Monaco GP: Lando Norris Takes Clinical Win But F1 Race Continues to Be A Procession Despite Two-stop Mandate

McLaren F1 driver won the Monaco GP 2025 on Sunday (May 25), cutting the lead that teammate Oscar Piastri had built over him in the Formula 1 world driver's championship standings. 

Monaco's own Charles Leclerc brought his Ferrari home in 2nd, sandwiched between the two McLarens as Piastri finished in 3rd to claim the final podium spot. 

Max Verstappen, the third driver involved in the title fight, came home in 4th despite leading for much of the end of the race - but mainly because he waited till the end to take his second and final pit stop. 

Ahead of the race, much was made of the fact that this race would now have two mandatory pit stops in a bid to avoid a processional race. 

But did the new rule work as intended? In a nutshell, no. 

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Three Overtakes, Two Illegal

There were a grand total of three overtakes made in the course of the race, with only one of them really sticking in the end. 

Mercedes driver George Russell, frustrated at the lack of overtaking, cut the corner at the Swimming Pool section to get ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon. 

The stewards were unhappy at the brazen rule break and handed him a stop and go penalty, ending any hopes of the Silver Arrows ending up in the points. 

Kimi Antonelli, Russell's teammate, pulled a similar move on Albon but had to give the place back and was thus overtaken by the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda. 

Beyond that, there was no notable on-track overtaking that took place. 

Tyre Rule Fails to Have Impact

The mandatory two-stop rule made the race one of strategy, with teams taking to extreme measures to ensure pit stops could be done. 

Carlos Sainz backed up the back of the grid to such an extent to protect Albon that by the end of the race, many cars were lapped twice by the leaders. 

Verstappen did the same thing up front, backing Norris into the path of Leclerc in a bid to force a mistake but it did not happen. 

Monaco's usefulness in modern F1 has been questioned many times, and the two-stop mandate was meant to make the race more unpredictable. 

But all it did was make the race seem even more of a procession, as on-track action was limited at best.