The Monaco circuit is one of the jewels in the crown, but also probably the most difficult in real life and on the video games.

 

You’ve got to be super consistent and precise just to avoid damaging your wing here, and stability for me takes precedence over pure pace round here.

I have found a setup that’s at least relatively easy to control around this very tricky circuit, mixing my favourite elements of a few different tested setups.

Here’s a general baseline dry race setup for Monaco for a pad user:

• Wings – 47/50
• Diff – 10/45/50
• Camber – -3.50/-2.20/0.00/0.00 (LLLL)
• Suspension –  39-9-15-11-25-58
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/50% Bias
• Tyres – Minimum pressures all tyres

This is definitely NOT a setup designed for blinding speed, but more to be more able to consistently control for a pad users and just get to the end of a race without crashing or damaging your wing.

Traction and stability are emphasised over responsiveness, and with this setup I find the car is planted to the track nicely, especially around the tricky last sector.

More Setup Analysis & Tips

If you want to take the setup and handling in a different direction to what this template provides, here’s some extra tips.

More Aggressive – If you do decide you want more “pointy-ness”, and general responsiveness and potential pace (at the cost of greater instability), you can a) Increase both suspension values a few clicks, b) bring the wings closer together and use something like 50/50 or 50/49 wing, c) Increase tyre pressures for better high speed response and d) reduce your off throttle diff for sharper cornering when off the power. Just be aware that the car will be harder to control, especially with worn tyres, and you’re also more likely to turn in too sharply and clip one of the barriers.

Tyre Pressures – I’ve set them all the minimum round here (for both quali and race) to get the most heat into them possible. It also provides the best traction, stability and low speed grip, which is what I want. If you prefer high speed responsiveness, you can increase the pressures (they don’t seem to make that much difference in lap time – it’s more the type of handling you prefer).

Intermediate Conditions – The dry setup posted above should also work OK in light rain. If you like, you can soften the suspension and ARB,  and raise the ride height 1-2 clicks, and also use minimum On Throttle Diff and Tyre Pressures if you’re not already.

Full Wet Setup – For full wet, it can help to make some more adjustments. Here’s a starter wet race setup for Monaco for a pad user:

• Wings – 47/50
• Diff – 10/55/50
• Camber – -3.50/-2.20/0.11/0.20
• Suspension –  37-6-12-8-28-61
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/50% Bias
• Tyre pressures – Minimum pressures all tyres

Again, this is just a starting point and you might need to tweak to your preference. But you’ll need stability in the wet even more than in the dry to get to the end with your front wing intact.

Mastering Monaco (E-Sports Driver Guide)

 

More Setup Resources

There’s plenty more aggressive and potentially faster – but also harder to control – setups for Monaco for sure. If you’re wanting to test different setups for different cars, here’s some more sites to check out:

• My generic starter setup I always use as a template also works fine round here, just with the wing, Diff and tyre pressure settings ported over from above. However, in my testing the above setup seemed to deliver better single lap Quali pace, which is what you need round here as qualifying/track position is most crucial. Compare them yourself if you want to see which works better for you.
• F1laps.com Monaco page – Another car setup forum with pages for every track, and loads of custom setups posted, both TT and race, all cars, all conditions.
• F1gamesetup.com – An even more specialized resource with custom setups, every car and every track, wet and dry weather.
• Sim Racing Centre (Premium) – Setups pack you have to pay for, either for single tracks or every tracks in one pack. More advanced but potentially faster setups designed by eSports drivers, but may not translate well over to a pad without some significant tweaking. Their support team can help you out with this.

Racing & Strategy Tips

It’s difficult to get to the end of a race weekend without something happening to your car here, but here’s some extra tips to make the most of a tricky weekend here.

ERS (Qualifying) – You’ve got loads of Overtake ERS mode to use on a qualifying lap here for online racing. You’ve got more than 15 seconds and more than you really need. It’s hard to even use all of it. Just deploy overtake on any short or medium length straight on a Quali lap to boost your speed, and you can use it on the pit straight both going onto your hotlap, and finishing it. You’re aiming to drain your yellow ERS bar just as you finish the lap.

ERS (Race) – In the race, ERS is a different story. Despite it generally recovering quickly on F1 24, Monaco is one circuit where it does noticeably drain faster and is harder to replenish. You can recoup by not using and going to “None” mode, but it takes longer than on other tracks. After the initial burst in the first few laps, I just settled to using a quick burst on the straight leading into the tunnel, and the start-finish straight, and not using it the rest of the lap to let it recharge.

Tyre/Pit Strategy – Overheating is not an issue at all here, so you can also use the red soft tyre definitely for 25% races, and for 50% races if you’re feeling lucky (soft-hard strategy). Otherwise, the safer strategy for 50% races is medium-hard. The “undercut” is also powerful round here. In my first career season, I managed to undercut cars even changing my front wing at the stop. If you can do better and just get through the first stint protecting your front wing, and staying somewhat close to the cars in front, you can make up some serious places on the pit stops if you come in 1-3 laps earlier than your strategy suggests.

First Lap Carnage – Like Baku and a few other tracks, Monaco is one of those races where the AI really bunch up on lap 1 and it’s easy to go steaming in too fast and smash your front wing, and that’s your race ruined from there. Watch out for all of sector 1, and especially the Loews hairpin. Just focus on getting through the first lap unscathed, coasting cautiously into any slow braking zones, and then try to make up positions from there.

Defending – If you’re just consistent and clever on pit strategy, you can do well round here, at least beating your Quali and race goals. Overtaking is almost impossible round here, even with the insanely over-powered AI, so as long as you’re consistent and get a good exit and a burst of ERS onto the pit straight and the Tunnel straight, you should be able to hold position and not lose any places. The dry setup I posted should help you lap consistently, and then it’s just clever and sparing ERS use to keep yourself safe from overtakes.