F1 Monaco Grand Prix Race Review

Matt Hylen
4 days ago
11 min read

Lando Norris (left) locks up as Charles Leclerc (right) tries to take the lead heading into Turn 1. C/O to gpfans.com

Well... that was upsetting

Round 8 of the 2025 Formula One season is in the books, and man, was it brutal. We were all but promised chaos and unpredictability; however, this race was anything but. The new mandatory two-stop race somehow made things worse, with teams able to manipulate the pace so that they could gain an advantage. The traffic on-track seemed as bad as ever as well, causing no real wheel-to-wheel racing. Overtaking was impossible, DRS did nothing, and overall, Monaco provided a race that brought the opposite of what many thought it could be.

That said, the weekend's result made things a lot more interesting moving forward. With both Championships extremely close now, all is to play for as we head into a pivotal weekend in Spain.

Before we review how each team fared this weekend, a couple of things to mention:

Formula One has two main championship competitions. The first is the Drivers Championship, which is a competition based on the drivers' individual performance. On a non-Sprint style weekend, the drivers who finish in the top 10 in each race will score points (the higher you place, the more points you get). These points are added up, and whichever driver finishes with the most points at the end of the season will win the Drivers' Championship.

The next is the Constructors' Championship, a competition between the teams. The number of points the drivers within a team get each race is combined, creating the total points for the team (e.g., Lando Norris has scored 158 points, and Oscar Piastri has scored 161 points, giving the McLaren team 319 points in the Constructors' Championship). The team whose drivers accumulate the most points combined for their team will win the Constructors' Championship.

Also, 21 drivers will be listed within the Drivers' Championship Standings, as Franco Colapinto replaced Jack Doohan this weekend and going forward at Alpine.

Now, here is a look at the standings for both Championships:

Drivers' Championship Standings:

Oscar Piastri 161 points
Lando Norris 158 points
Max Verstappen 136 points
George Russell 99 points
Charles Leclerc 79 points
Lewis Hamilton 63 points
Andrea Kimi Antonelli 48 points
Alexander Albon 42 points
Esteban Ocon 20 points
Isak Hadjar 15 points
Lance Stroll 14 points
Carlos Sainz 12 points
Yuki Tsunoda 10 points
Pierre Gasly 7 points
Nico Hulkenberg 6 points
Oliver Bearman 6 points
Liam Lawson 4 points
Fernando Alonso 0 points
Jack Doohan 0 points
Franco Colapinto 0 points
Gabriel Bortoleto 0 points

Constructors' Championship Standings:

McLaren 319 points
Mercedes 147 points
Red Bull 143 points
Ferrari 142 points
Williams 54 points
Haas 26 points
VCARB 22 points
Aston Martin 14 points
Alpine 7 points
Kick Sauber 6 points

Standings were found at F1.com.

Alpine

Pierre Gasly post-crash. C/O to the-race.com

Alpine looked bad... really bad. On the bright side, it cannot get much worse than this. This weekend, Franco Colapinto qualified 20th (started 18th) and finished 13th, while Pierre Gasly qualified 18th (started 17th) and did not finish the race due to a crash that broke off his tire.

Not much to really say about Alpine. They were the slowest car on the grid overall this weekend, showing no signs of legitimate pace whatsoever. Though their strategy for Colapinto did boost him up a little bit, they were lapped twice, not coming near the points.

Alpine has a lot of work to do if they want to salvage this season. Gasly is doing all he can, but it simply is not enough to outperform the car every race weekend. With the car in shambles, Gasly being too aggressive, and Colapinto still new to the car, it was a recipe for disaster this weekend.

Aston Martin

The crash in FP1 that gave Lance Stroll his grid penalty. C/O to autosport.com

Aston Martin looked to be on for points once again this weekend; however, Fernando Alonso's streak of bad luck continued, capping off a disappointing weekend. This weekend, Lance Stroll qualified 19th and finished 15th, while Fernando Alonso qualified 7th (started 6th) and did not finish due to a mechanical fault in the car.

Aston Martin has not looked horrible the past couple of weekends in terms of pace, but just about everything else has gone wrong for them this weekend. Stroll made a costly mistake in practice, which gave him a grid penalty, while Alonso's car cannot last a full race. The face Alonso still has zero points while outqualifying his teammate in every race this season is sad and concerning all at the same time. Then again, we all know Aston Martin does not really care about this season.

