The checkered flag waves at the Monaco GP and Lando Norris Takes Home a Victory which is worth a lot after the difficulties we had at the start of this championship. Behind him, the home hero closes the podium Charles Leclerc, who ran with his heart, and Oscar piastri. Despite the different strategies of the teams in the principality, as all were forced to make two stops, almost all the leaders arrived in the same positions in which they started. The only one to finish better than how he started was Hamilton who finished in P5.
Chaotic first laps of the Monaco GP
The traffic lights go out and the Monaco GP starts with a good start Leclerc that tries to attack Norris outside the Sainte Devote but the pole man he pulls the brake and even gets to the block but manages to maintain the lead. The start goes smoothly except for Bortoleto who hits the barriers after he was battling with Kimi Antonelli and causes a virtual safety car. So in the rear Tsunoda, Gasly, Bearman and Bortoleto (who managed to restart) take advantage of the opportunity to mark the first of the two mandatory stops (introduced with a rule that came into effect to try and mix things up a bit in this GP).
At the restart in front they maintain a fairly slow pace while the drivers who have already pitted have a 4 second faster pace. But gasly has a problem with the brakes and swab Tsunoda at the port chicane causing a double yellow flag. Meanwhile everyone is trying to play as a team: with the drivers behind trying to create a gap that allows their teammates to have a pit stop without finishing at the back. For example Hadjar fails to tick off both mandatory pit stops and rejoin the track in 8th place thanks to Lawson slowing down the rest of the group.
Pit Stop Confusion: Different Strategies for Everyone
At this point everyone must think of a strategy that allows them to improve their position on the track and not lose it compared to the others. Hamilton thus manages to return 5th and then the two pilots also stop McLaren. In fact Piastri wants to attack the second position of the Monaco GP and therefore also forces Leclerc to stop. This means that there is only one in front Verstappen who is extending his stint but when he comes back he doesn't gain any position. Meanwhile the only drivers who have already made two stops are the last ones and Ocon and Hadjar. While in Williams and Mercedes they haven't stopped yet.
Monaco GP without too many twists and turns
The Monegasque driver finds himself having to overtake the backmarkers and is also forced to do a lift and cost to cool the brake temperature and so loses ground to Lando. Then he is asked to try to get as close as possible to stay glued to the Englishman. Meanwhile, in addition to the chaos of the strategies, we again don't see any overtaking but everyone tries to keep a pace that is convenient for their team confirming that this is a strategy competition. The only noteworthy actions are the Alonso's retirement due to technical problems and the second Albon's free pitstop thanks to Sainz which slowed down the group behind. In fact Williams thought about a great strategy: they concluded thus in P9 and P10.
In front of the Piastri is the first to clear the second stop and to follow Leclerc e Norris. While Verstappen extends stint again and then fit the soft tyre at the end of the race. So Charles manages to attach himself to Lando who is blocked by Max and starts thinking about a practically impossible overtaking.
Meanwhile behind the Mercedes still have both stops to make and are therefore doomed to finish at the back to the group. For this Russell very frustrated decides to overtake Albon by cutting the chicane of the port but this leads him to obtain a penalty: a drive-through (i.e. he must cross the pit lane without changing tyres).
A battle of the heart for Charles against Norris
Leclerc wants to believe until the end and take home the victory of the Monaco GP. In fact, with 10 laps to go, he continues to remain attacked Norris trying to put pressure on him to make a mistake. But in the meantime also Piastres he sticks to the Monegasque to be able to seize possible opportunities. Despite everything, however the home hero is forced to settle for second place on a track where overtaking is practically impossible. So Norris wins the Monte Carlo Grand Prix demonstrating all his talent. The British driver brings McLaren back to the top step of the podium in the Principality after 2008 with Lewis Hamilton. Piastri closes the top 3 and behind him there are Verstappen and Hamilton.
Great race also for Racing Bulls which closes with two drivers in the top 10 and for Ocon which finished in seventh position. Disappointing, on the other hand, is the Mercedes which is with both cars out of the points due to a terrible strategy. In particular Kimi finishes last and therefore a big disappointment for him too. However, he gives 10 points to the Fantamanagers who fielded him in the team.
