The all-new Monaco GP two-stop rule might not have spiced things up at the front, but it certainly shook things up in the midfield, especially among teams battling for points.

The first team to truly take advantage of the new rule’s quirks was Racing Bulls – and their clever strategy definitely paid off. Let’s dive into the data to see how the Faenza-based team pulled off their best result of the F1 2025 season so far.

Teamwork made the difference

The Monaco Grand Prix brought valuable points for Racing Bulls and pulled them right into the fight with Haas for sixth in the Constructors’ standings. It was also the strongest race for both of their drivers: rookie Isack Hadjar finished a fantastic P6 after a strong qualifying, while Liam Lawson scored his first points of the season, and reached Q3 for the first time.

In qualifying, the car looked genuinely competitive – something essential when racing around Monaco – while the grid penalty handed to Lewis Hamilton after his incident with Verstappen moved Hadjar up to P5 on the starting grid.

From the very start of the race, it was clear teamwork would play a major role. When you have two drivers close together on track – as Racing Bulls did – it becomes much easier to control race pace and execute strategy effectively.

And Monaco as a circuit absolutely allows for this kind of strategy; if you want to overtake someone here, the data shows that you need to be at least four seconds per lap faster than the car in front to have a realistic chance.

This allowed Lawson to act as the perfect buffer for his teammate.

And that’s clearly visible in the graph above. The yellow dashed line represents Hadjar, while Lawson and the two Williams drivers are shown in white and blue. Immediately after the virtual safety car ended, the gap between Lawson and Hadjar began to grow, as did the gap between Hadjar and everyone stuck behind Lawson.

It didn’t take long for a meaningful gap to open up between the teammates. By Lap 13, the margin was over 20 seconds. Since a green-flag pit stop at Monaco typically costs around 19 to 20 seconds, Racing Bulls didn’t hesitate. They brought Hadjar in immediately.

With a fresh set of softs and clean air, Hadjar could push – the plan was to replicate the same strategy again later and complete the mandatory two stops.

In his second stint, Hadjar was consistently 4 to 5 seconds faster per lap than Lawson and the pack behind him. In fact, Lawson was intentionally even slower in this phase.

Yes – it may sound odd to praise a driver for being slower, but from a strategic point of view, that was exactly the job required. He had to be slow enough to help his teammate build a gap, but not so slow that he got overtaken. And most importantly, no mistakes; one slip-up and the whole plan falls apart.

Key stats after the Monaco GP

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

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Hadjar only stayed on the softs for five laps – just enough to build the gap. Once he completed his second stop, Lawson picked up the pace dramatically, as shown in the lap time chart.

Apart from losing one position to Hamilton in the much faster Ferrari, the mission was a complete success. Hadjar was in a strong position with both stops completed. He would have also held his place over Alonso if not for a DNF, which ended up benefiting Lawson instead.

Interestingly, Williams took note of this strategy and replicated it with their own drivers. Since they were the ones stuck behind Lawson, they couldn’t execute it earlier.

The tactic was the same – the rear driver slowed the pace to create a gap for his teammate, in this case Albon, to make a “free” pit stop. 

Lawson used the same advantage and strong pace to pit without losing track position. In his second stint, he switched to softs and after nine laps completed his second stop.

Once back in clean air, Lawson drove at a strong pace and began closing the gap to his teammate ahead.

In the end, Racing Bulls exploited the new rules perfectly. With outstanding communication and a well-executed strategy that placed both drivers in great positions. The result: the team’s best finish of the season so far.

None of this would have been possible without their excellent qualifying performance and the strong pace of the car.

Racing Bulls ended the Monaco GP as the fourth-fastest team on Sunday, behind McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull – an excellent achievement for the Faenza-based squad.

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