You Just Have to Know Where to Look
A recap of the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix
You didn’t think I’d have a recap for this race, did you?
Despite being the “crown jewel” of F1, the Monaco Grand Prix has drawn plenty of criticism throughout the 21st century for the lack of exciting racing it produces. That’s not to say the weekend is a complete wash—qualifying on Saturday is more entertaining than races at some other tracks. But the race on Sunday has often been compared to a parade, something which led to a Monaco-specific rule change for this year’s race: two pit stops were mandated instead of the usual one.
The theory was that forcing two stops would add more unpredictability to the race. Instead, the attempt at manufacturing chaos arguably led to the exact opposite: a manufactured outcome. I won’t go into detail here about the loophole some teams found around the challenge (you can read about that in the Racing Bulls portion of this recap), but it’s safe to say no one should have been shocked teams found a solution. After all, this is what you pay race strategists for.
I do think the two-stop experiment (at least the version used during last weekend’s race) failed and should’t be repeated in the exact same form next year. It is ridiculous to think that you could have a naturally exciting race when you’ve gone to great lengths to manipulate the outcome in the first place. Having said that, I disagree with a lot of the discussion I’ve seen post-Monaco that suggests the race no longer deserves a spot on the calendar. Yes, overtaking at Monaco is extremely difficult, to say the least. Yes, there should be a continued discussion on how to combat the problem. But just because one attempt at fixing the issue failed doesn’t mean the entire race should be written off. I genuinely still believe Monaco deserves a spot on the calendar, and I’ll be going in-depth on why I think that in a piece that will drop shortly after this recap comes out.
In the meantime, here are my thoughts on the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix, which I would argue was still fascinating in some respects despite the lack of “all-out racing” fans would usually equate with an interesting Grand Prix. You just have to know where to look.
Norris responds to demons and haters in style.
Lando Norris: 1st (Qualified 1st)
Oscar Piastri: 3rd (Qualified 3rd)
The major storyline of Norris’ season has been his underperformance in qualifying and his frank discussion of the issue. On paper, the struggles didn’t bode well for his chances heading into Monaco, the one race of the season where the power of qualifying to determine the race result is second only to extraordinary luck.
But when it mattered most, Norris delivered.
Even as engineering has pushed the boundaries of what an F1 car can do, Monaco stands out as the one track where a great lap is undoubtedly more the product of man than machine. And Norris’ final lap in qualifying to secure pole position (which you definitely should watch) was historic: it was the first sub 70-second lap in the history of the Monaco Grand Prix. It’s a lap that puts Norris’ quality as a driver on full display, and when you consider his final sector in that lap could have been even better, an ominous sign for his rivals that what we witnessed wasn’t even Norris at his peak.
Norris also showed superb racecraft in the closing stages of the race. Red Bull’s decision to keep Verstappen out in the hopes of a late red flag meant Norris found himself being backed into Leclerc towards the end. He managed the pressure of the moment well by carefully choosing which points to push during each lap and which points to stay back and out of Verstappen’s dirty air. While Monaco isn’t the easiest for overtaking, it is a track that punishes any minor unforced error, and Norris expertly balanced eliminating the chance he would make mistakes while he waited for Verstappen to pit and ensuring Leclerc wouldn’t be able to try and overtake. It wasn’t the type of racing that excites spectators, but Monaco has never been a race about speed. Control and strategy are king here, and Norris’ drive was a brilliant exhibition of those important qualities and deserves appreciation. And, just in case people watching the final few laps thought Norris was driving poorly, he punctuated his statement weekend by setting the fastest lap of the race once Verstappen pitted.
As for Piastri, his performance at Monaco was a solid effort at damage limitation, and he is still the championship leader. But there’s no question that Monaco belonged to Norris. He responded to the demons and haters in style, and all eyes will be on his ability to keep this level the rest of the season.
Ferrari close the gap to Red Bull and Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc: 2nd (Qualified 2nd)
Lewis Hamilton: 5th (Qualified 7th)
Ferrari were fast around Monaco last year, and it became clear early on in the weekend that things would stay the same this year. With Red Bull and Mercedes struggling for pace, Ferrari had an opportunity to close the gap to the top teams, and they delivered. The race could’ve arguably gone better for them—Hamilton initially qualified in 4th place, before being demoted three places for an incident in qualifying that saw him impede Verstappen. While unintentional and the fault of the team rather than Hamilton himself, it was exactly the type of unforced error you can’t make at Monaco. Case in point: even though pit strategy allowed Hamilton to pass Hadjar and Alonso, he was too far back by that point to seriously challenge the top 4 drivers.
That being said, two top 5 finishes for Ferrari at a track where their nearest rivals struggled means Ferrari are now just one point behind Red Bull and five points behind Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship. It’s a great place for them to be given how their year has been so far. However, Monaco is such an outlier on the calendar that it’d be a mistake to judge how competitive they’ll be moving forward based on this past weekend alone. They key still lies with the upgrades the team have promised to bring—though there is still no confirmed timeline on when those new parts will actually arrive.
