Race report
Lando Norris of McLaren got a slightly poorer start than his front row rival Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, who momentarily challenged him for the lead into the opening Sainte Devote turn. However, Norris was able to hold the inside line and maintain his lead. Fighting for fifteenth place, Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber overtook Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes around the outside of the Fairmont Hairpin, which Antonelli attempted to respond to by diving up the inside at the Portier turn. Bortoleto, already committed to the corner, was unable to avoid hitting the barrier and, whilst able to reverse back onto the track, lost his front wing and dropped to last in the race. The virtual safety car (VSC) was deployed to allow marshals to clear the debris from this incident. Before the race, there had been speculation as to whether the cars at the back of the grid might take one of their two mandatory pit stops on the first lap in order to give themselves clean air. Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull Racing, Pierre Gasly of Alpine, Oliver Bearman of Haas and Bortoleto did just that, with the time lost compared to other cars being lessened due to the VSC being deployed at the time. [21] [22]
On lap 9 Gasly, who was running in 18th position, misjudged his braking for the Nouvelle Chicane and drove into the rear of Tsunoda. Gasly's front-left wheel was dislodged by the impact, ending his race, however he was able to drive back to the pit lane and therefore the debris could be cleared under double-waved yellow flags. As they passed through the yellow flag area, fourth-placed Max Verstappen of Red Bull closed up the rear of McLaren's Oscar Piastri of but was unable to pass, complaining over team radio that Piastri "would have taken my front wing off". At the end of lap 14 Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls, who had been running in sixth position, became the first driver to pit from the top ten but was able to return to the track in eighth thanks to the efforts of his teammate Liam Lawson who had deliberately slowed down the cars behind in order to give Hadjar the gap necessary to pit and remain in front. The cars behind Lawson had been unable to overtake him, due to the narrow and twisting nature of the Circuit de Monaco. These inter-team tactics would end up being used extensively throughout the Grand Prix. On lap 18 Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari made his first stop and was able to overcut both Hadjar and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, moving him from a net seventh to fifth position. [21] [22]
On lap 19 race leader Norris made his first pit stop without incident, switching from mediums to hards. Hadjar made his second pit stop just five laps after his first, and was able to again rejoin ahead of Lawson and the group of cars that were being slowed down behind him. This meant that Hadjar had completed both his mandatory pit stops whilst remaining ahead of cars whom had not yet made either of theirs. On lap 28 leader Verstappen, who had being running long with the hope of making an overcut on Piastri, made his first pit stop and rejoined in fourth, the same position he had been in before the pit stop phase of the race. On lap 37 Alonso, running in sixth with one stop left to make, suffered an engine failure which ended his hopes for a first points finish of the season. Alonso was able to pull off through a gap in the barriers, thus no intervention was necessary. 10th-placed Carlos Sainz Jr. was using the same tactics seen earlier from Lawson to help his Williams teammate Alexander Albon. This frustrated the chasing George Russell of Mercedes to the point where on lap 50 Russell passed Albon by cutting the Nouvelle Chicane, ostensibly due to Albon's "erratic driving". Russell refused to return the position, stating over radio that he would rather take a penalty then remain stuck behind the Williams. In response to this radio, the stewards imposed a harsher than usual drive-through penalty for the illegal overtake. [23] [a]
At the same time, Norris made his second and final pit stop which left him behind Verstappen, who still had one stop left to make. Verstappen decided to delay his pit stop as much as possible in the hope that a safety car or red flag might be deployed, which would possibly allow him to make his stop and remain in the lead. Norris, on fresh tyres, quickly caught Verstappen but was unable to pass, leading to him being caught by Leclerc and Piastri. Despite the gap to Leclerc reaching as little as half a second, Norris held his lead, and when Verstappen finally pitted on lap 77, retook the lead, then set the fastest lap on the final lap, winning his first Monaco Grand Prix and sixth Grand Prix overall by three seconds. Leclerc and Piastri completed the podium whilst both Racing Bulls drivers took their best results in a Grand Prix to date, with Hadjar in sixth and Lawson in eighth respectively – the latter scoring his first points of the season. [21] [22]
Post-race
Due to the Circuit de Monaco twisty layout, lack of straights and narrow nature, there was only one overtake, [25] and zero inside the top 10, [b] with Mercedes calculating a car needed a 4.5-second pace advantage over the car in front to have even a 50–50 chance at an overtake. One of the two on-track "passes" occurred courtesy of Mercedes's George Russell's intentionally cutting the Nouvelle Chicane for which he received a drive-through penalty. [27] Several teams, including Williams, Racing Bulls, and Mercedes, gamed the new rule mandating a second pit stop by ordering one driver to hold up the rest of the field so that the other driver ahead of them could race in free air and pit without losing track position. [27] [28] Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing also attempted to take advantage of the two-stop rule by staying out on old tyres and gambling for a pit stop under safety car or red flag conditions, where he would have lost less time relative to his rivals. He took the lead after polesitter Lando Norris of McLaren took his second pit stop, but no free pit stop materialised and Verstappen was forced to pit at the end of the race, dropping him to fourth. [29]
Several drivers criticised the Grand Prix following the race. Williams's Carlos Sainz Jr. and Alexander Albon admitted that while they understood they needed to (legally) block other drivers for tactical reasons, they did not like it. Sainz warned that should there be no further rule changes, the tactic of blocking other drivers would increase in Monaco in future years. [28] Race winner Lando Norris added that the FIA's two-pit-stop rule had made the race more luck-based but not more competitive. [30] On a more humourous note, Verstappen suggested that the organisers would need Mario Kart -style gimmicks to make Monaco more interesting, [29] and Russell revived Bernie Ecclestone's idea of using sprinklers to add artificial hazards to the circuit. [27]
Various team principals also commented on the lack of action on race day. Red Bull's Christian Horner said that the two-pit-stop rule made the race more dramatic but was not a material change. [25] [30] He asked the organisers to modify the circuit to permit organic overtakes. [30] McLaren's Andrea Stella agreed that the two-stop rule did not work but was unsure whether or how the track could be meaningfully modified. Mercedes's Toto Wolff suggested a minimum lap time so that teams could not drive intentionally slowly. [30]
Lando Norris 
