A chaotic race crowned the king of the 2025 Monaco GP - Lando Norris! Norris, who's last win was at the opening round in Australia, closed the gap to Oscar Piastri in the F1 Drivers' Championship to only 3 points.
Well, we loved watching the teams put on some super strategic moves, make some tricky calls, and give us the spectacle we deserve at Monte Carlo. But was it too much strategy and too little racing? Join Kunal Shah, Soumil Arora, Sundaram Ramaswami LIVE on the this episode of the Inside Line #F1 Podcast after an eventful Sunday of racing!
1. Why was Ferrari quick in Monaco despite being slow on other circuits?
2. Why did Liam Lawson hold up the pack, and how did that force Williams' hand in race strategy?
Lawson's team game helped him and team-mate Isack Hadjar score their best results of the season and in turn, uplift Racing Bulls to 7th place in the Constructors' Championship ahead of Aston Martin.
3. Should George Russell have received a stricter penalty for his defiance of track limits and track position violation?
Finally, the battle for 2nd place in the Constructors' Championship between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing is separated by only 5 points!
4. Why did Max Verstappen wait till the penultimate lap to make his second stop?
(Season 2025, Episode 31)
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[00:00:00] Hey Sandra, wir haben uns ja lange nicht mehr gesehen. Grüß dich, Nadine. Mensch, du siehst ja toll aus. Ja danke, ich habe mein Plus fürs gesündere Ich entdeckt. Was? Komm, ich zeig's dir. Die Bewegungskurse der AOK Plus. Kostenfrei für AOK Plus Versicherte. Entdecke dein Plus fürs gesündere Ich und starte mit unserem Selfcheck. Ganz einfach online auf aok.de. Aus Liebe zur Gesundheit. AOK Plus.
[00:00:31] Let's review this race. Let's try to pick out what our favourite drivers did during this race. And I know for a fact, all three of us have had our favourite driver had an underwhelming day. Clearly. Who's going to tell their story first? Kunal's thinking who his driver is. Yeah, I've never, I don't know, who's my favourite driver from F1 2025?
[00:00:56] I know. A lot of our Dutch listeners know as well. We speak a lot about him and how good he is. But Sundaram, your driver clearly had a tough day. Do you want me to sympathize by starting with mine? Or are we going to actually talk about Fernando Alonso first? I think we should, right? Because most experience, so most prime time as well.
[00:01:13] Alright, thanks folks. That's my time. I'll see you in the next episode. We are not talking about Fernando Alonso. I mean, to be very honest, it was very disheartening, very heartbreaking to see him go off like that. It just feels that there is no luck swinging his way. And to be very honest, at the very first race of the season, when he did not start, did not feature in the points, I thought, should I really put this in as a stat that whenever he doesn't start the opening,
[00:01:43] with points, it takes him seven races to not score points. And I'm like, nah, it's not going to happen. It's taken him eight races right now. And this is the first time it's happened since his debut season in Formula One, 2001. This is his worst start to a season in Formula One. So I don't need to explain anything beyond that. Very baffling. Yeah. Are you going to go next with yours?
[00:02:08] You know, my favorite driver would have been or has to be Burned Maylander, given how much my daughter is dreaming of becoming the next safety car driver in Formula One. But guess what? It was an underwhelming race because he didn't show up. He didn't need to. And maybe if the safety car was there on the track, there would have been, I don't know, less chaos. I don't know. What do you guys think? Was there too much chaos induced by this old two-stopper rule?
[00:02:35] I think it is just about right. Because what else can Formula One do here? Realistically, we are locked in with these cars and we are locked in with this length of the circuit and this width. So we'll have to make do with it. This is just what it is. But the catch here is that it would have been more if we had a safety car earlier in the race. I think the longer the race goes, the less the impact becomes.
[00:03:01] Because by that point, the top teams are committed and there's not many laps left for you to sort of have some end plan or end product to your gamble. But at the beginning, it did have the signs of it. There were moments where, I mean, all of us genuinely, we must have been looking at the lap times and going, hmm, interesting. Maybe they can box here. Maybe they can box there. But I think genuinely, this wasn't as, let's say, chaos inducing because there was barely any degradation. So there was barely any time management required.
[00:03:31] And the best drivers and the worst drivers had more or less the same lap time. So once the gap was locked, it was locked. Like Verstappen came out and he always had that pit stop buffer, didn't he, Sundaram, over Hamilton? And that just gave him the free lane all the time. Yeah, they were basically trying to see if something is possible towards the end. And there was no harm in Max staying out till the last step because what he was basically trying to do was kind of bunch up the pack behind him, put Norris and Littler in a pressure position where they kind of make a mistake.