Red Bull’s strategic gambles fail to pay off.
Max Verstappen: 4th (Qualified 4th)
Yuki Tsunoda: 17th (Qualified 12th)
Red Bull’s decision to keep Verstappen out in the hopes of a late red flag was the correct gamble and highlighted one of the many loopholes caused by the two-stop rule. It didn’t pay off, however, and Verstappen ultimately ceded the lead and the slim hopes he had of a podium finish when he pitted for a second time on the penultimate lap.
More interesting, however, was Red Bull’s decision to bring in Tsunoda for his first pit stop immediately when the Virtual Safety Car was called on the opening lap. On the surface, the call made sense: you lose less time (12 seconds vs. 19 seconds at Monaco) pitting under the VSC. However, because of how tight the track is, overtaking at Monaco is so difficult that track position is paramount. This means that Red Bull’s gamble with Tsunoda would have only worked if the cars ahead of Tsunoda followed Red Bull and pitted under the VSC as well. That ended up not being the case, with the frontrunners prioritizing track position and staying out. This meant Tsunoda instead found himself stuck behind traffic in the back of the pack, a problem which only became worse once teams started creating pit stop gaps.
What’s most disappointing for Tsunoda, however, is the fact he failed to out-qualify both Racing Bulls. Although Red Bull were always going to struggle at Monaco, the importance qualifying places on the drivers means the weekend was still an opportunity for Tsunoda to solidify his claim on the second Red Bull seat. That he failed to do so will only raise speculation that he could be replaced by Isack Hadjar sooner than later. After all, we’re talking about a team that made a driver change two races into a 24-race season without batting an eye.
Racing Bulls create a massive domino effect.
Isack Hadjar: 6th (Qualified 5th)
Liam Lawson: 8th (Qualified 9th)
No team shaped the course of this Monaco Grand Prix more than Racing Bulls.
Having a racer deliberately drive slowly like Lawson did in order to create a pit stop gap for their teammate wasn’t objectively good racing, and the outpouring of frustration from drivers, teams, and viewers online post-race over the failure of the two-stop rule can be considered a domino effect of the team’s cynical move. That other teams in the midfield still followed Racing Bulls’ lead, however, points to how much of a strategic masterstroke this move was (not to mention a nice surprise as well, given the team’s strategic woes in earlier races).
While I do understand the frustration towards Racing Bulls’ tactics, I’ve also been clear that strategy is a crucial yet overlooked component of racing. It’s why I have a gripe with sprint races! So while it may be a hot take, I do believe that the two-stop rule, while imperfect and not something I would recommend implementing again without further modifications, did do some good by highlighting the importance of race strategy. The far-reaching implications of Racing Bulls’ strategy meant that the team’s execution of their plan and the subsequent response by other teams still made for a fascinating watch—just not in the way people expected or hoped.
Another brilliant weekend by Hadjar only further solidifies what I said in my Imola recap about him deserving serious consideration for Rookie of the Year. But Hadjar’s 6th place finish this race was only possible because Lawson played the team game to perfection. Being forced to sacrifice his own race for his teammate’s sake was probably a bitter pill to swallow for Lawson, especially coming off the back of his first decent qualifying of the season. It was great, then, to see his efforts rewarded when the midfield teams behind Racing Bulls adopted the same strategy, giving Lawson room to complete his pit stops and hold on for a points finish. They were his first points of the season and, after the tumultuous season he’s had, incredibly deserved.
Haas’ mixed bag in qualifying paves the way for a return to the points.
Esteban Ocon: 7th (Qualified 8th)
Ollie Bearman: 12th (Qualified 20th)
Considering qualifying has been Haas’ primary weakness this season, Monaco did not look like a place the team were going to score points at. The weekend started off poorly, with Bearman’s race effectively ruined after he received a ten-place grid penalty for overtaking Carlos Sainz under red flag conditions during a free practice. However, Ocon was able to qualify an impressive eighth, and his place on the grid ahead of Lawson meant that Haas were able to ride the coattails of Racing Bulls’ strategy and pit Ocon in the same pit window Lawson created for Hadjar. You could argue Haas could have done what Ferrari did with Hamilton and gone for the overcut (going longer on your tires to gain track position while your opponent pits). However, with points-scoring opportunities at a minimum and Ocon being their only driver realistically capable of scoring points, the team can be forgiven for playing it safe. As Williams continue to run away from the other midfield teams, Haas’ focus shifts towards battling Racing Bulls and Aston Martin, and Monaco is an unexpected but welcome result in their battle with those rivals.
Williams salvage a subpar qualifying performance.
