Lando Norris resisted pressure from Charles Leclerc in F1 Monaco GP win, with Oscar Piastri ending up third in a race sorted by strategy.
It was a clean getaway initially from pole for McLaren’s Lando Norris in F1 Monaco GP but he had double lock-up into Turn 1 to keep the lead from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Behind, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was slightly off which allowed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to have a look at him on the outside.
They maintained track position as did Visa Cash App RB’s Isack Hadjar in fifth from Asston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson and Williams’ Alexander Albon in the Top 10 points places, with Williams’ Carlos Sainz just outside.
Outside the Top 10, Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto moved past Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli at the hairpin, but the Italian came back on him at the right-hander on the entry of the tunnel. He got through on the inside, which left Bortoleto nowhere to go but into the barrier.
There was a Virtual Safety Car but Bortoleto managed to get back into the pits. Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda along with Haas’ Oliver Bearman and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly pitted for their first stop. In a bid to hustle the Japanese driver, Gasly lost his brakes and hit the back of the Red Bull to go airbourne for a bit.
He missed teammate Franco Colapinto by just but managed to limp back into the pits to retire. The collision was put under investigation as yellow flag was waved to clear the debris. Verstappen was unhappy how Piastri slowed down which almost caught out the Dutchman.
As the race progressed, Lawson started to hold off cars behind in a team play to allow Hadjar maintain track position. The Frenchman managed to retain track position on the soft tyre ahead of the Kiwi in eighth. With Alonso’s stop done, it allowed Hamilton to pit and gain two places on them in fifth.
Among the leaders, Norris was the first to pit on Lap 20, followed by Piastri on Lap 21 in order to cover Leclerc and Verstappen – both of whom to stayed out. The Monegasque eventually pitted on Lap 23 but maintained track position on Piastri, despite the Australian’s aggressive push to overcut.
Hadjar, meanwhile, had track position on his immediate rivals after a second stop, thanks to teammate Lawson. A similar game was being played at Williams where Sainz was asked to back up to make space for Albon in 10th. It hurt the Mercedes pair behind along with Tsunoda.
Verstappen eventually pitted on Lap 29 to cover Hamilton. The traffic was causing issues for the leaders. Sainz’s holding pattern allowed Ocon, Lawson and Ocon to retain track positions, but it hurt George Russell, Antonelli and Tsunoda, who lost the chance to jump the drivers ahead.
There was only a small change in the order due to the retirement of Alonso on Lap 39. He lost a points finish which allowed Sainz into 10th, who was still keeping Russell, Antonelli and Tsunoda behind.
The Spaniard eventually allowed Lawson and Albon to retain eighth and ninth after their second stop. Williams played the team game by swapping places in a surprise move. The Thai was instructed to give a pit stop gap for Sainz to get a free stop and retain points position.
Russell cut the chicane to pass Albon to get through him. The two argued about dangerous driving as Russell was handed a drive-through penalty. They decided to delay the penalty being served. Antonelli, meanwhile, tried the same but gave back the position to Albon.
Replays showed Antonelli almost clouting the back of the Thai. Both Verstappen and Leclerc also had to clear the slower cars by taking some risk in the chicane. At the front, Norris, Leclerc and Piastri pitted but Verstappen in the lead and Hamilton in fifth decided to stay out for an intervention.
Hamilton pitted few laps later but Verstappen stayed out. He pushed Norris into Leclerc in a bid for them to fight it out. Piastri was closing in on them. Hamilton was fifth from Hadjar, Ocon and Lawson in their positions mostly intact. Albon got through Sainz again as promised.
Russell was outside the Top 10 in 11th from Antonelli and Tsunoda. At the front, Verstappen made things tasty by not stopping until the final lap which pushed Norris into the clutches of Leclerc and Piastri. But it was not to be as the trio maintained their calm despite the challenge.
Norris set the fastest lap on the final lap to win F1 Monaco GP by 3.131s margin over Leclerc and Piastri in the Top 3. Verstappen was fourth from Hamilton, as Hadjar secured his best result in sixth from Ocon, Lawson, Albon and Sainz in the Top 10 – in a double for Visa Cash App RB and Williams.
Russell was 11th in the end from Bearman, Colapinto, Bortoleto, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda and Antonelli to round out the 18 finishers. The likes of Hadjar, Ocon, Lawson and Albon finished a lap down, while the rest from Sainz until Tsunoda were two laps down and Antonelli ended up three behind.
UPDATE: The stewards explained why Russell was handed a drive-through penalty. Usually such incidents results in 10s time penalty but because the Brit undertook the move knowingly and deliberately ignored the team’s call to give back the place, the stewards handed him a harsher penalty for deliberate infringement.
Haas, meanwhile, was fined of 5,000 euros after they released Bearman with a cooling fan attached for the reconnaissance lap. There crew spotted it quickly and ran onto the fastlane to take it off, but the stewards believe that the team should have been more careful.
The stewards handed a reprimand to Gasly after they found him attempting an ambitious move in the approach of Turn 10 which was not on. The arguement that Tsunoda moved under the braking to his right unlike the previous attempts was put down as per the video and telemetry data presented during the hearing.
The stewards noted that Gasly’s rear brakes locked slightly which contributed in the incident. Normally, a harsher penalty is applied but since there was no sporting loss for Tsunoda and the subsequent damage suffered by Gasly himself, they limited the penalty to a reprimand for driving.