[00:04:00] And that kind of brings out a safety car. Not actually a safety car because if it was a safety car, he would have fallen back to P4. He was trying to see if a red flag was possible. And that was the only thing. So what really people did not like is the fact that maybe if there was a safety car, it would have really jumbled things up. Because I think the back largely looks more or less the same. But if there was an early safety car, it would have affected those that pitted early. And if it was later, it would have probably benefited what's happened.
[00:04:30] So in my opinion, I kind of liked the race. Did you get to that? Yeah, I think it was a nice race. There was always something happening, which is not what, you know, typical Monaco is like. Monaco, something happens is once, which is during the pit stops. And then it was done. So it was always something happening in my mind. Formula One is to be a balance of entertainment. On track, off track, off track. Great celebrities. Chris Grail, great to see you there as well.
[00:04:59] The cricketing legend. In terms of racing, though, when you look at it, there is a balance between racing and strategy. And maybe there was too much emphasis on strategy this race weekend. It was literally we're not talking of who's done the fastest laps, fastest sectors, who's chasing what. We are talking of drivers driving slow and slow enough to make their strategy work. Whether it was Max holding up so that a red flag could come. Or whether it was Lawson holding people up so Hadjar could pit twice.
[00:05:28] Or then that forcing, you know, Williams to use Sainz and Albin actually to swap each other, slow each other down and pit twice. And then that was forcing Kimi Antonelli to let George Russell do the same thing. So there was just too much emphasis on strategy. But, you know, I guess, like you said, Sundaram, that's what you get in Monaco because there is no racing. Can we try and entertain you with strategy? And that's what probably Formula One tried. That's my reading. And I like it for it, I feel.
[00:05:57] Because Monaco has always been about Saturday. And it's been the ultimate driver's test. It's the most technical circuit for a race car and the race car driver. So it's basically rewarded for by having not much overtaking. So can we induce more of it? And this also just adds into the whole argument, right, that Monaco is the most technical circuit because tough on driver, tough on car, tough on strategist too. Just figure things out, do something different.
[00:06:23] It's not like we can slow the cars down or make them smaller. So I think by that logic, this is kind of the best what we could do. And imagine Sundaram, imagine if we had an early pit stop. Imagine if that Mercedes gamble worked. They wouldn't have been here dead last. They would have potentially fought for the podium and taken away Max's slot. So it's hard to criticize the format, I feel.
[00:06:48] Like I said, even in the preview, I think this disclaimer has to go out there that everyone watches Formula 1 for different reasons. Some of us actually like getting into the numbers and the data. I was actually, probably this was the most intensive race for me in a very, very long time because I was constantly looking at the gaps, safety car gaps, and tracking the drivers on the track map, seeing, okay, who's where and everything. So for me, those two hours were very intense. It's not the same for anyone else.
[00:07:17] Maybe someone must be casually watching it for overtakes, the wheel-to-wheel battles. So in that sense, I think everyone can have different perspectives. But on the other side, what I actually want to talk about is what if not for this format? You would have largely had, if there was no safety car, it would have been yet another one-stopper with the mediums and hards. And it would have been a very straightforward race. And then you would have sat and complained about do we need Monaco again on the calendar or not? So in that sense, I like the fact that Formula 1 is experimenting.
[00:07:47] It's experimenting with one track amongst 24 races on the calendar. It's not something that's applied for all the races or a certain number of races through the season. In that sense, I don't mind it. Sure, there were a couple of questionable things. I think the most highlighted one is what George and Antonelli did towards the end. But largely, I think this at least made the race a little exciting. And for that reason, I think it wasn't as bad.
[00:08:11] So firstly, an official apology has come from the Williams teams. Your favorite driver, Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albin, both on the radio actually said that was a very ugly race. And I apologize to everyone watching that one. So it's not me making it up. It actually came up. Carlos Sainz says, I guess it's a terrible day for racing in general. And Williams said, yes, we don't like to go racing that way. But we had to go racing that way. And just to explain why. Yeah, go for it.
[00:08:40] Sorry, this feels political to me. Like, this, like, I don't know. That sort of a statement from Carlos Sainz just rings a bell in my head. It's like, he's fighting for a bigger cause here. If you know what I mean. Like, there's, I know him. You know him. Okay, yeah, of course. Like the whole family. Of course, being a Carlos Sainz fan, you study a lot about your favorite driver. But Carlos Sainz senior running for president. F1 experimenting with Monaco. Different regulations. Nice.
