, but it’s the same for everybody, and we’ll have to adapt to it. But it’s not ideal for Q1, I think.”
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