In a RaceFans report published on October 7, Automobile Club de Monaco president Michel Boeri said Monaco will not alter the layout of its Formula 1 circuit, despite long-running concerns over the difficulty of overtaking on the 3.3km street track. Boeri said Monaco’s current Formula 1 contract runs until at least 2035, although he indicated that a future platform and building might allow organisers to reconsider the grid area and pit-lane space.
The decision means the circuit layout will remain unchanged despite recurring debate about overtaking. Monaco has regularly faced criticism for processional races, but Boeri said limited space in the Principality made significant widening or alterations impossible.
The circuit layout will stay intact
Boeri said he had heard suggestions that the circuit could change, but stated that its layout would not be altered. He maintained that moving infrastructure or demolishing parts of the area would trigger a fresh review of the circuit and new FIA homologation.
RaceFans reported that Monaco’s 3.3km track is both the shortest and narrowest venue on the current Formula 1 calendar. Its tight confines have made overtaking especially difficult, a feature which has repeatedly prompted debate over whether the event should be adapted to suit modern Formula 1 cars.
Boeri’s comments provide a firm answer on that central question: the race track itself is not being redesigned. With overtaking remaining difficult, retaining the layout is unlikely to change the circuit’s established emphasis on track position.
RaceFans said Formula 1 had introduced a rule change last year requiring drivers to make two tyre changes because of the overtaking difficulty. The report said the result was an even more processional race, with several cars deliberately circulating slowly, and that driver criticism led to the rule being dropped.
That does not mean Monaco is dismissing every infrastructure issue around the event. Boeri drew a distinction between preserving the circuit configuration and examining how the venue’s operational spaces could evolve in future.
Pit-lane work remains a possibility
Boeri said a platform and building planned in the area might allow organisers to reconsider the grid area and potentially increase the available space. He described the pit lane as an area that would be difficult to sustain indefinitely, pointing in particular to the limited space and narrow garages.
He suggested that building upward could be an option where there was insufficient width at ground level. However, those comments were exploratory rather than an announcement of a confirmed construction scheme or a revised circuit plan. Boeri said the details remained to be defined.
His remarks therefore indicate that Monaco’s organisers see a possible route to address facilities without changing the roads used for the grand prix itself. The distinction matters: a future platform and building might allow organisers to reconsider grid-area and pit-lane space, but such work would not, on the available evidence, amount to a solution to the overtaking debate that surrounds the race.
Monaco has changed its circuit several times since its first grand prix in 1929, according to RaceFans. Boeri noted that land reclamation had been used for construction in the past, including around the Nouvelle chicane four decades ago, but he said there were no plans to repeat that approach to create substantial new space for the racing circuit.
Contract gives organisers long-term certainty
Formula 1 has extended Monaco’s agreement twice in the last two years, with the current deal keeping the event on the calendar until at least 2035. Boeri said the race remained a major draw for Formula 1’s promoters, while portraying negotiations as a commercial arrangement rather than a guarantee of special treatment for the venue.
Because the agreement runs until at least 2035, the comments concern a longer-term possibility rather than a confirmed near-term project. Boeri specifically referred to the grid area, pit lane and garage width.
For now, though, the clearest outcome is straightforward: Monaco’s Formula 1 race will retain its familiar circuit. Any future development discussed by Boeri concerns the space around the grid and pit lane, not a reworking of the street course that has defined the event.