[00:09:10] Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Nice. Now I'm thinking what you're thinking. It's an agenda. But it's not that this is Mohamed Ben Sulaim's doing or whatever. This is all 10 teams and their representatives and everyone coming together. So it's not just FIA that can, you know, I mean, it's not that Mohamed Ben Sulaim can say, okay, in Barcelona, you have to pit three times. And then he walks away. You know, there is a decision. There is a lot of data that goes in, a lot of Pirelli's involved.
[00:09:37] But yeah, I mean, there's always an agenda when there are elections coming up. But I wouldn't rule that out. But that was Alexander Rabin and Carlos Sainz and Williams saying what they did. Because, you know, they actually were very interesting. They said we had to do what we had to do. Because Liam Lawson did what he did, which was, you know, help Isaac Harcher. And then cheeky enough, Mercedes was, you know, faulting Williams for driving slow or both the drivers were driving slow, erratic, whatever.
[00:10:06] And they got Antonelli to then do the same thing to help George Russell. So, you know, pretty hypocritical of the Mercedes Formula One team. But, you know, okay, question to you guys. Does slow racing belong to Formula One? So, no long answers. Yes. It does. That's it. That's fantastic. Sundaram, what do you think? Yes. I'm glad. As long as it's not dangerously slow. Yeah. With that.
[00:10:37] Okay. What is dangerously slow? If it's erratically slow and if it's unpredictable, like I think George mentioned on the thing. Because racing is just not about going flat out. I think that's the case with any sport. You call it a test match. You call it a football match. I think every sport has a phase. There's a certain phase where you push. There's a certain phase where you defend. And there's strategy. There's tactics involved everywhere across any sport.
[00:11:05] And I think the fact that it was so magnified today, you could see so many teammates kind of making those gaps. You could see so many drivers trying to go for those pit stops, which is what I felt. Like you said, it felt like too much chaos. And that's what I think people didn't really like. But I also have a point. I also have a point. Not about Monaco. Look at the larger landscape of where Formula One is right now. You don't see as many retirements as we used to see before. That used to create a lot of the chaos.
[00:11:35] That used to bring a lot of safety cars. And if you look at this season, the sort of races where we really enjoyed something was those races where there was a safety car, which kind of jumbled up the order, or there was some sort of rain. Remember, if you go back to last year, a lot of the races had rain. And that's why we loved those races. So at a time when Formula One, in general, just does not produce those sort of racing that we expect. We look towards other ways where there can be some sort of a disturbance.
[00:12:03] And considering this is supposed to be the closest season in F1, the sort of pace that these cars have, it's literally impossible to overtake them on pure pace. Unless you have a massive performance gap, you will not see teams' cars overtaking. The F1 overtaking delta for this race weekend was, I think, three or four seconds. Four seconds. Four seconds, which was what it was.
[00:12:27] But why don't we just explain what is slow racing, erratic racing, what that means? Basically, you're driving on the line, but you're driving slower to bunch up the field or bunch up your rivals behind you so that either you're trying to help your teammate or your own strategy by trying to do that. Could happen for various reasons. In my mind, it's absolutely a part of racing.
[00:12:52] Winning the race at the slowest possible pace is actually a very, very deep philosophical quote from the world of motorsport. I'm going to repeat it for those... Could I ever leave the chance of putting that out? Because I so believe in that. I believe in that. I literally live every day of my life with that quote, winning the race at the slowest possible pace. And if we were to expand on it, now this is seen, I'm putting a halo on my head. We're always running a race, even in our lives. You know, can we enjoy?
[00:13:21] Can we still do what we're doing, but at the slowest possible pace, life allows us and still... Anyway, yeah. So, my point is... Very Alan Bross. I think... Yeah. I love that. Thank you. But my point is I love it because I don't think George Russell could have handled the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when Lewis Hamilton slowed down, bunched up the whole field, put Nico Rosberg in the clutches of Max Verstappen.
[00:13:48] I mean, what was George Russell complaining about? Because should we just get to that? His defiant driving straight through the Nouvelle chicane and saying, I'll take the penalty when I need to, if I need to. I don't know. That I felt was wrong. I think when it is so blatant, it needs... I would probably put some penalty points on his super license. Not a sporting penalty because he already caught a drive-through penalty.
[00:14:16] But this is just defiance and anyone could do that the next time as well. So dangerous, especially when they're approaching at such high speeds. We saw what happened with Gasly and Colopinto. That's a case of driver exhibiting, let's say, no control over the situation. But sometimes there are erratic drivers and if people start using this loophole to find a way past, it's going to be terrible. It ruins the entire spectacle. And I understand they'll then be able to fight a bigger cause saying, oh, the racing's so boring, we had to do something.