Alex Albon: 9th (Qualified 10th)
Carlos Sainz: 10th (Qualified 11th)
Williams being out-qualified by both Racing Bulls, an Aston Martin, and a Haas in Monaco was a shock. But the team were able to have both cars score points by following in the footsteps of Racing Bulls (with an assist from Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin breaking down). It marked the fourth straight race where both Albon and Sainz scored points, and Williams now find themselves in a fascinating win-win situation. They’ve officially stopped development on their 2025 car to focus on 2026, which is the smart move long-term. But they’ve not lost despite technically giving up on 2025 either: they’ve already scored more than three times as many points after eight races this year as they did the entire 2024 season, and the fact the other midfield teams will also be diverting most—if not all—resources to 2026 means they look solidly in control of 5th place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Mercedes fall apart.
George Russell: 11th (Qualified 14th)
Kimi Antonelli: 18th (Qualified 15th)
While Mercedes lacked pace throughout the free practice session, things truly fell apart for the team during Saturday’s qualifying. Antonelli’s qualifying was cut short after he crashed into the barrier at the Nouvelle Chicane, and Russell’s qualifying ended soon after when his car lost battery power and came to a stop in the tunnel. This meant the team found themselves stuck behind both Racing Bulls and Williams as those two teams stalled the backmarkers for free pit stops. Russell, frustrated at being unable to pass anyone, decided to cynically gamble by deliberately cutting the Nouvelle Chicane on Lap 50 to pass Albon and taking what he believed would be a ten-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. The stewards, however, correctly ruled that Russell had deliberately missed the corner, handing him a harsher drive-through penalty instead. To make things even more embarrassing for Mercedes, all of their frustration and rebellion still resulted in them playing the exact same game as Racing Bulls and Williams, with Antonelli sacrificing his race at the end to ensure Russell maintained 11th place. And unlike Racing Bulls and Williams, Mercedes walked away from the race with zero points.
The bigger problem for Mercedes, however, is that their disaster in Monaco has allowed both Ferrari and Red Bull to close the gap in the Constructors’ Championship. A 36-point lead over Red Bull and a 47-point lead over Ferrari after Miami has now shrunk to just 4 and 5 points, respectively. Second place in the team championship, which Mercedes looked in control of, has suddenly become a three-way dog fight. Things are starting to look dicey for Russell in the Drivers’ Championship too: his 6-point deficit to Verstappen and 40-point advantage over Leclerc after Miami have now become a 37-point deficit and a 20-point lead, respectively.
Alpine are yet to score points under Briatore’s “democratic dictatorship.”
Franco Colapinto: 13th (Qualified 18th)
Pierre Gasly: DNF (Qualified 17th)
A “democratic dictatorship” was how Flavio Briatore described his leadership of Alpine last week. I have no clue what it means, but it’s probably my pick for Oxymoron of the Year. I’m also convinced there’s nothing “democratic” about Briatore’s leadership, though you’ll have to stay tuned for Omakase Formula’s post on #Crashgate later this year for more details on why I think that.
At the end of the day, though, Briatore’s reign at Alpine will be judged on the team’s results. Despite Alpine’s overall results having improved since he took up his role as “Executive Advisor” mid-2024, the team have still only scored 7 points in 2025. The team’s result at Monaco was similar to their story of the season: not slow enough to be at the back, but not fast enough to actually compete for points. Admittedly, Alpine’s impending shift to being a customer team means it would be unfair to assess the true impact Briatore will have before 2026. But until then, a continued string of weekends without points will make it hard to justify a self-proclaimed dictatorship, “democratic” or not.
Reliability issues stall Aston Martin’s progress.
Lance Stroll: 15th (Qualified 19th)
Fernando Alonso: DNF (Qualified 6th)
Alonso called himself “unluckiest drive in the **** world” at Imola, which is objectively false: the man’s a two-time world champion! But Monaco definitely solidified his case for being the unluckiest driver of 2025. After a brilliant qualifying performance, Alonso’s race was cut short when he suffered an engine failure on Lap 36. Considering the improvement Aston Martin have shown across Imola and Monaco, it does feel harsh that the team leave both races with no points. It’s also wild that Alonso is still one of only two drivers (the other being Gabriel Bortoleto) who have yet to score any points this season despite starting every race. Monaco was his second retirement of the season due to mechanical issues. Combine that with Aston Martin previously having a completely uncompetitive car and the misfortune they’ve experienced since improving it, and it’s easy to see why Alonso might be thinking he’s unlucky.
No, Sauber didn’t score points this race.
Gabriel Bortoleto: 14th (Qualified 16th)
Nico Hülkenberg: 16th (Qualified 13th)
But at least they’ll always have the 6 points from Australia!
They’ll also have Bortoleto’s impressive overtake on the outside of Antonelli at the Hairpin on Lap 1. Let’s ignore the fact that entire sequence ended with Antonelli passing him back two corners later and Bortoleto driving himself into a wall—overtakes at Monaco are difficult enough that any overtake deserves to be celebrated, and pulling off a pass at the slowest and tightest corner in F1 is even more impressive.