Monaco GP driver ratings: Near-perfect Norris with a Russell bungle

Lando Norris has taken his first victory at the Monaco Grand Prix in a dominant lights-to-flag victory that seemed inevitable even despite the mandatory two-stop strategy.

But was it truly a perfect drive? We have our full driver ratings for the Monaco GP below for more.

Lando Norris: 9.5

Lando Norris has taken his second race victory of the F1 2025 season, and it came at the most iconic race on the calendar: Monaco. He has plenty to be proud of — but his race wasn’t quite perfect.

There were two moments of weakness in particular that stuck out: His lockup at the start as he tried to hold Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari wide and maintain his lead, and his radio stress in the closing laps as Leclerc closed in.

In the grand scheme of things, these wobbles are minor, though at any other track they could have signaled disaster. As such, it’s a 9.5 out of 10 for Lando Norris at Monaco.

Charles Leclerc: 9.5

Oh, Charles Leclerc — he came ever so close to a hometown sweep but simply couldn’t get it over the line. Norris snatched pole position in qualifying, then held onto his lead of the race despite some harrying from the Monegasque driver.

Leclerc extracted just about as much as he could from his SF-25, which has been a challenging car to navigate all year long. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough.

But I’m remiss to give anyone a perfect score. Knowing Norris’ standing start weaknesses, Leclerc could have better capitalized on the start to stake his claim on Turn 1. Otherwise, there was very little else Leclerc could do in Monaco this year.

Oscar Piastri: 8

McLaren’s iceman has begun to melt. While Oscar Piastri has seemed almost untouchable since the Chinese Grand Prix, his composure began to slip at Imola and has continued to fade this weekend at Monaco.

He took a trip into the barriers during practice, couldn’t quite find the pace during qualifying, sniffed the barriers during the Grand Prix, and was effectively asked to play second fiddle to his teammate when it came to in-race strategy.

It was by no means a bad race for Piastri, but it also wasn’t one of his best — and that may come to bite him in Barcelona when the new flexi-wing technical directives come into play.

Max Verstappen: 8.5

Fourth place is where Max Verstappen qualified, and fourth place is just where he finished.

Red Bull opted to start Verstappen on hard tyres, then kept him on the track until Lap 28 before moving him off to mediums. He didn’t pit again until the penultimate lap, where his lead turned into a fourth place at the last moment.

Still, it was a strong drive for a racer who claimed halfway through the race that his gearbox made him feel like he was racing in 1972!

Lewis Hamilton: 8

Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth-fastest on the grid for the Monaco Grand Prix, only to receive a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen in Q1.

His fifth-place finish, then, is about on par with what his SF-25 seemed capable of — and while it wasn’t a massively impressive race for Hamilton, it wasn’t a disastrous one, either.

Isack Hadjar: 8

Isack Hadjar started fifth and finished sixth in what was a decent race for him.

As the higher-qualified driver of the two Racing Bulls drivers, Hadjar benefitted from the favorable strategy — and the Faenza team opted effectively use teammate Liam Lawson as a blocker to build a big berth that allowed Hadjar to pit without losing many positions.

His two pit stops took place before lap 20, leaving him to navigate the remainder of the race on hard tyres. He wasn’t quite able to improve his positions, but it was nevertheless a strong race.

Esteban Ocon: 8

Haas driver Esteban Ocon had a strong race in Monaco. From his eighth-place start to his seventh-place finish, he was able to maximize a good car in challenging conditions where other drivers struggled.

Perhaps even more importantly, he has six critical points to further bolster Haas’ chances in the midfield constructors’ championship battle.

Liam Lawson: 7

Liam Lawson started the Monaco Grand Prix from ninth place — his best start in a GP so far in his career — and brought it home in eighth.

There wasn’t much Lawson could do during the race. As mentioned above, Racing Bulls strategically prioritized his teammate Isack Hadjar, using Lawson to hold back the cars behind him in order to give Hadjar a pit stop berth.

Still, he kept his nose clean, stayed out of trouble, and still finished higher than he started.

Alex Albon: 5

Ah, Williams! The team was one of several to use its lower-qualified driver to hold up the field to allow the higher-placed driver to build up a gap on the track and pit without losing significant positions.

Alex Albon was the first of the team to pit, after which point he was asked to return the favor for Sainz.

While the drivers behind were deeply annoyed at both Williams machines, George Russell regularly snapped at Albon’s behavior on the radio, alleging that he was driving dangerously.

It was a messy race for both Williams drivers, but Albon has a slightly lesser rating thanks to the reactions from other drivers.

Carlos Sainz: 6

Much like Albon, Carlos Sainz was the first Williams teammate to hold up the drivers behind him — though he didn’t seem particularly pleased with the team orders dictating the event.

He followed instructions and drove well enough, and it was worth the final points-paying position in the race.