[00:14:45] And Russell will have a lot of questions asked to him because he's the GPDA president, remember. But it's still not right. I know they're technically playing the rules and making a loophole out of it, which is what Formula One is about. And I hate to be a spirit of the game kind of person in this case, Sundaram, because I know how India and Australia have become champions of cricket by exploiting that term for a fair reason. It's just a fine line to balance.
[00:15:13] Are you on the side of fairness or are you on the side of, oh, we can't let competitors, we can't control them because they just have to follow the rules. It's a very tricky line and sometimes it almost feels like a gray zone. Which side are you on? Is it completely black or is it completely white? I'm someone who actually likes to go buy the rule book, but sometimes I think what I saw today did not feel right. And both George and Kimmy, I think they did their best to kind of portray that it was not deliberate.
[00:15:42] I'm sure it must have been very orchestrated. Yeah, and I think it was almost deliberate. But how do you penalize that? That's the tricky bit when it's not blatantly done there. If it's kind of covered up, how do you penalize that? You know, Samuel, you said something interesting about George being answerable because he's the president of the GPDA.
[00:16:04] Well, technically, he's just looking out for the Grand Prix drivers, especially in things against the FIA or, you know, when a missile strike happens at a race and what are they actually doing? But internally, Kunal, internally, because it's a matter of respect, isn't it? The GPDA president needs to have opinions that he can then explain to others and convince the drivers to be together. It's a co-responsibility. But yeah, it is absolutely a responsibility.
[00:16:28] But he's not responsible as the GPDA president to deliver entertainment or to deliver a great race. Or if anything, he's a role model or he should be a role model for not blatantly breaking rules as he did. And then being defiant when the team told him, you need to give the position back. Like, okay. But anyway, that was where it was. Mercedes failed to score points for the first time since, I think, last year. They must have had some double retirement. Yeah, I think it was Australia.
[00:16:57] He crashed and Lewis had a retirement or something. But I don't know when was the last time Mercedes finished the race with both cars but did not score points. Baku. Baku 21. Baku 21. Oh, yeah. Bottas had a puncture and Lewis had... No, no. The infamous... Break magic issue, right? Break magic race, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I must say, Mercedes has bigger issues to think of than, you know, Russell's defiance. Because three consecutive sessions that mattered, a Mercedes power unit has failed.
[00:17:27] Imola Grand Prix, we know what happened with Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Yesterday in qualifying, George Russell had an issue. Today in the race, Fernando Alonso had an issue. He said he had an issue with electrical power. Same issue that George Russell had yesterday. Electricals didn't work. And Fernando said, I had 160 horsepower less. It's not that it matters in Monaco. So that was that with Mercedes, I think. And I mean, George Russell in the end said, at least I enjoyed driving flat out for the last 20 odd laps. So I got some free air.
[00:17:57] So some stuff for it. But the battle for P2 in the Constructors' Championship. Mercedes is second with 147 points. Red Bull Racing is third with 143 points. Wow. That's four points. This is where it gets even better. Wow. Ferrari is fourth with 118 points. So five points. Wow. Separate three teams in the battle for P2 in the Constructors' Championship. Isn't that awesome?
[00:18:25] You know, these sorts of seasons, like these sort of seasons, there's really not much of a fight at the top. But the battle that it then creates between second, third, fourth, like 24 also. Wow. It's unbelievable. Yeah. Yeah. And we've got a comment from Abhishek Ramesh who says, even a C1 versus C6 wouldn't have given on-track overtakes with that kind of a delta. Yeah.
[00:18:49] I mean, I think it's, you know, we could have put a Michelin or a Bridgestone tire versus Pirelli and there would have still not been an overtake. That's an interesting point. Yeah. An interesting point. Absolutely. Yeah. Just because you're, I think it's the cars more than the track. We love blaming the track, but it's actually the cars. Good point. Yeah. And then my driver of the race weekend is actually, or not the race weekend, at least, actually the race weekend is Isaac Hartjar.
[00:19:17] Put it in P6 in qualifying, finished where he did. He finished 6th in the race as well, right? I believe. Yeah. Just behind Hamilton. And the way they outsmarted Alonso, top class. Yeah, absolutely. And Liam Lawson became the 17th driver to score points in this season. He scored four points. But crucially, he helped Hartjar deliver those two stops without losing position.
[00:19:44] And, you know, midway through the race, our position is sealed or something to that effect is what Racing Bulls and Hartjar were talking. And I'm like, how can you guys be so sure? They're more than, you know, 50% of the race left yet. But they were so sure they'd finished all their stops. And they said, we are just going to drive to whatever we're going to drive to. So Hartjar scores eight points. Crucially, he jumped Lance Stroll for 10th in the Drivers' Championship.
