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F1 Review: Lando Norris Handles The Pressure And Tightens Championship Race With Monaco GP Win
(Photo by Glenn Dunbar/LAT Images)

F1 Review: Lando Norris Handles The Pressure And Tightens Championship Race With Monaco GP Win

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Lando Norris survived a shaky first corner and overcame the threat of Charles Leclerc, an unpredictable mandatory two-pit stop rule, and a purposely slow Max Verstappen late in the race to win the Tag Heuer Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday (May 25th), his second triumph of the season and first at Monaco. The win moved Norris to within three points of Oscar Piastri in the drivers championship standings. 

Monaco native Leclerc hounded Norris over the final 15 laps but came up short and finished over three seconds behind Norris, with Piastri, in third, joining his McLaren teammate on the podium.

Red Bull’s Verstappen finished fourth, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was fifth. Isaak Hadjar led a strong Racing Bull’s effort, starting fifth and finishing sixth, one lap down, with teammate Liam Lawson in eighth. Haas Racing’s Esteban Ocon finished seventh, with the Williams Racing duo of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz taking ninth and tenth, respectively, with both two laps down. 

“It’s the feelings inside which are really the special ones,” Norris said. Seeing the checkered flag and winning in Monaco is something I dreamed of when I was a kid. There are many things that I think everyone dreams of – it’s getting to Formula 1, winning a race in Formula 1, and winning a race in Monaco. And we achieved it today.

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Lando Norris Wins From the Pole in Monaco

“So, proud of the whole team, of myself, and big accomplishment for all of us. The team haven’t won since, what, 2008 or something? So not just a good one for me, but a good one for McLaren, too.”

In the driver standings, Piastri leads Norris 161 to 158, with Verstappen holding third with 136 points.

In the constructor standings, McLaren added 40 points to their total, while second-place Mercedes went scoreless. The tally is 319 for McLaren, with Mercedes way, way back with 147. Red Bull sits a close third with 143 points. 

The Race

Norris held off Leclerc into Turn 1 at lights out despite locking up his brakes, with the Ferrari pestering him through lap 1. Contact between Kimi Antonelli and Gabriel Bortoleto sent the Sauber into the barrier. Bortoleto was able to continue, but a virtual safety car was deployed. Bortoleto, Yuki Tsunoda, and Ollie Bearman all pitted under the VSC, getting an early start on the new, mandatory two-stop rule instituted for Monaco. The stop was clearly an astute one for Bearman, as he set a series of fast laps and was lapping 2-3 seconds faster than Norris.

Green flag racing resumed on lap 4, and Norris and Leclerc distanced themselves from the rest of the field, with Piastri possibly holding up traffic to benefit his teammate. Clear air allowed Norris to open up a two-second lead by lap 8, with Piastri five seconds back of Leclerc.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rammed Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull under braking after emerging from the tunnel on lap 9, wrecking the Alpine’s right-front tire and suspension. Gasly was able to make it back to the pits, with only yellow flags for a track hazard issued.

Green flag racing resumed, and nothing changed up front, except for Isaak Hadjar pitting from fifth. Further back, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Sauber’s Nico HĂźlkenberg, and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto pitted. Hadjar, Alonso, and Ocon ran 6-7-8. Bearman made his second stop on lap 19, the first driver to complete his mandatory pit stop allotment early.

Norris pitted from the lead on lap 19, and a decent 2.7 stop for hard tires sent the McLaren out in fourth, with hopes for nothing resembling a safety car. Piastri followed a lap later, and a slow 3.8 stop left the Australian in losing track position to Verstappen once the Red Bull pitted.

Leclerc relinquished the lead to pit for hard tires on lap 22 and emerged in third behind Verstappen and Norris. Verstappen was one of the few remaining cars that had not pitted, and on lap 27, he radioed that his tires did not look good. One can only wait so long for a safety car, and time was up, so the Red Bull pitted on lap 28. A 2.3 stop for medium tires brought Verstappen out in fourth, behind Piastri. 

Norris assumed the lead and found himself stuck behind traffic, but made quick work of the back markers, thanks to McLaren’s pace and blue flags. Norris was in prime position to win handily and enjoyed the added caveat of Leclerc between him and his two championship rivals, Piastri and Verstappen. Where Norris was concerned, second-place points for Leclerc were better than second-place points for Piastri or Verstappen. 

At the halfway point, the order was Norris, Leclerc, Piastri, Verstappen, Hamilton, Hadjar, Ocon, Lawson, Albon, and Sainz. 

As of lap 43, three cars (Sainz, Russell, and Antonelli) had yet to make their first pit stops. Obviously, a safety car would play right into their hands, and if it’s a lengthy safety car, who’s to say you can’t make two stops under an SC. 

