McLaren driver Lando Norris has secured victory in the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix. In a tactical poker match, the Briton held off last year's winner, Charles Leclerc, in the Ferrari. Oscar Piastri, the second McLaren driver, finished in third place. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, gambled in vain until the last lap. McLaren driver Lando Norris won a tactical but moderately exciting Monaco Grand Prix. The Briton triumphed in the principality on Sunday ahead of local hero Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari and Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren.
Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen finished fourth in the Red Bull ahead of Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton. Despite the introduction of two mandatory pit stops, the chaos factor on the French Riviera was limited. "Monaco, baby!" Norris shouted over the radio to the pits after his sixth GP victory overall. In the world championship standings, the runner-up, who finished on the top step of the podium for the first time since the season opener in Australia at race eight, reduced his gap to leader Piastri to three points. Defending champion Verstappen is now 25 points behind Piastri ahead of next Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.
After last year's dull race, when the top ten drivers in the standings finished in the same order without a real pit stop due to a red flag, the mandatory use of three sets of tires was introduced. This raised several questions for the strategists. How sensible is it to stop immediately after the first lap and close the gap again afterward? Or: Does it make any sense to complete both pit stops directly after each other in the event of a safety car? Without a safety car, the first responses were not long in coming.
A quartet of backmarkers opted to stop after the first of 78 laps under the virtual safety car after Gabriel Bortoleto parked his Sauber at short notice against the wall in front of the tunnel following an overtaking maneuver by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli. At the front, the start was uneventful, with Norris defending his top position despite a braking error in front of Leclerc, while behind him there was no change of position.
Even after Alpine driver Pierre Gasly braked after the tunnel on lap nine and destroyed his Alpine in a dangerous collision with the right-rear wheel of Yuki Tsunoda's Red Bull, there was no safety car. On lap 15, fifth-place Hadjar initiated the first series of pit stops. The front counterattacked, with Piastri having no effect during a slow stay with the mechanics.
Hadjar stopped again shortly after and continued in eighth place because his teammate Liam Lawson had tactically held the field directly behind him. Halfway through the race, Fernando Alonso parked his faulty Aston Martin at the emergency exit, so the safety car was also not necessary. Verstappen, meanwhile, was unhappy with his car. "My gearshift feels like it did in Monaco 1972," the world champion said over the radio.