[00:20:09] So after eight races or seven races of being 10th in the Drivers' Championship, Lance Stroll is now not 10th anymore. So Isaac Hartjar jumped him. And Racing Bulls jumps Aston Martin for 7th in the Constructors' Championship. So a lot of fun movements have happened. And, you know, I've been in sales roles before. And you get this target over 12 months, you're going to sell, say, $12 million worth of sponsorship.
[00:20:35] And a lot of people actually would just wait till the 10th month and then the next two months try and get to their target. Racing Bulls did the opposite of that. We need to make two stops in 78 laps. Can we just finish it in the first 30 laps or whatever and then see what happens? So Racing Bulls did all the stops with Hartjar before. And, you know, Mercedes were clearly waiting till much later because that's just how the race unfolded, I would say. Good format. Again, it creates a space for you to do something like that.
[00:21:05] I wonder what would happen if the race was rerun today with the knowledge of what the drivers had from what they learned. Like what happens in the second year is what I'm thinking about. That'll be fun. We'll get to that bridge when we have to get to that. It'll be interesting.
[00:21:20] But interesting part, I think Racing Bulls was the catalyst for what we saw through the rest of the race because they were perfectly positioned in the mid-pack so that it allowed even a lot of the front runners to be able to pit their first or second pit stops and come into clean air, especially Lewis Hamilton. If not for that gap that was created by Lawson towards the rest of the pack, a lot of them would have come into traffic. That made life easier for the upper half of the grid.
[00:21:48] But talking about some numbers, Mercedes' downfall has been so bad. They've scored just six points in the last two races. Haas has scored six points today itself. And Racing Bulls has scored enough points as Red Bull today, 12 points each. And Max Verstappen amongst all four Red Bull affiliated drivers, Max Verstappen is at 136. Isaac Hajar is at 15. Then comes Yuki Tsunoda at 10. Then comes Lawson at 14.
[00:22:16] So Hajar in Racing Bulls has more points than Yuki and Lawson combined. Wow. He's great. Wow. But yeah, there's an interesting comment again from Abhishek. Lawson is driver of the day since he didn't have the help he gave to Hajar. So very interesting point. And let me explain as I saw it, Abhishek. Lawson was actually teammates to Alonso and to Ocon as well by holding the field up. Okay.
[00:22:45] And then Carlos Sainz holding the drivers back up helped Lawson as well. So that whole bunching up that happened between the Williams and between Lawson just helped Liam Lawson. But that's a great point again that Lawson didn't have the same help as he gave to Hajar. And he still finished in the points in a race where he also made his first Q3 of the season. So hopefully this is a turn of points for Liam Lawson as well. What else do we have today then?
[00:23:14] But would you have this format for next year as well? If not for other races this season? Let's test it out. Like it's a litmus test, right? We'll find out more about it. If the first try was good, okay, let's try it again. If it doesn't work, then we'll analyze any common trends. I think it's too early to take it off. Genuinely. Because I remember the last new format I think F1 tried or experimented with was the, I can't remember what it's called. The knockoff format? Qualifying knockoff. Yeah.
[00:23:42] I think that was still a larger failure from the two or three races that we saw that being implemented. And the plug from that was pulled very quickly early into the season. This, I think, still has its own audiences. And I think a lot of drivers will still argue against it. But I think it was fairly successful in my opinion at least. But yeah, I would love to see this next year as well. Specifically only for Monaco, if not the others. Yeah, I hope it doesn't spill over to other races.
[00:24:09] Because then, you know, Formula 1 risks becoming Formula E. Where, you know, everything's happening all the time and you're just like, okay, what happened? I need to re-watch the race. You know, you also don't want viewers to get stuck where the only way they understand what happened on track is by re-watching the race. Because you and I, I mean, when I say you and I, you both and I do it all the time. Because we are in the business of, you know, Formula 1, as we call it. And, you know, we don't want fans to get into that trap, of course.
[00:24:37] But, Samuel, who is your driver of epic Isaac Hodge? I don't think we've touched upon Lando Norris enough. I think he's going to be my driver of the weekend. Because at Monaco, driver of the day doesn't matter as much as driver of the weekend does. And driver of the weekend is determined by that one hour of qualifying.
[00:25:01] And in that one hour of qualifying, after your two Q3 runs, after your two Q2 runs, on your third and final Q3 run, that decides who is man of the weekend. Who has passed the toughest test in motorsport, qualifying at Monaco? I think it genuinely is one of the toughest things to do in motorsport. And probably the most intense thing in circuit racing that you could ever find. It's something that Lando Norris achieved. And think about this.
