Lando Norris won the Monaco Grand Prix after Red Bull’s audacious strategy bid with Max Verstappen failed to pay off.
The McLaren driver took the chequered flag with Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri close behind. He spent much of the final stages of the race being backed up by Verstappen, who delayed his mandatory second pit stop until the penultimate lap of the race. Had a red flag flown over the final laps, Verstappen could have used it to make his final mandatory tyre change and win the race.
Norris led from the start, despite locking his tyres heavily into the first corner. The race was briefly neutralised when Gabriel Bortoleto hit the barrier at Portier, though he was able to get going.
The new requirement for drivers to change tyres twice, introduced for this race only, had a profound effect on the race. Racing Bulls instructed Liam Lawson to slow down significantly over his first stint, allowing team mate Isack Hadjar ahead to make both his pit stops.
That held up the field behind them, many of whom ran much further into the race before making their first pit stops, hoping for an interruption to the race which never materialised.
Lewis Hamilton managed to escape the Hadjar trap and arrive in fifth place. Esteban Ocon took seventh, while Lawson took eighth, making both his pit stops after his team mate. The Williams drivers completed the points places after executing a slow-pace strategy of their own.
This infuriated George Russell, who lost his patience behind Alexander Albon and cut the Nouvelle chicane to overtake the Williams. After telling his team he would accept the resulting sanction, he was handed a drive-through penalty. He finished 11th.
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Oliver Bearman rose from last place to finish 12th, followed by Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg. The trio spent almost all the race in solid traffic.
Pierre Gasly crashed out of the race early on when he ran into Yuki Tsunoda at the chicane. He accused the Red Bull driver of slowing abruptly ahead of him.
Fernando Alonso was the only other retirement of the race, the Aston Martin driver suffering a power unit failure while running in the points.
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2025 Monaco Grand Prix
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