F1- 2025 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, held on May 25, 2025

Posted 2025-05-25 17:27:23

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2025 Monaco Grand Prix – Race Results

Lando Norris (McLaren) – 1:40:33.843
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – +3.131s
Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – +3.658s
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – +20.572s
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – +51.387s
Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) – 1 lap behind
Esteban Ocon (Haas) – 1 lap behind
Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) – 1 lap behind
Alex Albon (Williams) – 2 laps behind
Carlos Sainz (Williams) – 2 laps behind

Lando Norris

Lando Norris Monaco GP winner.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes Lando Norris deserves high praise for his victory at the F1 Monaco Grand Prix.

The Briton won the prestigious F1 race for the first time in his career with a calm and controlled drive to fend off local hero Charles Leclerc and convert pole position into an impressive second victory of the season.

Despite the threat of potential jeopardy being created by a new rule forcing drivers to make two pit stops in a bid to spice up racing in Monaco, Norris kept his cool to deliver McLaren’s first win at the Principality since 2008.

McLaren team boss Stella described Norris as being “cold-blooded” in how he executed his weekend in Monte Carlo.

“I think Lando kept the high standards, the quality of execution and the lucidity that he has had throughout the weekend,” Stella told media.

“He was faster from lap one in practice one and he kept building from lap one in practice one to capitalise on a pole position.

“And today, he went through various situations which required cold blood. Especially, I think the most stressful moment was when he went for the second time through the back markers, knowing that we could have called him in and he stayed very lucid. No panic, he came in.

“So, I really think that Lando deserves to be praised for a very, very well managed and executed weekend. And I think this is just the start of many more coming in the future.”

Norris resisted late pressure from Leclerc

A turning point in Norris’s season?

Norris’s statement victory was his first since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and sees him reduce McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri's lead in the championship down to three points.

Piastri finished third with Norris the quicker McLaren driver in Monaco as he beat the Australian for the second weekend in a row.

Asked if the win represents a turning point in Norris’s season, Stella replied: “I don't want to think about a turning point.

“I think the journey that we are going through with Lando, which is the counterpart of a journey that we are going through with Oscar, they are simply different in terms of what we are doing.

“Because the two drivers are in different phases, or were in different phases, and because of the characteristics and the opportunities to work on. So, this is a journey that is not changed by one stage of the journey.

“Certainly, this one can help a lot with the consolidation of the work that we have done. It shows that when you put together and you pull off good work, and you believe in this work, then you see the results.

“So, I think this can cement what we have done so far, but for me we are nowhere near at the final destination.

“But for Lando and Oscar, the talent that we have available, that can be exploited, is still at the start of the journey. I think this is a very exciting journey.”

Race Summary & Analysis

Lando Norris secured his maiden Monaco Grand Prix victory, leading from pole position to the checkered flag. This win marks McLaren's first triumph at Monaco since 2008 and narrows Norris's gap to teammate Oscar Piastri in the Drivers' Championship to just three points.

The race introduced a new regulation mandating two pit stops, aiming to enhance strategic variability. However, the rule had minimal impact on the race dynamics, with the top positions remaining largely unchanged.

Charles Leclerc, despite strong performances in practice sessions, finished second, unable to overtake Norris on the narrow streets of Monte Carlo.

Oscar Piastri completed the podium in third place, maintaining his lead in the championship standings.

Notable incidents included a collision between Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, resulting in Gasly's retirement, and a mechanical failure for Fernando Alonso, extending his scoreless streak this season.

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Christian Horner wants Monaco F1 track changes after zero overtakes

Christian Horner has called for changes to be made to Monaco to spice up F1 racing.

Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner believes the time has come for Monaco to “investigate” track layout changes to spice up racing at the legendary venue.

Despite F1 introducing a mandatory two-stop strategy at this year’s Monaco Grand Prix to try and add excitement to an event which has long faced criticism, zero overtakes were completed during Sunday’s 78-lap race.

There was a close battle for the top three positions but Lando Norris held off a frustrated Charles Leclerc to claim McLaren’s first win at the Principality since 2008.

Speaking to media after Sunday’s race, Horner urged Monaco to consider tweaks for the future.

"I don’t think I saw a single overtake in the race,” Horner said.

“So trying to create a bit more braking area, either on the exit of the tunnel or Turn 1 if there was any way of creating a longer braking zone somewhere, we should really investigate it.

“The cars are so big now that you just don’t have a chance to get alongside.”

Asked if he thinks changes to the layout are realistic, Horner replied: “I think everything has to move with the times ultimately.

“It’s an iconic and historic circuit but, you know, if you look at how Monaco has changed, how much land they’ve reclaimed into the sea into the 72 appearances here, I don’t think you’d need to do too much.

“There just needs to be one area where you can have an overtake, and everybody knows that coming here, the race was pretty much done yesterday. We’ve introduced another dynamic with the pit stop which ultimately for the top 10, other than the retirement, nobody really changed position.”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner

Current F1 cars are the biggest ever, but the sport is introducing smaller and lighter cars as part of the regulation shake-up for 2026, which could help matters.

“Maybe go-karts,” Horner laughed in response when asked if F1 needs smaller cars.

“I think these cars are just too big for this circuit, you can barely get them side by side, that’s Monaco. We know that, we all want to be here, we’re here because it is Monaco and the prestige and the cache that goes with that, but everything has to move with the times at one point.

“The marshals are fantastic here, they put on a great event. It would just be really cool to have at least one area where there was a chance of an overtake, as even in Formula 2 and the support races it’s very similar.”

Was the mandatory two-stop an improvement?

Despite there being no fundamental competitive change as a result of the new mandatory two-stop rule, Horner felt it was an improvement.

“I would say it was an improvement,” Horner said. “It was strategically more interesting, there was more jeopardy to it, certainly better than last year where there was just a procession.

“The fundamental problem is you cannot overtake here and you can drive around three-four seconds off the pace.”

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen finished fourth after staying out in the hope of a Safety Car or red flag, while Yuki Tsunoda finished down in 17th.

Explaining Red Bull’s split strategy, Horner added: “We rolled the dice a little bit today. Starting on the hard our tactic was always to go long, with the main opportunity behind Safety Cars or a red flag, which can sometimes be the case here.

“So Max led a large portion of the race but was one of those Monaco’s where everyone pretty much behaved. So yeah, the first stop we got pretty close to Oscar [Piastri] at one point. He had a wobble on his second lap out of his pit stop, but we would have been at best alongside, so we decided keep going.

“The upside would have been if there had been a Safety Car or red flag Max would have led, then again he had the medium tyre, went very long, stopped on the last lap, and again you’re just hanging out for a Safety Car or VSC and red flag.

“For Yuki we did the inverse and went lap one, initially looked like he would get a significant benefit from it but then everyone started to drive extremely slowly as they started to play around with the tactics.

"He was basically on the same set of tyres for the whole race and set his fastest lap at the end there when he finally got some clear traffic, he was just sat in a queue the whole race. Difficult for him today.”

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