[00:25:29] The gap of two bespoke Formula 1 cars, with all their parts being completely unique, barring the safety elements. They were separated by just one tenth over a 19-corner, 3.3-kilometer circuit that requires so much technique. And also two drivers, Leclerc and Lando. Oh, that is... He edged it out. And he earned that bravery by doing his stints very well. He earned the confidence, very clean laps. And McLaren trusted him with more laps because they wanted to experiment with something. It's a partnership that worked.
[00:25:59] They beat the Ferraris. They were more prepared. And that, I think, needs to be applauded. This is a big weekend by Lando. And I know it still may count only as 25 points, Sundaram. It's the same as everything else. But Monaco is sweeter. This is different. You may forget all the races from a season, but you don't forget what happens in Monaco. It always sticks in your mind. So, Lando has etched his name there. Lando has definitely put his name there.
[00:26:26] And I think it was a very well-deserved race weekend because he was definitely coming in with a lot of pressure around that very same point that you said. And it couldn't have been said better than that. At the moment when it had to be done, he did not stumble. He did not fumble. And that happened same in the race. The last 10, 15-odd laps, he was literally on the limit. They were pushing till the very end. And having someone like a Charles Leclerc hounding you around his home track is not something easy to cope with.
[00:26:55] So, in that sense, I think Lando has done exceptionally well. And it couldn't have come at a better track where victory or pole position is the sweetest. So, it's a big statement. And it's a huge, huge confidence boost for him that he's managed to put the car on pole, win the race, and also take the fastest lap. Did he not take the fastest lap on the last lap of the race? He did. George Russell. Yeah. So, in that sense, I think he's had a wonderful race weekend. And I hope this kind of, this momentum actually helps him in the next races here on.
[00:27:26] Yeah. You know, again, on the start when he sort of locked up his front right and whatever, it was very traumatic. And I thought, oh my goodness, he's under so much pressure that you could almost feel that. And even when he was driving with Leclerc behind him, and Leclerc was saying he's making so many mistakes. He also said something which wasn't broadcast. Leclerc said he's leaving so much margin on the table. And you could see Lando Norris not go that close up to the barriers.
[00:27:54] You could see him not wanting to get closer to Max Verstappen because that would have been that 2016 Abu Dhabi scenario. Certainly all four car, you know, top four drivers, Linus Turn or whatever. So, Lando did well to absorb the pressure. There was a lot of pressure on him. And, you know, while it is for us to compare how Piastri handles pressure versus, say, Lando Norris, it is also for us to acknowledge that different people feel pressure the different way. And Lando was feeling it throughout.
[00:28:22] He knew that a lot of things had to happen to win, especially it's his first win since Australia. He's now three points away from the lead of the Drivers Championship from Oscar Piastri. McLaren's first win since, I think, 2008, since Hamilton won it for them. McLaren now has 16 wins in Monaco. They're most at any F1 venue from what I understand. So, all in all, I think he did fairly well to get the race to happen.
[00:28:50] There was, like we said, a lot of chaos. In fact, with the tires and stuff, there was so much chaos that I think for the first time since many, many races that I remember, the start grid had drivers using, you know, all three different tire compounds available. And I remember this. There was this confusion on the Williams radio channel whether Lee Lawson was actually on the medium or was he on the soft? Soft because the lifetiming data said soft, but Williams and Albin was like, I can see he's on the medium.
[00:29:18] So, for Lando to not get drowned or not be, you know, drowning in this sort of level of information, chaos data to deliver what they did, hats off to him. And, yeah, he's now got the same number of race wins in Formula One as Oscar Piastri, which is number six as well. And Piastri was, of course, extremely pissed with the strategy that, you know, McLaren used. He was hoping that McLaren would use strategy that helps him undercut or overcut Leclerc and finish second.
[00:29:46] But clearly, Piastri was being used by Norris, by McLaren to help Lando Norris' pace as well. So, I'm sure Oscar's not going to be pleased with how some calls were made. But like he always says, you know, the race was lost on the Saturday. What a Saturday, though, Sundaram. What a Saturday. Honestly, you wait a whole year for this. And it delivered. Yeah, it's one of the most beautiful qualifying sessions that you see.
[00:30:13] And I think the pendulum was swaying in a couple of different directions because although Leclerc led all the practice sessions and then Lando puts his name into the ring. And then there's also a max somewhere in there. So, on the last lap of qualifying, there were as many as five different drivers who could have potentially taken pole. But ultimately, it was Leclerc, I think, the last 10 seconds to go. And then Lando just jumps in on the very last lap. So, I think it was beautifully done.
