The winners and losers from F1’s 2025 Monaco GP

While Monaco is known as a gambling haven, its Formula 1 grand prix is generally a meritocracy rather than one defined by being dealt a good hand. Qualifying on pole is usually a recipe for success on Sunday, and even F1’s best efforts to try something different by mandating two pitstops didn’t turn the race into a roll of the dice as some feared.

Instead, the qualifying result was still respected at the front, which is making us lean more heavily on Saturday to define this column, while there was also scope for unorthodox team work further down the grid in the scrap for points.

Here’s who hit the jackpot and who ran out of luck on F1’s glitziest weekend.

Winner: Lando Norris turns a corner

Whether you believe in momentum or not, Oscar Piastri’s run of three consecutive victories between Bahrain and Miami was starting to pitch the Australian as McLaren’s lead driver, while Lando Norris struggled more than his team-mate to wring the most out of his 2025 car in qualifying. The issues both drivers experienced is getting a predictable response from the front axle, which Norris grappled with more than his team-mate, and it is one of the key areas McLaren is trying to address this season while its car is the pick of the field.

Norris was behind Piastri in Imola qualifying once more, but turned the tables in Monaco – a track that rewards car confidence and punishes mistakes more than any other layout. He deserves credit for keeping cool during the race, but only bad luck with red flags or a driver error could have really kept him from the win on a Sunday afternoon cruise.

What’s more important is that he and his side of the garage appeared to at least have found some solutions to get more comfortable when chasing the limit. Norris now heads to Barcelona just three points behind Piastri, effectively starting from zero again in the title fight.

Loser: Red Bull still can’t deal with Monaco

Max Verstappen’s outstanding Imola win may have demonstrated that Red Bull found certain improvements on tyre wear, and that McLaren’s drivers won’t just get their own way this year. But Red Bull’s weakness over kerbs and bumps, which Verstappen lamented at last year’s Monaco Grand Prix, still hasn’t been addressed.

This meant even Verstappen couldn’t do better than qualifying seven tenths off polesitter Norris, while team-mate Yuki Tsunoda missed the cut to Q3. Fourth is actually a good result for Verstappen and Red bull, all things considered. And by delaying his second pitstop until the end, the Dutchman put himself in a position to get lucky in the case of a late red flag, which didn’t materialise.

A bit more concerning is Tsunoda’s situation, who was on par with Verstappen in terms of car specification for about three practice sessions in Imola before falling behind again due to his qualifying smash. As a lingering after-effect, Tsunoda had to continue using the pre-Miami floor in Monaco and is once again chasing his tail to get within a respectable distance of Verstappen.

At Monaco, another chance to score points went begging. Barcelona, with its further upgrade packages and front wing flexing clampdown, offers the Japanese driver a chance for a reset, but his spare parts situation is not exactly helping him settle.

Winner: Ferrari enjoys a rare weekend in the sun

Charles Leclerc was frustrated after missing out on the all-deciding pole by a tenth, which meant his best chance of repeating last year’s fairytale home win evaporated. But truth be told, Leclerc deserves all the credit for splitting the McLarens to begin with, showing once again what a formidable qualifier he really is. 

The Ferrari, with its excellent traction and acceleration, could hold its own on the streets of the Principality and finishing second with Leclerc and fourth with Hamilton was beyond expectation. 
Unfortunately for Hamilton, a potential fourth became fifth after a three-place grid penalty for impeding Verstappen due to a communication error by the team. But the Briton was still one of the few drivers in the top 10 to move up, coming out in front of Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar after the first round of pitstops.  

The reason why Leclerc was so upset on Saturday was because this was a rare weekend on which the Ferrari proved competitive, and it is not expecting to be in the picture in Barcelona compared with Verstappen and the McLarens. That’s why it was important for the squad to capitalise on its pace this weekend, and it has largely done so. 

Loser: Mercedes loses ground after qualifying disaster

A lot will be said about Mercedes’ curious strategy this weekend, delaying the mandatory pitstops for both George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli until the end of the race, when they were already out of the picture and fighting cars who had already gotten their stops out of the way.

One wonders why the team didn’t at least try splitting its strategies by doing something different with – say – Antonelli’s car. Russell’s desperate move to straight-line the chicane and get past Williams driver Alex Albon spoke volumes about just how frustrating it was for everyone stuck in traffic on Sunday afternoon, with Russell admitting he was just relieved to find a bit of clear air at least.

