Source : the age
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Lando Norris cruised to victory at the Monaco Grand Prix to cut teammate Oscar Piastri’s Formula 1 drivers’ standings lead.
Starting on pole, Norris locked up a wheel big-time into the first corner but still managed to hold off last year’s winner, Ferrari star and Monaco product Charles Leclerc.
“It feels amazing,” Norris said. “This is what I did dream of when I was a kid.”
Norris took his first grand prix win since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix – though he did win a sprint race in Miami this month – and reduced Piastri’s lead from 13 points to three. He also became McLaren’s first Monaco winner since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
Leclerc was second after closing in on Norris late in the race – though he wasn’t able to attempt a pass – while Piastri was third and defending champion Max Verstappen fourth.
Verstappen was the leader on-track until the second-last lap but only because he was yet to make his mandatory second pit stop under a rule change introduced in an attempt to spice up the race, where overtaking is almost impossible.
Despite predictions it could allow some teams and drivers to spring a surprise, the rule had little overall impact on the results, except for a few cases of teams seemingly slowing down one car to benefit a teammate.
“We lost the race yesterday,” was Leclerc’s verdict, referring to the importance of qualifying on pole in Monaco, his home race.
Monaco finishing order
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
- Esteban Ocon (Haas)
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- Carlos Sainz jnr (Williams)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Oliver Bearman (Haas)
- Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
- Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) DNF
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine) DNF
AP
What a grand prix that was – for better or worse.
It’s hard to say what the answer is to Monaco’s lack of overtaking, but it’s probably safe to say it’s not a mandatory two-stop rule.
Melbourne’s Oscar Piastri leaves the event still in the lead of the drivers’ championship, albeit by just three points now over his teammate Lando Norris.
Goodbye for now, and we’ll be back soon with more Formula 1 coverage.
After race marred by a chaotic rule change of two mandatory pit stops, the top three drivers – Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, and Oscar Piastri spoke to former F1 world champion Jenson Button on the coverage…
McLaren CEO Zak Brown on the podium with Charles Leclerc (second), Lando Norris (race winner) and Oscar Piastri (third).Credit: Getty Images
Oscar Piastri (third)
“It was a bit of a tricky weekend. Practice was messy all the way through and I felt like I got into qualifying with not a lot of confidence with how the weekend was going, and I got close, but not quite close enough.
“Around here, where you qualify is pretty much where you finish so [I’m] pretty happy with that overall. [There’s] obviously some things to look at for when we come back next year.
“The margins [around here] are so fine.
“If this is a bad weekend, it’s not going too badly at all. [We’ve got] some things to work on – we’ll go again next week [in Spain] and try and come back stronger, but well done to Lando – he had a great weekend. Well done to Charles as well.”
Charles Leclerc (second)
“At the end of the day, we lost the race yesterday [in qualifying]. We should have done a better job – Lando did a better job this weekend and he deserved the win.
“On my side, I realised a childhood dream last year. Not this year, but considering everything, I think it’s a lot over expectations… I thought that being in the top 10 would be a challenge, and at the end we are second, very close to P1, so it’s been a good weekend overall, but I wish I won.”
Lando Norris (winner)
“It feels amazing – it’s a long race, it’s a long, gruelling race, but good fun. We could push for quite a lot of the race. [In the] last corner I was a little bit nervous, with Charles pushing behind… but we won at Monaco, so it doesn’t matter how we win, I guess.
“[It was an] amazing weekend, with pole, with today – this is what I did dream of when I was a kid, so I achieved one of my dreams.
“The worst bit really was just the end. I felt more under control the whole race, but Max was ahead and Max was kind of backing it up a little bit, and I knew then that Charles had an opportunity so I had to manage it quite a lot – I tried back off of Max so I could push when I needed to and chill when I needed to, so I still had to manage.”
Lando Norris cruised to victory at the Monaco Grand Prix to cut teammate Oscar Piastri’s Formula 1 drivers’ standings lead.
Starting on pole, Norris locked up a wheel big-time into the first corner but still managed to hold off last year’s winner, Ferrari star and Monaco product Charles Leclerc.
“It feels amazing,” Norris said. “This is what I did dream of when I was a kid.”
Norris took his first grand prix win since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix – though he did win a sprint race in Miami this month – and reduced Piastri’s lead from 13 points to three. He also became McLaren’s first Monaco winner since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
Leclerc was second after closing in on Norris late in the race – though he wasn’t able to attempt a pass – while Piastri was third and defending champion Max Verstappen fourth.
Verstappen was the leader on-track until the second-last lap but only because he was yet to make his mandatory second pit stop under a rule change introduced in an attempt to spice up the race, where overtaking is almost impossible.
Despite predictions it could allow some teams and drivers to spring a surprise, the rule had little overall impact on the results, except for a few cases of teams seemingly slowing down one car to benefit a teammate.
“We lost the race yesterday,” was Leclerc’s verdict, referring to the importance of qualifying on pole in Monaco, his home race.
Monaco finishing order
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
- Esteban Ocon (Haas)
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- Carlos Sainz jnr (Williams)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Oliver Bearman (Haas)
- Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
- Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) DNF
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine) DNF
AP
Unfortunately for Australian fans, it’s not Piastri winning his first Monaco race, but Norris has won – a richly deserved result, given his pole position and commanding race pace.
Leclerc is second, with Piastri third.
Unfortunately, as Martin Brundle said on Sky, “the focus was on pitting, not on racing”.
The four-time reigning world champion is finally serving his second mandatory pit stop.
He’s now out of the lead and will finish fourth.
The question now is just whether Norris can hold on…
It’s taken longer than Norris would like, but Piastri is right behind Leclerc.
They’re bunched up big-time from first (Verstappen) to fourth (Piastri).
This will be a huge relief for Norris, who can now focus more over the remaining laps on Verstappen in front than on Leclerc behind him. The Monégasque racer has Piastri to worry about now.
Mercedes are clearly no fans of this two-stop Monaco-only rule change. Kimi Antonelli has just pitted for the first time, and still has another mandatory stop to come.
He’s well out of the points, of course, so even if he didn’t make his final stop and got disqualified, it wouldn’t mean anything in real terms.
Verstappen’s tyres are 40 laps old, but he’s not pitting yet. Could this cause some late drama for McLaren and Norris?
As Martin Brundle said on commentary for Sky, Red Bull’s long-game strategy is still a smart one. There’s still plenty of time for a red flag…
Meanwhile, Piastri is rapidly catching Norris and Leclerc – and Verstappen – given the race leader is showing no great pace out in front. Bizarre.
Verstappen, currently leading the race on lap 63 of 78, but having only pitted once, will finish fourth barring anything truly weird – coming back out behind Norris, Leclerc and Piastri.
Leaders
- Verstappen
- Norris +1.9 seconds
- Leclerc
- Piastri
- Hamilton
- Hadjar
- Ocon
- Lawson
- Sainz
- Albon
Red Bull are clearly praying for a safety car at this point – that’s Verstappen’s only hope of victory, given he’s yet to make his second stop.
Hamilton has made his second stop and has resumed in fifth, behind Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc and Piastri.
It’s been another day of frustration for Oscar Piastri.Credit: AP
Astonishingly, Russell in 10th and Antonelli in 12th are yet to pit at all. Is that Mercedes’ way of subtly protesting this Monaco-only pit stop rule change?
