Lando Norris won the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix. Formula One’s double pit stop enforcement brought little action to the track as the McLaren driver won from pole, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri finishing on the podium alongside him. As has often been the case here in the past, the race saw almost no on-track overtakes.
Racing Bulls were the biggest winners as their aggressive strategy saw them pick up a double points finish. Isack Hadjar’s strong Saturday helped him leave the Principality with a good haul of points, while he and his teammate, Liam Lawson, had career-best finishes in P6 and P8, respectively.
As the lights went out, Norris had an immediate lock-up going into Turn 1, giving Leclerc a small window of opportunity, though the Brit managed to keep his lead. The yellow flag was brought out immediately as Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto went into the barriers at the Portier corner. Although he managed to reverse out, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed, triggering immediate action in the pits as multiple cars came in for their first stop.
The VSC ended on Lap 4, with Leclerc chasing Norris for the lead, followed by Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso, and Lewis Hamilton. Pierre Gasly had a moment on the restart, as he had a coming-together with former teammate Yuki Tsunoda, which brought out the yellow flags and ended the Alpine driver’s race.
As is usual in Monaco, there was little to no on-track action as the cars followed each other in a train. As the race neared its 20th lap, the likes of Alonso and Hamilton came in for their stop, allowing Leclerc to make up a place and move up to P5, going past Hadjar. Race leader Norris came in on Lap 19 and rejoined in fourth place, while a slow stop for Piastri saw him come out 24 seconds behind his teammate.
Verstappen, who had inherited the lead after Norris’s and Leclerc’s pit stops, was the last of the front-runners to pit on Lap 28 and rejoined in P4.
Fernando Alonso became the second retiree of the race on Lap 38 as his power unit gave out. Piastri became the first of the front-runners to complete his second mandatory stop on Lap 49, rejoining in P4 behind Verstappen. Leclerc followed the next lap; managing to keep himself in the podium places, he rejoined in P3 as Verstappen moved up to second. When Norris came in for his stop, the Dutchman took the lead of the race, although he still had a pit stop to complete.
As the race entered its final 15 laps, Verstappen remained the only driver in the top nine not to have completed his two stops. His lead put pressure on Norris, who had Leclerc all over him. By Lap 70, Piastri had joined the fight, with Norris doing his best to keep Leclerc behind him as Verstappen—still on one stop—continued to lead.
Verstappen finally came in for his second mandatory stop on Lap 77, which set Norris free to take the lead, with Leclerc and Piastri behind him. Verstappen rejoined in fourth place, just ahead of Hamilton, as Norris managed to hang on by the skin of his teeth to take the win.
This is Norris’s first-ever win in Monaco and his second of the season, having won the season-opener in Australia.
Behind podium finishers Norris, Leclerc, and Piastri, Verstappen finished P4, ahead of Hamilton, Hadjar, Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon, and Carlos Sainz, who rounded out the points places.
Racing Bulls and Williams had a strong afternoon and finished with double points. For Piastri, it was his seventh consecutive podium finish, while Norris became the first McLaren driver to win in Monaco since Hamilton did it for the Woking-based team back in 2008.
The European triple-header will come to an end next weekend as the grid heads to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix.
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