Lando Norris delivered a memorable victory at the F1 2025 Monaco GP and backed it up by sealing the Fastest Lap too with a 1:13.221 as the McLaren driver got his title campaign back on track.
The Brit came into the weekend at the Circuit de Monaco in a bit of a low spell, having struggled for qualifying form compared to Oscar Piastri throughout previous weekends.
However, he got his act together in the most important qualifying session of the season and snatched the goods on Saturday, May 24 to get ahead of a rapid Charles Leclerc in Monte Carlo.
Then 24 hours later he proved to be a composed figure behind the wheel when the lights went out by nailing his start and putting in a mature performance to command the early stages of the race.
However, things took a twist after he committed to his second pit-stop when Max Verstappen chose to stay out to gamble on a safety car and also opted to dip into the dark arts of gamesmanship.
The Red Bull driver, aware his championship rival was the car behind, began to drive very slowly as he looked to back him into Charles Leclerc running in third place for Ferrari.
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The Monegasque was very punchy in his racing and looked to make a pass wherever he could, but the slightly exasperated McLaren star didn’t make any errors as he waited for the Dutchman ahead to pit.
When that finally happened and Norris was released, he checked out and punched in a 1:13.221 to take the Fastest Lap in Monte Carlo and win the F1 2025 Monaco GP by 3.1 seconds to Leclerc behind.
“It feels amazing,” Norris told F1 TV. “It’s a long, gruelling race, but good fun. We could push for much of the race. The last quarter was stressful with Leclerc behind and Max ahead, but we won in Monaco.
“The worst bit was the end. I felt quite under control the whole race but Max was backing it up a little bit and I knew Charles had opportunities.
“I tried to back off Max so I could push when I needed to. I’m very happy, my team are very happy. Therefore we’re going to have a wonderful night.”
Norris closes gap in standings
The win was not just big for Norris in terms of the prestige of the event and as a confidence builder, but also within the wider context of his goals in this Formula 1 season.
With Oscar Piastri third and Verstappen fourth, the Brit managed to gain a big 10 and 12 points respectively over both of his title rivals as he shows signs of getting his season back on track.
The gap to Piastri, in the other McLaren, now stands at just three points following the weekend, whilst his margin to the Red Bull sits at a healthy 22 points – meaning he can almost afford to DNF and keep second in the drivers’ championship.
