The Monaco Grand Prix has, to quote George Russell (who in turn was paraphrasing Fernando Alonso), "always been the same" when it comes to a lack of overtaking opportunities in the Formula 1 race itself.
Still, that doesn't mean efforts to improve the spectacle are without merit, and proposals from ex-F1 driver Alex Wurz to adjust the circuit to make it more conducive to overtaking have been widely praised - and built upon - by the current crop of racers.
Teams were required to use three sets of tyres in this year's grand prix, effectively mandating a minimum two-stop race, a change that was introduced to try to spice up the race but that ultimately fell flat, as Racing Bulls and Williams in particular were each able to use one driver to back up the field to give the other a pitstop window.
And with on-track overtaking at a premium once again in the 2025 race, Wurz - who heads his eponymous track design company and serves as chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association - shared details of three potential tweaks to the circuit to aid overtaking, which would include reprofiling Rascasse and widening the Fairmont Hairpin exit plus moving the harbourfront chicane.
Ahead of the Spanish GP, drivers were asked what they thought of Wurz's suggestions and what they thought could be done to improve the Monte Carlo race by media including The Race. Here's what they thought:
Far enough?
GPDA director Carlos Sainz gave his take on the Monaco GP multiple times on Thursday in Spain. He had seen Wurz's proposed changes but called for more to improve Monaco.
"Those three changes...would help, but it would help 1-5% of the issue that we have. I think you could still position the car in the middle of the track, go at 30km/h (19mph), and still not get overtaken," said Sainz.
"You would need to be a bit clever about it and you would need to be more worried, maybe looking in the mirror in case someone sends one down the inside, because it's a bit wider.
"So a small change means a small benefit. I think we need something a bit even bigger than that."
Asked by The Race what the best solution was to improve overtaking, fellow GPDA director Russell added: "I have seen some of the proposed track changes, that definitely will not make it worse.
"Because the small problem you have in Monaco is the one overtaking opportunity, which is out of the tunnel, the natural racing line is you're going from a left, breaking through the middle of the track, and then you pull over to the right. So it's very easy for a driver to position his car [in defence].
"But honestly right now, I don't have the answer."
Sainz’s Williams team-mate Alex Albon was more complimentary about Wurz’s changes, saying: "I think they're very sensible."
Charles Leclerc said he had seen Wurz's proposed changes to his home grand prix on social media, which in addition to the Rascasse reprofiling and widening of Fairmont also included the extension of the run to the Nouvelle chicane, which would require land to be reclaimed from the Monaco harbour before it could be introduced.
"Maybe the one - Turn 10 [the Nouvelle chicane] - that he proposed, [I would suggest] to delay; on the sea is a bit more tricky to achieve," said Leclerc.
"But the two others I think are good ideas. Is it going to significantly change the action on Sunday in Monaco? I honestly don't think so. Do we need to make absolutely every possible effort to make it better on a Sunday? Definitely."
Alpine's Pierre Gasly said "they need to look at widening some of the areas of the track" as Wurz has suggested, but everyone involved should stay "open-minded" when looking for solutions.
Max Verstappen offered a succinct reply. "I've spoken to Alex - let's see if some of these things can be done. A bit early to say anything about that now."
Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson hadn’t seen the changes but, when they were explained to him by The Race, said: “It just needs something to allow more than one car width, which is what most of Monaco is.
"Our cars are quite big now as well compared to what they used to be so it just makes it very very tough to overtake."
What the drivers want
Lawson wasn't the only driver to offer suggestions on how to avoid the procession at Monaco.
Albon pointed at the kink that narrows the wall at the exit of Turn 1, Ste Devote, as another area for potential development.
"It makes the turn one much narrower than what it could be if it was parallel the whole way through," he said.
He added that Wurz's idea to move the Nouvelle chicane 80 metres away from the tunnel exit would also help as the slope makes it "hard to be committed on the brakes".
"That idea of having 80 metres and following it down the track to a braking area that would be flat would give drivers far more confidence, to say it honestly.
"You've seen it, as soon as you brake late, when it's going downhill you add pitch to a car which is then downhill so you add more pitch, you create all this extra rear limitation in the car and that's when you see these big crashes where cars lose their rear - so that [change] would work well."
Like Lawson, Sainz pointed to the size of the current F1 cars, which are set to shrink a little in 2026, as the problem.
"The cars are so wide that you can basically go as slow as you want, they're not going to pass you. So that's why I was driving, why we [Sainz and Albon] were driving four or five seconds off the pace."
Albon also suggested manual DRS use through the tunnel as in the opening corners of Shanghai and Suzuka - but conceded that the FIA is "not really for these things" due to safety concerns.
Does it need to be changed?
This year's Monaco winner Lando Norris suggested that the event should remain as it is.
"I think it's special just having this race on Sunday," he said. "There's still these opportunities, still things can happen, maybe not always for the win. For second places, third places, things can happen; for points, things can happen; sometimes you've got to take a bit of risk and sometimes there's luck involved.
"If you want to make a bigger event out of it, make it a more qualifying-based event, I don’t think you can really change the race apart from if you make the cars half the size of what they are now.
"I don't think it needs to change that much. It's never been anything else from what it is now so I think people should be happy with what it is."
Leclerc called qualifying "unbelievable" and shrugged off the amount of "noise" around changing the event.
“I think as a driver it's [qualifying is] really, really special, and that's what makes Monaco so special. So, again, I will welcome any changes to make it better on the Sunday - but Monaco has always been like that,” said the Ferrari driver.
Asked whether people expect too much from Monaco, two-time winner Fernando Alonso said: "Oh, of course, of course.
"There are a lot of expectations, and there is a lot of media; you are not the ones to blame, but there is a lot of news generated every single day, and there are a lot of things on the internet, social media, there are a lot of things generated for Formula 1.
"We want to see the show, we want to see overtakings, we want to improve the sport from our couch at home - everyone has ideas, all these kind of things. I'm always a little bit surprised about the negative comments from Monaco on Monday.
"But don't worry, because next year we will go to Monaco and on Wednesday we will be so excited. And then on Friday we will all say that it is the best weekend and track of the season, and we all want to win in Monaco. And then on Saturday we are all super-excited and the adrenaline that you get on those laps are probably unique in the championship.
"And then for whatever reason on Sunday we will be all disappointed, once again."