George Russell: 5

George Russell has finished in the points in every race this season… until Monaco. He’s finished in the top five in all but the two most recent events. But the Monaco Grand Prix was by far one of his weakest races.

After an electrical failure in qualifying, Russell could only manage a 14th-place start — and during the race, he got trapped behind the Williams duo.

Williams was one of several teams to use one car to hold up the machines behind them to allow the teammate in front to pit, and Russell was just behind those drivers for most of the race.

Frustrated, he opted to cut a corner to bypass Alex Albon, telling his team that he’d take whatever penalty thy handed to him.

Rather than a five- or 10-second penalty, though, he got a drive-through. As Mercedes had saved both of its stops for the last moments of the race, there was little Russell could do to make up pace.

No matter the frustration, there’s no excuse to drive angry, and Russell’s rating this weekend will suffer for it.

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

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Oliver Bearman: 8

Haas driver Oliver Bearman had no choice but to start the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix on the back foot. He was slapped with a 10-place grid penalty for overtaking Carlos Sainz during a red-flag period in Free Practice 2, meaning he started from the very rear of the grid.

Bearman was one of the first drivers to pit during the lap 1 Virtual Safety Car, and it looked as if his team had brought out the wrong tyres, making the stop longer than necessary.

Despite that, he managed to bring home a 12th-place finish, which is seriously impressive considering the narrow confines of Monaco.

Franco Colapinto: 5

A nondescript race was perhaps exactly what Franco Colapinto needed after his challenging Alpine debut at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

He got that at Monaco, starting 18th and finishing 13th. Colapinto wasn’t particularly quick, nor did he necessarily impress so much as he kept his nose clean — but that at least netted him a finish, unlike his teammate.

Will it be enough for Colapinto to preserve his seat? That’s not clear, but he’ll want to find his footing soon.

Gabriel Bortoleto: 5

Perhaps the most compelling moment of the race came on Lap 1, when a close call with Kimi Antonelli saw the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto collide with the barriers.

The subsequent Virtual Safety Car provided a handful of drivers with an early opportunity to pit for new tyres, ticking one of their mandatory stops off from the get-go.

But most impressive was Bortoleto’s ability to get his car moving again. He brought the Sauber back to the pits, swapped tyres, and headed back out — and despite making a full three stops, he finished 14th, two slots ahead of where he started, and two slots ahead of his teammate in the race.

Lance Stroll: 6

Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin started from 19th after being hit with a one-place grid penalty for causing a FP1 collision with Leclerc and a three-place grid penalty for impeding Gasly in Q1. He was able to bring it home in 15th.

Was it a good race? Not really. Was it a bad race? Well, no. But Stroll did manage to keep his nose clean and finish the race.

Nico Hulkenberg: 5.5

Nico Hulkenberg started on mediums, swapped to hards on Lap 13, and took on softs on Lap 47.

We didn’t see much of the Sauber driver on the broadcast, but it wasn’t a particularly strong race for him. He started 13th and finished 16th in a race he’ll be hoping to forget.

Yuki Tsunoda: 4

Another weekend behind the wheel of the RB21, another tough race for Yuki Tsunoda.

The Japanese driver couldn’t get his car out of Q2 on Saturday, and the team’s early call to swap him to pits during the Lap 1 VSC likely didn’t help him — especially considering his next pit stop wasn’t until Lap 76!

It isn’t clear if Tsunoda’s 17th-place finish had more to do with the strategy than his driving, or if both contributed to the difficult result. But nevertheless, it was not the driver’s finest weekend.

Kimi Antonelli: 3

The Monaco Grand Prix was not one of Kimi Antonelli’s finest races. From a crash in the first qualifying session to his attempt at a bold overtake on Bortoleto in the first lap that put the Sauber into the wall, Antonelli was a bit of a mess.

Like his Mercedes teammate, Antonelli found himself stuck behind the Williams duo. Unlike his teammate, when he cut the track to pass Albon, he gave the position back.

He was the very last driver to finish the race, three laps down. But his rookie experience at the race is over, and he’ll better know what to expect come 2026.

Fernando Alonso: N/A

Just one weekend after declaring himself the unluckiest driver in the world, Fernando Alonso once again failed to score points in Monaco when his Aston Martin came to a stop on lap 39.

Aston Martin noted that he was dealing with a power unit issue and therefore needed to stop. It was a hugely disappointing finish for the driver who started sixth.

Pierre Gasly: N/A

Pierre Gasly’s race was over before it ever really began. After starting 17th on a set of medium tyres, he pressed the brake pedal only to find no response.

Unfortunately, that meant he wasn’t able to slow down in time to avoid the Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda; Gasly drove up the back of his former teammate, with his left-front tyre coming loose. Though he was able to return to the pits, Gasly retired.

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