Norris Earns First Monaco G.P. Win For McLaren Since 2008

MONTE CARLO – It wasn’t a wire-to-wire win as is often typical of the Monaco Grand Prix, but McLaren’s Lando Norris still claimed his first win in Formula One’s biggest event Sunday morning.

After starting from the pole and managing his two required pit stops to perfection, Norris assumed the lead coming to the final lap after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen put off his second trip down pit lane for as long as he possibly could.

But once Verstappen peeled off the road, Norris ran off to a gap of 3.131 seconds en route to his sixth career F-1 grand prix victory and first since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March.

It was easily the biggest moment of Norris’ racing life, as he became the first McLaren driver to win in Monaco since Jenson Button in 2008.

“It feels amazing,” said Norris of the crown jewel victory. “It’s a long race, a long, grueling race. We could push for the whole race, though [because of the two stops], and we won in Monaco! An amazing weekend with pole, with today … this is what we dream of, and this is what I did dream of as a kid.

“The worst bit was the end. I felt under control the whole race, but Max was backing [the pace] up a little bit and I had to manage it, back off [of] Max, and still push when I needed to,” he added. “it’s Monaco … it doesn’t matter how you win here, I guess, but that we finally, finally did it.

“We are going to have a wonderful night!”

The biggest moments of the early stages were an opening-lap virtual safety car – after Gabriel Bortoleto found the barriers at Portier – and a huge shunt by Pierre Gasly on lap nine that destroyed the left front of his _ after contact with Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull on approach to the Nouvelle Chicane.

None of that was any consequence to Norris, however, who maintained a comfortable gap of more than a second over Leclerc through lap 15 despite a lock-up in turn one on the initial start.

Isack Hadjar was the first to blink in the opening pit cycle, coming down from fifth on lap 15 and shifting to the soft Pirelli compound in a unique strategy race that required two mandatory tire compound changes and two different compounds to be used.

A jumbled first round of stops followed, with Norris ceding the point to Leclerc on lap 19 and Leclerc then pitting three laps later, allowing Verstappen to run his first stint longer than any of the other frontrunners.

The four-time defending champion finally stopped at the end of lap 28, coming out fourth ahead of the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton as Norris took back over from Leclerc and Piastri.

From there Norris easily controlled the middle stint, leading through halfway and extending out a 4.75-second gap beyond six seconds before he pitted for the last time coming to 27 laps left.

Verstappen reassumed the lead after Norris’ last stop and proceeded to hold out for 49 circuits around the 2.074-mile, 19-turn course as he stretched every possible ounce of performance out of his set of medium-compound Pirelli tires.

But the regulations finally caught up with Verstappen, and the requirement to either make his second stop – and use a third set of tires – or be disqualified from the final results made for the last turning point.

Verstappen pitted coming to the end of lap 77, unleashing Norris over the final lap and allowing him to escape any pressure from Leclerc, who finished second in his quest to defend his Monaco victory from a year ago.

Afterward, though Verstappen slowed his own pace and backed up Norris into Leclerc’s reach for part of the last stint, Leclerc admitted that there was little he could truly do to try and claim control of the race in his own right.

“At the end of the day, we lost the race yesterday [in qualifying],” said Leclerc. “We should have done a better job; Lando did a better job and he deserves the win. This was above our expectations here, honestly. I thought we would struggle to be in the top 10, so it has been a good weekend. But I wish I’d won.

“Being born here and seeing all the Monegasque behind me is very special,” added the local hero. “It warms my heart to be at home and have so much support.”

Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri crossed third, helping McLaren extend its advantage in the constructor standings to 172 points over Mercedes through eight of 24 races.

Piastri saw his driver point lead dwindle to just three over Norris, however, after the latter’s victory.

Verstappen faded to fourth after his late stop, with the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton closing the top five as the final car on the lead lap.

Sixth through 10th were Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar, Haas F1’s Esteban Ocon, Hadjar’s teammate Liam Lawson, and the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso retired short of the finish after mechanical woes, continuing his dismal season in which he’s yet to score a point – his worst start to an F-1 campaign in a decade.

The Formula One World Championship season continues Sunday, June 1 at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with the Spanish Grand Prix.

American broadcast coverage airs at 9 a.m. ET, live on ESPN.

The finish:

Race (78 laps): 1. Lando Norris; 2. Charles Leclerc; 3. Oscar Piastri; 4. Max Verstappen; 5. Lewis Hamilton; 6. Isack Hadjar; 7. Esteban Ocon; 8. Liam Lawson; 9. Alex Albon; 10. Carlos Sainz; 11. George Russell; 12. Oliver Bearman; 13. Franco Colapinto; 14. Gabriel Bortoleto; 15. Lance Stroll; 16. Nico Hulkenberg; 17. Yuki Tsunoda; 18. Kimi Antonelli; 19. Fernando Alonso; 20. Pierre Gasly.

Lap Leader(s): Lando Norris 1-18, Charles Leclerc 19-21, Max Verstappen 22-27, Lando Norris 28-49, Max Verstappen 50-76, Lando Norris 77-78.

Fastest Lap: Lando Norris, Lap 78, 1:13.221