But at the end of the day, it is all fairly inconsequential as Mercedes’ weekend was really over after qualifying, when Antonelli crashed in Q1 and Russell suffered an electrical issue in Q2. From 14th and 15th on the grid they were going nowhere.

Still, Monaco marks a second consecutive setback for Mercedes after a difficult Imola weekend, which means Red Bull – all thanks to Verstappen – and Ferrari are closing in.

Winner: Racing Bulls play it smart, together

Don’t hate the player, hate the game. Racing Bulls and Williams may be getting criticism from some for their tactic of one car holding others up to create a pitstop window, but that was exactly what was required in Monaco to get a result.

Racing Bulls quickly realised this was the way to go to let Hadjar get his pitstops out of the way early, and the young Frenchman stayed in sixth until the end of the race as reward for his excellent qualifying performance.

Hadjar is nothing short of a revelation this season, doing everything he needs to be considered for promotion up the Red Bull chain in the future. And while he slammed himself for tagging the wall twice in practice, he learned from his mistakes getting up to speed in Monaco and kept it clean when it mattered.

But Racing Bull’s execution on Sunday is only possible if you have both cars qualifying in position and close to each other, so alongside Hadjar credit also goes to fellow Monaco Grand Prix debutant Liam Lawson for first getting into Q3 and then being a team player.

His four points means the New Zealander is now on the board as well, banking a bit of credit after finding it challenging to match his rookie team-mate. RB more than doubled its points total in one go, as it finds itself in the fight for sixth with Haas.

Loser: Fernando Alonso hit by another cartoon anvil

Two full-time drivers are yet to score points this season. One is a rookie in the worst car – Gabriel Bortoleto at Sauber – and the other is two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard already labelled himself the unluckiest driver in the world after safety cars derailed his hunt for points last week in Imola, but surely this time Alonso would get off the mark after qualifying an excellent seventh – and starting sixth – in Monaco, where passing is impossible? Surely?

But even design guru Adrian Newey’s first trackside appearance in green didn’t bring about a change of fortunes. Once again, higher powers intervened to drop a cartoon anvil onto Alonso’s Aston Martin, knocking his Mercedes power unit out of contention. It was rumoured Lance Stroll also took part in the race. Like many, the Canadian’s race was already over from 19th on the grid.

Seeing Racing Bulls and Haas both score is not a welcome sight for the Silverstone team, but there is still optimism that its performance was lifted by Imola’s upgrades. Now it just needs to turn the gains into tangible results.

Winner: Esteban Ocon delivers again for Haas

Some flowers should also go to Esteban Ocon and his race engineer, Laura Muller, for making it into the top 10 in qualifying. Maybe they deserve some chocolates, too, after judging the race perfectly to stay there with two fairly early pitstops, which banked Ocon seventh at the finish.

It’s not the first time this season Haas snatched a points win by out-executing other teams, and the team’s car appeared to come alive on Monaco’s streets. This is exactly the kind of weekend Ocon and Haas need in a tight midfield battle, with the Frenchman really appearing to hit his stride at the American team in contrast with a fraught 2024 season – and indeed Monaco weekend – with Alpine.

Team-mate Oliver Bearman was less fortunate after being slapped with a 10-place grid penalty for overtaking under a red flag in practice. The only choice for Bearman was to try a radically different strategy, but a slow early stop didn’t help. Then, he was stuck in Monaco traffic regardless.

Loser: Alpine lacks grip over Monaco’s bumps

Alpine’s swap of Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto isn’t working out just yet, which shouldn’t be a big surprise as Monaco is an extremely tough challenge for Colapinto given his lack of 2025 seat time. But in general, Alpine is in the same boat as Red Bull by struggling on a bumpy circuit like Monaco, except with a lower baseline performance to start from.

What’s more, the tight midfield meant that Gasly was just seven tenths off the fastest time in Q1, which was only good enough for 18th. Colapinto was much further off as he grappled with the balance of risk and reward one week on from his Imola qualifying crash, setting the slowest time in Q1.

The race didn’t bring any reversal of fortunes either. After both drivers pitted on lap 1, Gasly ran into the back of Tsunoda into the chicane, which you’d probably have to call a racing incident. Colapinto, in contrast, kept it out of the walls but had no realistic way of moving into the points.