Piastri made his second stop on lap 49 and remained in fourth, with Ferrari responding quickly by pitting Leclerc a lap later. Norris was in also for a set of hard tires, and Verstappen took over the lead, still needing a second pit stop. Verstappen’s race was with Piastri for the final podium spot, but the outlook was not good as Piastri was laying down a number of fastest laps. Again, Verstappen held out as long as possible for some sort of safety car (I’m sure villainous schemer Falvio Briatore had some idea about how to make that happen). And what is the use of fresh tires at Monaco, when you can’t even pass on the circuit with a tire advantage.

On lap 60, Norris was in DRS range of Verstappen in the lead, with Leclerc in DRS range of Norris. It was a strategic move by Red Bull, creating a chance for Leclerc to overtake Norris, which would be advantageous to Verstappen’s championship prospects. 

Leclerc spent the final laps hot on Norris’ rear, with Norris sweating the Ferrari behind him while praying for there to be no incidents that would cause a safety car. Piastri closed to Leclerc’s gearbox with five laps remaining, giving Leclerc something to worry about behind him.

With two laps left, Verstappen had yet to make his last stop, and the Red Bull eased Norris’ mind by diving into pit lane with one lap left. Norris took advantage of clean air to open up his lead and out of Leclerc’s DRS range. In fact, Norris ranthe fastest lap of the day on the final lap. 

Norris took the checkered flag by over a second over Leclerc, with Piastri right behind the Ferrari in third.

The Good

To be clear, the intentions of the FIA’s Monaco-only mandatory two-pit stop rule were good. In practice, however, the results were close to disastrous. But it did make the final laps at Monaco somewhat dramatic. Let me explain. If not for Verstappen delaying his final pit stop as long as possible (in hopes of being rewarded with a timely safety car or virtual safety car), we would not have been rewarded with the drama of Leclerc breathing down Norris’ neck over the final laps. To be clear, it was Monaco, and it doesn’t matter how close you are – you still can’t pass. 

But the real excitement was imagining the stress that Norris was under, having to 1) keep Leclerc at bay behind him, 2) monitor the gap to Verstappen in front of him to ensure he was in somewhat clear air, and 3) praying to the gods of luck and chance that some scrub didn’t make a foolish mistake somewhere else on the track and cause a safety car. My heart’s still pounding; of course, that could be the result of something I took to keep myself awake while watching the race.   

Radio profanity is back, baby! Charles Leclerc dropped some “F” and “S” bombs on the radio after Norris’ record lap stole the pole from the Ferrari in Saturday’s (May 24th) qualifying. I can totally understand Leclerc’s reaction, because he basically lost the Monaco Grand Prix at that moment. But you know the FIA – they won’t stand for this type of disrespect. Expect the FIA to get medieval on Leclerc’s rear and punish him with, oh the horror, community service.   

Racing Bulls scored double points at Monaco, with Isaak Hadjar cashing in a qualifying effort of fifth into a race finish of sixth, with Liam Lawson taking eighth. The result was likely especially satisfying for Lawson, who was unceremoniously dumped by Red Bull earlier in the season and replaced by Yuki Tsunoda. 

Lawson likely took a look at Red Bull’s constructors points (143), then took a gander at Verstappen’s drivers points (136), and thought to himself, “Hmmmmm.”

The Bad

The mandatory two-pit stop rule added quite a bit of intrigue and uncertainty to the race, but not nearly as much boredom as it added. If one sentence could sum up the result of the rule’s effect on the race, it would be this: “Max Verstappen is holding up traffic.” And if the four-time defending F1 champion and arguably fastest driver on the grid is holding up traffic, then your new rule is not working as hoped.

 It seemed that the strategy preferred by teams at the back of the field was “Let’s pit early, and then hope for a safety car,” while the strategy for other teams, like Mercedes, was “Let’s not pit at all, hope for a safety car, and then cram all of pitting into the last 10 laps.” 

The result in many cases was that certain cars (Lawson and Sainz, for example), purposely held up more traffic than a school crossing guard. If you like trains or high-speed funeral processions, then some of the racing at Monaco was right up your narrow, less-than-spacious alley, which, much like the streets of Monaco, is not conducive to passing. 

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had a day he’d like to forget, but I don’t think F1 will let him. On lap 4, Gasly braked too late and rammed the Red Bull of Tsunoda as he emerged from the Tunnel chicane. While Tsunoda somehow emerged virtually unscathed, the right-front suspension of Gasly’s Alpine was destroyed, with the tire barely remaining attached to the car. It wasn’t the only thing Gasly “broke;” he also broke protocol by driving his crippled car halfway around the track to the pits despite having no brakes when he should have parked the car immediately.  