Ferrari

Chrles Leclerc exiting his car post-race. C/O to racefans.net

Ferrari had arguably their best weekend, from start to finish, of the season in Monaco. Charles Leclerc qualified and finished in 2nd, while Lewis Hamilton qualified 4th (started 7th due to a 3-place grid drop for impeding on Max Verstappen's qualifying lap) and finished 5th.

Ferrari looked quick all weekend long. Using last year's rear wing seemed to have done wonders for the car, elevating it to a true contender for a win. Though Charles could not get it done, Ferrari have a lot to take into and learn from heading into Spain only 5 points behind Mercedes for 2nd in the Constructors' Championship.

Ferrari's strategy paid off as well. Hamilton climbed up places without having to overtake anyone on track, while Leclerc was able to fight for a race win the entire race. This is something I need to see more out of Ferrari. We have seen far too many times Ferrari sabotage themselves with a bad race strategy, but look at what happened when they didn't.

One thing I will say I am concerned with is the communication between Hamilton and his race engineer, Riccardo Adami. They clearly are not on the same page. Lewis will ask a question, only for Adami to answer with something completely different or vague enough for Lewis to still be confused. It got to the point where, after the race ended, we heard Lewis ask on the radio "Are you upset with me," only to get no answer.

It cannot be stressed enough how crucial it is for a driver to have chemistry with their race engineer. Lewis and Adami need to get on the same page and have a serious discussion about how they can communicate effectively to give Lewis what he needs to know.

Haas

Esteban Ocon on-track. C/O to pitpass.com

Haas had a good weekend overall in Monaco, coming away with some decent points. Oliver Bearman qualified 17th (started 20th after receiving a 10-place grid penalty for overtaking during a red flag in practice) and finished 12th, while Esteban Ocon qualified 8th and finished 7th.

Ocon looked fantastic all weekend long. Haas has been struggling for pace mightily over the past couple of races, yet Ocon found a way to put the car into Q3 and maintain his positioning. Finishing ahead of both Williams drivers in both qualifying and the race is also a major win for the team.

The problem that continues to be with Haas is the inability for both drivers to perform at the same time. If they want to truly compete in the midfield this season, which they absolutely can, they need Bearman to step up and for Ocon to make this kind of performance more regular. Bearman's qualifying performances over the last three races have been atrocious, and when qualifying matters as much as it does when racing in Monaco, you just cannot afford to make mistakes. Of course, Bearman would have been near the bottom or at the bottom anyway with the penalty he received, but it is concerning that Bearman has not shown any qualifying pace.

Overall, as I have said many times this season, consistency needs to be better for Haas because once they can figure out how to get both drivers on the same page performance-wise, competing with the likes of Williams and VCARB will be a lot easier.

Kick Sauber

Kick Sauebr had another anonymous race this weekend, basically in no-man's-land the entire race. Gabriel Bortoleto qualified 16th and finished 14th, while Nico Hulkenberg qualified 13th and finished 16th.

Any finish outside of the bottom five is a win for Kick Sauber, which the managed this weekend. A Q2 appearance from Hulkenberg and a 13th place finish for Bortoleto (after crashing into the wall early on), makes the weekend a pretty good one for Kick Sauber. They also did not look like the slowest car; that mantle went to Alpine this weekend. It is these kind of small things that Kick Sauber can build off of and hopefully apply as the season goes on.

Development and team chemistry is all that matter for Kick Sauber this year, and I think we saw that in Monaco. Bortoleto has improved sine the start of the year, while Hulkenberg has put the car right outside the top ten in multiple qualifying sessions tis season. Overall, a very decent weekend from who is likely to be the worst team in the sport when it's all set and done.

McLaren

After showing a glimpse of vulnerability early on in the weekend, McLaren closed the Monaco Grand Prix out with another win. Lando Norris qualified and finished in 1st, while Oscar Piastri qualified and finished in 3rd.

Norris needed this one. After struggling to keep up with his teammate and making crucial mistakes, getting this win under his belt is going to boost his confidence tenfold. Not only that, but to win at a track where every driver dreams of winning is something special for Norris and the team. Lando had everything under control all race long. McLaren aced their strategy, Norris kept things clean, and ultimately, won the race in convincing fashion.

What makes things interesting now is that Lando put himself right back into the title fight, where he now is only 3 points behind his teammate Oscar Piastri. With his confidence seemingly back, McLaren need to remember the tall task of managing this title race that's ahead of them. On top of that, the new flexi-wing regulations are coming next weekend, so we will see how McLaren can adjust. However, it is hard to see the team dropping off so much to the point where they are no longer favorites to win every race going forward.

Mercedes

The controversial battle between Geroge Russell (back) and Alex Albon (front). C/O to planetf1.com

I don't even know where to start...