[00:30:43] And it was one of the more enjoyable qualifying sessions that we've seen. And I think it kind of made up for the controversial race that we've had today. I think qualifying was top notch. Worth it. Totally worth it. Let's just touch upon Lewis Hamilton's weekend before we end because we have to. I think I'm genuinely baffled by what could have been. Potentially, if he had a little more time as a Ferrari driver.
[00:31:12] Potentially, if he didn't make that FP3 crash and that would slightly give him the advantage because he would have had an extra softs in Q3. What would Lewis have been able to do then? Would he have been able to be close to Charles, maybe get to pole? I don't know. And for any other driver, you doubt it because you'll have to be in that car to find out. But with Lewis, you sometimes feel, well, Monaco, it's him. He's gotten pole here. Greatest statistical qualifier of all time. Could he have done something?
[00:31:38] It's a what if, but then it's a collection of what ifs with Lewis and Ferrari. And tough to say that the grid penalty didn't help him out, but he made up for it. Because that Ferrari is in a different league altogether, I think Sundaram. It's much faster. It's clearly much faster than the Racing Bulls and Fernando Alonso. And Lewis, once he got past, just didn't lose it. I think that's the positive sign for Ferrari that the last three races have gone fairly well for them compared to how the start of the season was.
[00:32:06] And going into the season, going into the race weekend, we know Leclerc was being very downbeat about the chances. But eventually on track, they were one of the quicker cars. So they can definitely take the positives about being quicker this weekend and also being right up there in terms of race pace. And what happens next week is going to be a big question mark across the whole grid. Will the pecking order remain the same? I think largely the perception is that it's not going to matter a lot.
[00:32:33] But still, even a tenth or two here or there could actually change the pecking order, knowing how close the grid is. So I think we're going to have an exciting rest of the season. Only one third of the season into it. Eight of 24 done. Yeah. And Ferrari needs to be commended. Because remember, Samuel, we of course, in the qualifying post, post-qualifying show, we said, one pit stop in Monaco is stressing. Imagine two with two drivers and, you know, whatever.
[00:32:59] So Lewis managed to jump Alonso in the pits as well, which is what my notes say, which was great. And of course, he had his own issues with Adami on the radio. Some of them we made fun of. You know, you're not giving me information. This is all sporadic. Don't tell me where Max is. Tell me where everyone else is, etc. I think they will clean that up. But Lewis, you know, he actually gained most positions of all the drivers who scored points, I think, in the race.
[00:33:28] Because everyone else pretty much finished where they started, if we were to sort of call it that. Of course, Alonso was not there. So, you know, drivers just got moved up one in the order. But Lewis made two positions higher. He was finished two positions higher from where he started. He's not been on the podium since Monaco 2019, if I remember as well. But all in all, a fairly decent race for Ferrari, given that they've closed in on P2 in the Constructors Championship as well.
[00:33:57] But, yeah. Just goes to show, you know, Monaco is special. Wow. You guys have been saying winning in Monaco is special. Why is it special? One word. Or one line. Prestige. What does it mean? And the legacy. Like, what it carries. And also, how it's defined Formula 1. It's the root of what Formula 1 is. It's a rich man's sport. Let's just put it as it is. It is.
[00:34:26] And Monaco is the ultimate rich man's place. This is where motor racing was destined to be. Like football in a suburban area. That's what racing is for the rich and the elite. That's how it started out. It shouldn't be that way. But Monaco represents what it stood for for all these years. And you're writing your name in a 100-year-old list, Sundaram. That, for a statistician as well, must be so special, right? When you add that name. Imagine if it's a favorite driver to your list of records for Monaco GP winners.
[00:34:54] That's why it's one part of the Triple Crown. It's such a revered race throughout history. And it's going to near 100 years very soon, if I'm not wrong. 20, 29. And I think for me, more than the prestige. I mean, prestige is just as important. The history of the sport. The legacy of the sport. But I think Monaco's challenge is unmatched. And it cannot be replicated. These cars are manufactured so that they can fly at 300 kilometers per hour.
[00:35:23] But tell them that you have to cap it at 290 around Monaco. You have to go around the Hepp and that's around 50 kph. It might sound easy, but the challenge of Monaco around 78 laps. I think beyond a point, I think one and a half hours into the race, I was like, oh God, this is stressful watching this. I can't imagine how the drivers do this for 78 laps. And then being able to do that in qualifying. So I think the challenge of Monaco, although people say this circuit can be dropped. What do you replace it with?
