Lando Norris expertly converted pole position into victory during Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, leading home Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.
Norris survived a massive lock-up at the first corner before working through Virtual Safety Car phases, spells of traffic and the mandated two-stop rule to score his second win of the season and slash Piastri’s championship lead.
Leclerc applied plenty of pressure at various stages of the race, including that initial run to Sainte Devote and late on when Verstappen backed the pack up, but ultimately had to settle for second with Piastri – now just three points clear of Norris in the standings – completing the podium.
Verstappen ran an off-set tyre strategy that saw the Red Bull driver go much longer across his stints, giving him the race lead into the very closing stages, but he dropped to fourth after completing his required second stop with a lap to go.
The full top 10 are- P1: Norris, P2: Leclerc, P3: Piastri, P4: Verstappen, P5: Hamilton, P6: Hadjar, P7: Ocon, P8: Lawson, P9: Albon and P10: Sainz.
What a result for Norris and McLaren!! This is exactly what Norris would’ve wanted this weekend, a win to boost his confidence as he has struggled in past weekends but this was a lovely drive by the Brit! As well, Piastri on the podium too, a big points haul for the Papaya team and boosting their lead in the Constructor’s Championship.
A lovely result for home hero, Charles Leclerc, P2! His second podium of the year too, it’s a shame he didn’t have that bit extra for the win, but McLaren are just so quick and its Monaco unfortunately there’s not many overtaking places where your not gonna risk it. As for his teammate, Hamilton finished P5, a good points haul for the Italian team which has now brought Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari all within 5 points of each other…
P4 for the reigning World Champion, he struggled with the car a lot this weekend, however he still managed to grab P4, a shame he didn’t get on the podium but a decent strategy from the team, it just didn’t pay off with the red flag they hoped for.
P6 for Isack Hadjar, what a lovely drive for the rookie, he stayed out of trouble and was rewarded with a decent amount of points! As for his teammate, Lawson also comes home with points finishing 8th, a decent weekend for the team overall.
P7 for Ocon in the Haas which we love to see! As for Bearman he made a few places up, finishing just outside the points in P12, but a decent effort from the Brit who started P20.
Now onto Mercedes, a horrible weekend for the team, both drivers out in Q2, they knew from there that it wasn’t their weekend, Russell finished 11th and Antonelli finished 18th.
Double point finish for Williams too, Albon 9th and Sainz 10th. The smaller teams have really benefited from both Mercedes not being in the top 10 this weekend, and honestly, this is what is going to matter closer to the end of the season when they’ve grabbed points as and when they can.
Now we don’t have to wait too long, as the next race is this week! For Round 9 we are headed to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix!
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