“Bye George! I Think He’s Done It!” Moment

On lap 50, Mercedes’ George Russell cut the Nouvelle Chicane to pass Alex Albon, who was holding up traffic to benefit his Williams teammate Carlos Sainz. When instructed by his team that he needed to give the position back, Russell replied, “I’ll just take the penalty.” 

Stewards interpreted that comment, and rightly so, that Russell cut the chicane deliberately, and subsequently issued Russell a much harsher drive-through penalty. Russell’s move and attitude were likely a response to frustration borne from the mandatory two-stop rule, which led to a lot of processional racing, with many drivers strategically and blatantly holding up traffic. It was, in essence, a protest, and one that most, if not all, of Russell’s fellow drivers will support. 

Russell finished 11th, and later explained that he finished in a better position by cutting the chicane to overtake Albon than he would have finished had he not.

It just goes to show that while you can “stick it to the man,” the man can stick it right back to you. But, you can then again stick it to the man by telling them that their thoughtless rule changes are stupid, as are their rationales for punishing a driver. 

Grid Walk Moments

It’s one thing to rub shoulders with very important people on the Monaco grid. It’s another thing to literally rub shoulders with ordinary people on a very crowded Monaco grid. For Martin Brundle, it was the latter.

Brundle’s start to the “Grid Walk” was an inauspicious one, as an attempt to interview Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson was nixed by crew members, who nodded their heads “no” that Lawson was not available for an interview. Or maybe they were nodding their heads “No,” as in “No, you’d be better off interviewing someone more interesting, because we know Liam, and he is decidedly not interesting.”    

British comedian and writer Michael McIntyre may have said it best when he said to Brundle, “There are far more important people than me on the grid.” There probably were, but after ho-hum chats with the likes of NFL football player Odell Beckham, Jr., the father of Lando Norris, Adam Norris, former Northern Irish F1 driver Eddie Irvine, and Jamaican cricketer Chris Gayle, it seems that McIntyre’s statement was untrue.  

Brundle finally found a “Grid Walker” with a high celebrity quotient when he ran into supermodel Naomi Campbell, who recounted that her first visit to Monaco was as a guest of Flavio Briatore and Michael Schumacher. Unfortunately, this didn’t open the door for Brundle to delve into the Campbell-Flavio Briatore relationship, as the two were engaged from 1998-2003. We all have questions for Campbell, like “Flavio was totally against you wanting a pre-nup, right?” Or, “Did Flavio steal your heart, or your identity?” Or, “Joint checking accounts? Yay or nay?” Or, “Why did you two break up? Let me guess—trust issues?” Or, “Does Flavio know the word ‘courtship’ has nothing to do with how many times he’s been in a court of law?” 

 The Driver

It was a dream weekend for Norris in Monaco. On Saturday (May 24th) in qualifying, Norris laid down the equivalent of a buzzer-beater, dramatically knocking Leclerc from the top spot with a lap qualifying record as Q3 ended.

In Sunday’s race, Norris had to lock up his brakes into Turn 1, but still held off Leclerc and continued to do so in the early parts of the race. Later, Norris kept his wits about him while sandwiched between the slower Verstappen in front of him and the charging Leclerc behind him. Finally unleashed once Verstappen eventually pitted, Norris showed the true, dominant pace of his McLaren, as he distanced himself from Leclerc’s Ferrari by over three seconds while recording the fastest lap of the race.

The Results (Tag Heuer Monaco Grand Prix, Circuit de Monaco)

PosNoDriverCarLapsTime/retiredPts
14Lando NorrisMcLaren Mercedes781:40:33.84325
216Charles LeclercFerrari78+3.131s18
381Oscar PiastriMcLaren Mercedes78+3.658s15
41Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Honda RBPT78+20.572s12
544Lewis HamiltonFerrari78+51.387s10
66Isack HadjarRacing Bulls Honda RBPT77+1 lap8
731Esteban OconHaas Ferrari77+1 lap6
830Liam LawsonRacing Bulls Honda RBPT77+1 lap4
923Alexander AlbonWilliams Mercedes76+2 laps2
1055Carlos SainzWilliams Mercedes76+2 laps1
1163George RussellMercedes76+2 laps0
1287Oliver BearmanHaas Ferrari76+2 laps0
1343Franco ColapintoAlpine Renault76+2 laps0
145Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber Ferrari76+2 laps0
1518Lance StrollAston Martin Aramco Mercedes76+2 laps0
1627Nico HulkenbergKick Sauber Ferrari76+2 laps0
1722Yuki TsunodaRed Bull Racing Honda RBPT76+2 laps0
1812Kimi AntonelliMercedes75+3 laps0
NC14Fernando AlonsoAston Martin Aramco Mercedes36DNF0
NC10Pierre GaslyAlpine Renault7DNF0
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