Lando Norris has won the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position. Max Verstappen finished fourth with Red Bull in a strategic game of chess. A gamble on a late red flag did not help him.
Verstappen, in the lead, waited a long time for his mandatory second pit stop, hoping for a red flag in the final phase. Eventually, he still had to make a pit stop.
That gave Norris the space to take the win, ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari and teammate Oscar Piastri of McLaren. Lewis Hamilton finished fifth in the second Ferrari.
Isack Hadjar crowned a fine performance and strategically strong game from Racing Bulls with a sixth place. Esteban Ocon finished a nice seventh in the Haas. Eighth place went to Liam Lawson, ahead of Williams drivers Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz. Mercedes finished disappointingly outside the points with two cars.
Rule for Two Stops Immediately Applies
It was the first edition with two mandatory pit stops. The strategic consequences were clearly noticeable. It started immediately after the start, with a number of drivers immediately diving into the pits to have at least one stop off the table. No one did that in the battle at the front.
The new rule had no effect on overtaking opportunities in Monaco. That once again proved virtually impossible. There were several teams that took advantage of this.
In particular, Racing Bulls and Williams had the rear car of the two drive extremely slowly to give the front driver a gap for a pit stop. It was strategically well thought out, but the frustrations of the drivers stuck behind Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz respectively were high. For example, a grumbling George Russell overtook by cutting off a chicane, which earned him a drive-through penalty.
Gambling Verstappen Puts Norris Under Pressure from Leclerc.
At the front, the new rule had little decisive effect for quite some time. Norris was clearly the fastest, Leclerc could follow, everyone made their pit stops, until Verstappen came to be in the lead with the only one in the top still having a stop to go. Red Bull’s hope was for a safety car or especially a red flag, but it didn’t come, causing him to fall back to fourth place after his inevitable second stop.
The Norris held up by Verstappen withstood the pressure from the urging Leclerc and thus won his first Monaco Grand Prix.
The next Grand Prix will be held in Spain next weekend.