Lando Norris conquers Monte Carlo and relaunches his season, McLaren returns to victory in the Principality after seventeen years, and Oscar Piastri completes the weekend haul with a third place that limits the damage in the championship standings. Nothing new in terms of results, but by the end of the 78 laps completed today in Monaco, the team strategists were more worn out than the drivers themselves. McLaren confirmed itself as the fastest car on track — not by the margin seen in Miami, but enough to manage the race from the front. Still, there were a few headaches.
The mandatory double stop format achieved the goal set by the F1 Commission: it muddied the waters. Doubling the number of pit stops also doubles the chances of making mistakes and, consequently, increases the pressure on those making the decisions.
On lap 47, Norris was leading the race with a six-second advantage over Leclerc and was quickly approaching a long train of backmarkers. The McLaren pit wall feared that Leclerc might seize an opportunity in this phase, pitting early to attempt the undercut on the race leader. At the same time, the papaya strategists didn’t want to pit Norris before his direct rivals, fearing Leclerc might decide to stay out hoping for a safety car.
This is when Piastri came into play, running third seven seconds behind Leclerc. Oscar was called into the pits a few laps early (lap 48), and Ferrari was forced to respond by bringing Charles in on the following lap.
“At that point, we called in Lando too,” Andrea Stella explained after the race. “After his stop, the only variable that could have compromised the result would have been a red flag, since Verstappen stayed out (and led the race) until the final lap. In that case, we wouldn’t have had any way to defend ourselves.”
There were no interruptions, and when Max Verstappen pitted with one lap to go, Lando clocked the fastest lap of the race.
Norris returned to victory more than two months after his win in Melbourne, and in keeping with Monaco tradition, the factor that made the difference in the end was the 109 thousandths he imposed on Leclerc in qualifying. This was confirmed by Piastri’s race: he started third but was never really in a position to threaten the Ferrari number 16 for second place.
“To have had a shot at a one-two, Oscar would’ve needed the pace to close in on Leclerc, but we were never close enough to consider that option.”
No such problem for Lando, who rediscovered himself as a pole-sitter, race winner, and now sits just three points behind Piastri in the overall standings.
At the start, Norris fiercely defended his position despite a less-than-perfect getaway, but the lock-up didn’t worry the team.
“It wasn’t at high speed,” Stella confirmed. “We saw from the data that it wouldn’t impact the life of the front tyres.”
With this top-form Norris came the return of the Lando who jokes on the radio, celebrates at length with the team, and will likely keep celebrating late into the night. As often happens in Formula 1, all it takes is one positive weekend (and Norris had one in every aspect) to reset and relaunch with the enthusiasm that seemed to have been lost after Melbourne.
“Lando faced several situations that required a cool head,” Stella concluded, “and he remained very calm without getting nervous. I really believe he managed the whole weekend in a very, very composed way.”
After the season opener in Melbourne, the two McLarens had not found themselves on the front row together in any of the next seven races — there was always a rival between them in qualifying or in the race, mostly Verstappen, or Leclerc in Monaco. This helped McLaren internally manage things, but with the two now neck and neck in the standings, the time will come when they’ll share the same stretch of track.
It could happen in Barcelona next week, or perhaps shortly after, but Norris’s strong comeback is bound to bring to the surface some scenarios McLaren has so far managed to avoid. The Monte Carlo verdict is that Norris is back, Piastri was already there, and a full-on papaya showdown could arrive as early as next weekend in Barcelona…
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