26/05/2025 17:20
The Monaco Grand Prix hosted the eighth round of the campaign and signed off the first third of the ongoing season. Lando Norris sealed his second win of the year as he prevailed in both qualifying and the grand prix, eating into team-mate Oscar Piastri's championship lead. There were a number of strong performances throughout the grid, but there was also weekends to forget. Mercedes, for example, walked away from the weekend with zero points after enduring a disastrous event. But who has made the RacingNews365 complete list of winners and losers for the 2025 F1 Monaco Grand Prix? Find out below! Winner - Lando Norris It is pretty much a given that the winner of the race is included in these lists, but this was an important weekend for Norris. After starting the year off strongly with a victory in Australia, Norris began to struggle to extract pace from his McLaren machine while team-mate Piastri bridged a gap in the drivers' standings. Before entering the danger zone of losing touch with his team-mate, Norris hit back with a fantastic run to pole position on Saturday, which all but sealed the win on Sunday. As overtaking was a near-impossible task at the track, Norris dealt with the other challenges, such as traffic, to triumph after 78 tense laps around the venue. Having now added to his victory tally, Norris will be hopeful the weekend can act as a platform to step up a gear in his hunt for a maiden F1 title. Mercedes - Loser What a nightmare for Mercedes. At the end of Q1 on Saturday, Kimi Antonelli crashed into the barrier and eliminated himself from the session. Just moments into Q2, George Russell lost power after hitting a bump in the first sector, which also ended his day early. Starting from 14th and 15th, Mercedes deployed a Hail Mary strategy amid the new mandatory two-pit stop rule and didn't make their first trip to the pit lane until lap 53 of the race. Evidently, it failed to produce a result. Russell also picked up a drive-through penalty after overtaking Alex Albon off the track, highlighting he would deliberately take a time penalty as the Williams driver was driving slowly to protect his team-mate. Russell and Antonelli crossed the line in 11th and 18th respectively - marking the first time since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix that both Mercedes cars have reached the chequered flag outside the point-scoring positions. Racing Bulls - Winner Racing Bulls were one of the teams that made use of the new pit stop rules in play for the Monaco Grand Prix. By using one of their cars to drive deliberately slowly, Isack Hadjar was able to make both of his pit stops and emerge in a gap that ensured he stayed deep inside the point-scoring finishes. Team-mate Lawson was also able to make his two pit stops close together to retain a position inside the top 10. 12 points for Racing Bulls marks its biggest haul from a single grand prix since the 2021 Abu Dhabi race. Both Hadjar and Lawson, who went through their first F1 race weekends at the challenging Monaco venue, delivered to bring home a strong haul of points from the event. The Monaco Grand Prix - Loser There was much intrigue heading into the Monaco race weekend due to the new two-stop rule implemented for the event. Ultimately, however, it failed to produce an exciting race as teams took advantage of the track layout to hold up their rivals and give their team-mates a gap to slot into. It was high time F1 attempted to spice up the show, so kudos for trying. But this minimum two-stop approach is not the way forward. For all the appeal that Monaco has due to its challenge, it is spoiled on race day when no car can get ahead of their rivals - even if the car in front is driving several seconds off the pace. The only true solution seems to be modifying the track layout, but that's a tall ask given its location. But as Monaco has a contract in place until 2031, something else needs to be considered to keep fans excited for the race weekend in the coming years. Esteban Ocon - Winner Points were not so rare for Haas to come by in the opening rounds, as after the first four events, it had 20 points to its name. However, the following three outings saw Haas take a downturn in form, and it went on a point-less run at Jeddah, Miami and Imola. It ran into immediate challenges in Monaco as Oliver Bearman was issued a 10-place grid penalty on Friday for a red flag infringement. Haas was then forced to place all of its hope in Esteban Ocon, who delivered emphatically. The Frenchman qualified in eighth place for the grand prix, placing him in a prime spot to bring home fresh points for the team. With Fernando Alonso retiring midway through, Ocon was boosted to seventh at the chequered flag - marking a welcome return to the top 10 for Haas. Lance Stroll - Loser If there was ever a weekend to forget in F1, it was this one. Stroll found himself in trouble on Friday when he was issued a one-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Charles Leclerc. Things got worse for the Canadian on Saturday as he impeded Pierre Gasly, resulting in a further three-place demotion on the grid following his exit from Q1. It was a frustrating development for Stroll as he watched team-mate Alonso progress into the final segment of qualifying, with the Spaniard likely on course for points before a power unit issue forced him to pull to one side. Instead, Stroll was forced to languish towards the back of the field in traffic, unable to make amends for the errors made throughout the weekend.
