After a major crash at the start of the F2 feature race eralier in the day, the Formula 1 Grand Prix got underway surprisingly cleanly. Charles Leclerc made a strong start and quickly challenged Lando Norris for the lead. Norris locked up his tyres while defending, but the top seven positions stayed unchanged in the early laps.

Just a few minutes into the race, the drama began. Gabriel Bortoleto made an ambitious move on Kimi Antonelli at the hairpin, successfully getting ahead. However, only a few corners later, Antonelli fought back, and in the process, Bortoleto ended up in the wall. The incident triggered a brief yellow flag, which was soon followed by a Virtual Safety Car. Despite the contact, Bortoleto was able to get his Sauber back to the pits.

Several drivers took this opportunity to pit, including Tsunoda, Gasly and Bearman, who's pit stop was very messy due to confusion over his tyres. Bortoleto also managed to get back on track, after changing his front wing as well as his tyres. As the VSC ended, racing resumed, and the top 11 drivers remained in the same order.

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri started to struggle. He was lapping over two seconds slower than Lando Norris and quickly fell back by more than five seconds. Max Verstappen started to catch up on him.

Trouble soon followed for Pierre Gasly. He ran into the back of Yuki Tsunoda’s RB21 at the Nouvelle Chicane while reporting over the radio that he had “no brakes.” The incident brought out a second Virtual Safety Car. However, the pit entry had to be closed because Gasly was unable to stop his car safely, and mechanics were forced to bring it to a halt in the pit lane. As a result, no drivers were able to take advantage of the VSC window to complete one of their two mandatory pit stops.

When racing resumed, Verstappen complained that Piastri was driving too cautiously, while pit stops started to shake up the order. Isack Hadjar made his pit stop from fifth and rejoined in eighth. 

More drivers came in soon after, namely Lewis Hamilton, Lance Stroll, Ollie Bearman, Esteban Ocon as well as Osacr Piastri, who's race took a big hit with a very slow stop, which allowed Charles Leclerc to come back out ahead. Piastri wasn’t happy and asked his team, “What’s the plan? That didn’t work very well…”

Meanwhile, Verstappen, who had taken the lead while others were pitting, made his own stop and came back out in the same position, keeping the top four order unchanged. By lap 28, he had opened up a 20-second gap to Piastri.

Then came disaster for Fernando Alonso. A suspected power issue forced him to pull off into an escape road and retire. However, there was no safety car as he stopped in a safe place. 

In the second half of the race, pit stops and strategy became very important. Liam Lawson and Alex Albon were among the first to make their second pit stops. Carlos Sainz and the two Mercedes drivers, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, had still not stopped at all. At that point, Sainz was in ninth place, Russell was eleventh, and Antonelli was twelfth.

Oscar Piastri was the first of the top three to stop for the second time. Charles Leclerc came in just behind him, and Lando Norris followed soon after. While that was happening, Russell tried to pass Albon but went off the track to do it. He was told to give the position back, but refused and said Albon was too slow and driving badly. Because of that, Russell was given a drive-through penalty. Antonelli made a similar move on a Williams car but gave the place back, so he avoided a penalty.

Russell took his penalty on lap 56, still without making a normal pit stop. At the same time, Sainz made his stop and came out just ahead of Russell, thanks to the gap Albon had built up. At the front, Verstappen was still leading, but he had not made his second stop. Norris was close behind, with Leclerc right on his tail.

Russell finally made his first proper pit stop on lap 64. That allowed Williams to swap their cars, with Albon moving ahead of Sainz. Albon thanked his teammate on the radio after the change. Russell then made his second stop on lap 70. His teammate Antonelli made his first and only stop very late, on lap 75.

Up front, Verstappen was still in the lead, but Norris told his team that Verstappen was backing him into Leclerc. Leclerc stayed close behind, and Piastri was right behind both of them. Then, just one lap before the end, Verstappen finally pitted for the second time.

That gave Norris the lead again. He crossed the line to win the Monaco Grand Prix. Leclerc finished second in front of his home fans, and Piastri completed the podium in third. Verstappen ended up in fourth place.

Lewis Hamilton finished fifth. Isack Hadjar came sixth, followed by Esteban Ocon in seventh, Liam Lawson in eighth, Alex Albon in ninth, and Carlos Sainz in tenth.

2025 Monaco Grand Prix results: