Monte Carlo 25 May 2025
Scuderia Ferrari HP got the best result that was logically possible in the Monaco Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc having missed out on pole by a whisker yesterday, coming home where he started in second place, while Lewis Hamilton who started seventh because of a three place grid penalty, made his way back up to fifth. The team thus leaves Monaco with a total of 28 points in the bag, it’s best haul of the first third of the season. It is now just five points off second place in the Constructors’ standings.
The race. Charles and Lewis maintained their second and seventh places off the grid and on lap 15, the Englishman moved up to fifth when Fernando Alonso and Isack Hadjar, who had started ahead of him, made their first stop. Once in clean air, Hamilton was able to push for two laps, thus able to overcut his two rivals and consolidate his position. Norris made his first stop on lap 18 which promoted Leclerc to the lead, until he came in four laps later to switch from Medium to Hard tyres, so that once again he was behind Norris. Charles, who once again was voted “Driver of the Day” by Formula 1 fans, was third for much of the race because Verstappen was out of synch with McLaren and Ferrari in terms of pit stops, clearly hoping for a late red flag to mix things up, but the Ferrari driver was effectively always second. The obligatory for this race second stops did not change the shape of the race, the only difference to previous years being the pace at which it was run. The leaders didn’t need to manage their tyres and pushed hard to the extent that only five cars completed the full race distance.
Barcelona next. Following on from Imola and Monaco, this European triple-header ends in Spain. Next Sunday, the ninth round of the season takes place on the demanding Barcelona-Catalunya circuit.