Mercedes had one of the most embarrassing, frustrating, and confusing weekends I have ever seen from them. George Russell qualified 14th and finished 11th, while Kimi Antonelli qualified 15th and finished 18th.

First off, qualifying was brutal. Antonelli got too greedy going into a turn, which caused him to crash out and not participate in Q2 (his previous lap time got him into Q2). Meanwhile, Russell's wheel dashboard shut down again, causing him to have to park his car in the tunnel and not set a lap time. Both of these situations are simple mistakes that cannot happen when you are fighting with two other teams in the Constructors' Championship. Qualifying means way too much in Monaco, so this result basically took them out of the running for points.

Now, what left me absolutely baffled was their race strategy. Mercedes did not pit either one of their cars until past lap 60. They were the last team to make their first pit stop by far. Now, I understand the reasoning was that they were hoping for a safety car or red flag, but it was a two-stop race. Plus, not pitting earlier allowed for Williams to intentionally hold both their drivers up so that one of the Williams cars could pit without getting passed.

Sure, Williams manipulating the race was a bit cheeky, but Mercedes allowed them to do that. They should have noticed what Williams was doing a lot sooner, and pitted at least one of their drivers so they could get out of the jam Williams was causing. It was such an uncharacteristically bad weekend from Mercedes all around.

Overall, Mercedes need to forget all about this weekend as quickly as possible and bounce back in a big way next weekend in Spain. The only good thing that came from this weekend is that the only way for Mercedes to go is up.

VCARB

Isak Hadjar on-track. C/O to formula1.com

VCARB had their best weekend of the season thus far in 2025, as they did exactly what they needed to do to get the maximum amount of points possible. Liam Lawson qualified 9th and finished 8th, while Isak Hadjar qualified 6th (started 5th) and finished 6th.

From a team known for their poor race strategies, this might have been the best strategy execution I have seen from a team in a while. VCARB knew that in order for Hadjar to maintain his positioning, he was going to need some help. Knowing that, they basically did what Williams did. VCARB had Liam Lawson drive extremely defensive in order to put a larger gap between the cars behind him who could be a threat to Hadjar. This allowed for Hadjar to make his pit stops early without losing any significant positions. On top of this, not only was Lawson a huge part of Hadjar scoring as many points as he did, he was able to score points himself.

Was it a little cheeky? Sure. No one wants to race this way. However, when this amount of points are possible for a team like VCARB, you need to do whatever is necessary. This weekend could not have been better for VCARB who, with this result, catapulted themselves ahead of Aston Martin and within striking distance of Haas for 6th in the Constructors' Championship.

Red Bull

Max Verstappen exiting his car after the Grand Prix. C/O to theplayoffs.news

Despite having a good strategy, Red Bull just did not have the pace to compete with the front runners this weekend. Yuki Tsunoda qualified 12th and finished 17th, while Max Verstappen qualified 5th and finished 4th.

Red Bull's car just did not cut it this weekend. A track like Monaco can expose the faults in a car, which you can say happened to Red Bull this weekend. Both Verstappen drove solid races, but they were unable to compete as a whole. Tsunoda got unlucky with Gasly crashing into the back of him, ruining his chance at points, while Verstappen was forced to wait for a safety car or red flag that never came.

I would not say this weekend rose any concerns for Red Bull though. With the car's dominance a thing in the past, the team is prone to having subpar weekends like they did in Monaco. With Spain being a completely different style of track, Red Bull will likely bounce back.

Williams

Carlos Sainz on-track. C/O to racingnews365.com

It wasn't pretty, but Williams did what they had to do this weekend in Monaco. Carlos Sainz qualified 11th and finished 10th, while Alex Albon qualified 10th and finished 9th.

Looking back at this weekend for Williams, I think it was a major missed opportunity. With both Mercedes going out in Q2, there was a huge chance to qualify up near the top, but they failed to execute. This caused the team to fight both Mercedes all race long, to the point where one driver purposely held them up so the other could make their pit stops.

Team Principal James Vowles stated multiple times after the race that what they did on Sunday is not the way they want to go racing, but they did what they had to. They formed a plan to score as many points as possible and executed it within the regulations made by the FIA.

Williams did leave a lot on the table this weekend, but scoring points, no matter how many, will be of help to them as the season progresses. They are in no-man's land in the Constructors' Championship right now, but with this season being as unpredictable as it has been so far, that may be a good thing. They can focus on their internal development and producing better and better results. They have a good car this year, which is why this weekend could be seen as a missed opportunity.