Revisions to the Tabac corner at the harbour section of the race track meant that the drivers now entered the turn slightly earlier, shortening the track by compared to previous years, and making the corner slightly tighter and slower.
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its yellow-marked soft compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the red-marked super-soft compound tyre as the more elastic "option" tyre, just as they did the previous three seasons.