Lando Norris wins his first victory since the opening round of the season as he takes the chequered flag around the streets of Monaco.
Norris had a lock up on the entry of turn 1, almost putting himself and Leclerc into the wall, but he was able to still make it through the corner.
Later into lap 1, Andrea Kimi Antonelli had launched his car on the inside of Gabriel Bortoleto, which left the latter going into the wall into Portier. While Bortoleto would be able to keep going, it brought out the Virtual Safety Car.
This played into the hands of those who planned to put on the first lap thanks to this race’s mandated two stops. These drivers were Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly and Oliver Bearman.
An interesting game began to play out once racing resumed, as Piastri in third was dropping a few tenths a lap to Norris, who would be hoping to clear the rest of the field for their first stop, all the while those who had already pit like Tsunoda and Bearman were putting in strong laps.
Double yellow flags were waved at the Nouvelle chicane after Pierre Gasly lost control of his car coming into the corner, locking his rears and running into the back of Tsunoda. No safety car was deployed, even as Gasly trundled around the track on three wheels.
Hulkenberg and Hadjar had opted to make their first stops early, putting on lap 13 and 15 respectively, with Alonso and Ocon coming in a couple of laps after that.
The pit stops of Hadjar and Alonso gave Hamilton the free air to push. He would go on to pit on lap 19, where he would over cut the aforementioned drivers to take 5th.
Norris would pit for the first time on lap 20, dropping to fourth provisionally.
Some drivers had already opted to complete both of their mandated pit stops, such as Stroll and Bearman. Hadjar was another one of these drivers, who had a very short stint on softs, and was able to come back out in 8th.
Piastri had a somewhat slow stop, though he was told to push as the team are wanting him to undercut Leclerc, but he was unable to do so as Leclerc only came in a couple of laps later.
Interesting team games were starting to be played in the midfield after Hadjar’s two stops, which saw the effectiveness of Lawson backing the field up to give his teammate the track position. Sainz had also been told to put in rather slow laps to also give Albon the gap. However, it did make things look rather farcical.
Verstappen had looked like he could have overcut Piastri for a few laps, but by the time he pit on lap 28, he lost too much time and came back out in fourth.
The typical procession of Monaco had began to play out by the mid point of the race, though the leaders were beginning to have significant issues with lapped traffic, which was something that Leclerc was particularly vocal about.
The power unit in Fernando Alonso’s car would give up on lap 38, meaning that his streak of non point finishes would continue for another race, despite being in a perfect place for what would probably have been a seventh place finish.
After Albon had completed both his pit stops, Williams had ordered their drivers to swap the cars around to help Sainz gain enough of a gap to do both of his pit stops without risking a loss of track position.
George Russell was tired of looking at the gearbox of a Williams car, and cut the Nouvelle chicane, describing Albon’s driving as erratic, and was more happy to take the penalty that would inevitably come his way. This would end up being a drive through.
Antonelli would do the same thing a couple of laps later, but would give the position back.
Nothing much of note occured in the back half of the race, except that Verstappen had stayed out until the last possible moment hoping for a red flag to come out, although it never would come.
Lando Norris’ win at Monaco means that he is now just three points behind Piastri in the championship standings, and was his first win since the Australian Grand Prix.
The next race is the Spanish Grand Prix, where it will be the last time for the foreseeable future that it will take place at the Circuit department Catalunya.
