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Lando Norris Wins From the Pole in Monaco
(Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Lando Norris Wins From the Pole in Monaco

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Lando Norris won a lights-to-flag victory at Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday (May 25), in what was another processional race in the principality.

The victory marks Norris’ sixth F1 triumph and second of the 2025 season.

Charles Leclerc finished second, followed by the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

“It feels amazing,” Norris said post-race. “It’s a long, grueling race. This is what I dreamed of when I was a kid, so I’ve achieved one of my dreams.”

In one of the few major place-changes of the race, Lewis Hamilton went from seventh to fifth.

Isack Hadjar finished in sixth, and Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top 10.

A mandatory two-stop was introduced to make the Monaco race less predictable, but it had no major impact at the front.

Norris was in pole position, with home-hero Leclerc alongside. Championship leader Piastri lined up in third and, although Hamilton had qualified fourth, a three-place penalty for impeding Verstappen on Saturday dropped him to seventh for the start, with Verstappen moving up to the fourth grid slot. As a result, all of the main championship contenders were in the mix.

Norris locked up into the first corner, but managed to hold the lead, such is the difficulty of overtaking at Monaco.

What was shaping up to be a clean first lap wasn’t to be, as rookie Gabriel Bortoleto found the barriers just before the tunnel.

Several cars chose to take the pits immediately, but Bortoleto got his car moving again, so only a virtual safety car was deployed. This meant a pit stop offered fewer benefits than a full safety car.

Racing resumed on lap four, with Norris closely followed by Leclerc, but a 2.5-second gap had opened back to Piastri. A McLaren team strategy was possibly at play, protecting Norris from other challengers.

On lap 9, Pierre Gasly ran into the back of Yuki Tsunoda and continued to the pits with one wheel barely hanging on. Debris was left on the track, but no safety car was required.

With 19 laps completed, the four frontrunners had yet to make any stops, but Norris was the first to jump, giving Leclerc the lead, followed by Piastri and Verstappen.

Piastri followed Norris into the pits one lap later, and a lengthy stop meant he was at risk of losing a place. All eyes were on Red Bull to see if it followed, but as one of the only frontrunning cars to start on the more durable hard tire, Verstappen was in no hurry to stop just yet.

One lap after Piastri, Leclerc also pitted, feeding back onto the track in his starting position behind Norris. Verstappen now led the race, but as he hadn’t yet stopped, it appeared that the top three remained Norris, Leclerc and Piastri.

Verstappen finally stopped on lap 28, returning to the track behind Piastri, meaning the top four positions remained the same.

Fernando Alonso retired with an overheating Mercedes engine on lap 39, making it four races in a row without points for the two-time world champion.

Piastri was the first of the five frontrunners to take his second stop on lap 50, with 28 laps remaining. Leclerc followed suit one lap later to protect himself from a Piastri charge.

Norris also responded another lap later, giving Verstappen the lead. However, the Red Bull hadn’t yet taken its second stop.

Albon, in 11th place, was holding up the cars behind, a strategy designed to protect the second Williams of Sainz, which was running in ninth. In frustration, Russell passed Albon off-track and was given a drive-through penalty for the move.

Still running in first, but yet to take a second stop, Verstappen played the same game as Albon, deliberately slowing to back Norris into the chasing Ferrari of Leclerc behind.

With one lap remaining, Verstappen took his second and final stop, having closed the following three cars to within 1.5 seconds of each other. Leclerc was putting Norris under heavy pressure for over 18 laps, and Piastri was also now following Leclerc closely.

Despite the worry on the McLaren pit wall, Norris finished a lights-to-flag victory in what was another largely processional race.

Formula 1 returns to action next weekend for the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, June 1. As the first race where flexi-wings are being more strictly controlled, many eyes will be watching to see if the running order has changed.

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Peter Molloy began following Formula 1 during the 1985 Australian Grand Prix. He cheered for a certain Ayrton Senna, who was driving the same black and gold colors as a toy F1 car that Pete had been given. Pete continued to be a fan of Senna throughout his childhood. Fast forward many moons, and Peter now combines significant journalistic experience with decades of watching F1 to cover the latest on-track and off-track action.