[00:35:52] You cannot replicate the challenge that Monaco gives you. You know, you can't replicate the challenge. You can't replicate the history and the prestige. What race of the season do you actually have the royalty coming every year and giving you the winner's trophy? You know, you being in the royal box. It's different with so many yachts in front of you, with the richest people in the world.
[00:36:22] Jeff Bezos there, with Chris Gale on the grid, with so many celebrities, with so many industrialists as well. Singers, artists. It's where you want to be. You know, Monaco is that one race that drivers definitely want to win. Lando Norris said that. But Monaco is also that one race which is most questioned for its slot on the calendar. Maybe we all need to stop doing that as creators, as people working in the sport, as fans.
[00:36:51] If you can't appreciate Monaco, no problem. Watch the other 23 races on the calendar. That's where I think we should leave it. And watch the weekend if you're watching Monaco. If you just watch for Sunday, it might be something cool to be watching from a yacht with all of your friends nearby with a glass of champagne in your hand. But if you're watching at home on a TV, probably not much. So focus on strategy or pro tip. It's just me wanting to make a Formula One experience better. Or watch the weekend and see how things have progressed.
[00:37:21] How have each drivers driven in each practice session? What are they complaining about? What are they saying? How do they feel? How have they progressed it over the weekend? And because it's the closest grid of all time, you will always be fascinated by that. You will never be bored. It's such an interesting sport. You cannot be bored. It's, yeah, Monaco is special. I think, what are we next? Catalonia. That's also going to be questioned a lot. But Catalonia has its own time management challenges. I have a nice stat for Catalonia. Oh, go for it.
[00:37:50] Before we go to that stat, why don't we have our viewers tell us what do they think Monaco makes special? I think we should do that. I think there was a very interesting comment by Praveen. And I think it's perfectly articulated that one. Just leave Monaco and take it as it is. It's one out of 30 races on the calendar. Just leave it as it is. It's Monaco. Abhishek is saying, can we have five bonus points for any clean overtake in the race? I think we should. And you know what?
[00:38:20] Even though I have sympathy for Gabriel Bartoletto, Kimi Antonelli made that move stick. He was instinctive on that first lap. And I loved it. It's a very racing game kind of thing to do, right? An F1 game kind of move. Where I'm just going to say that you figure it out. And it worked. It worked. That's what you have to do in Monaco. And even Max's move on Piastri. The racing IQ on display for Max firstly to find himself in that position where he could challenge Oscar and then to back out at the right time.
[00:38:48] Oh, that is brilliant driving. It's a good, it's a, it's a weekend for really good driving, isn't it guys? Where, well, there's so much more to mention. Like Antonelli just trying to open up the car and then clipping the barrier, showing you how tough it is. And also Norris's last lap. Look how he's been able to nurse the car all throughout. Like the Ferrari looks so smooth. And watching Verstappen's onboard where he's just chucking the car because it's so sensitive. And it's a different way. It dances around the circuit.
[00:39:17] It's, there's so much entertainment to it just by watching it. I think that's why people, like I said earlier on, people watch the sport or people watch Monaco for different reasons. We love it for the technicalities and how committed drivers have to be around this track, especially in qualifying. And I think to a great extent, the last 10 laps was incredible.
[00:39:38] You watch those onboards of how Leclerc, despite being in dirty air, barely within a second, he was still able to thread the needle for those 10 laps and keep that pressure on Lando Norris. I think that is still also very commendable, being that close and being sandwiched by one McLaren head and one behind him. I think that was beautiful today. Yeah. Abhishek's final comment is the most invisible thing, DRS. Yeah. Invisible.
[00:40:06] As will be any doubts of the fact that the championship is going to be a lot of fun because it is going to be. And we are going to have more conversations about what to expect and what these permutations could look like. And also Sundaram's Catalonia start when we come back for the Catalonia GP preview, which is just going to be. Let me put that in. Let me plug that in. Let's go. Let's go then. So Monaco has often said that if you take pole position and qualifying, you end up winning the race.
[00:40:33] So in this century, in the 21st century since 2000, more races have been won from Barcelona, 18, than Monaco. So which is 15 today. And Monza also has 15 and so does Suzuka. But it's always Monaco that always bears the brunt of this question. Why is Monaco still on the calendar? Why don't we have the same question for a lot of other races? I think the numbers, it tells you a lot of stories. But yeah, it is what it is. Yeah, as Aré said, it was fun for the last few laps for the top three.
[00:41:03] It certainly was. It was really enjoyable with Max backing it up. But we'll be back on Tuesday, guys. A lot more talking to do. A lot more Catalonia previewing to do. What the circuit is like. What the strategies are like there as well. Because it is just as fun in Catalonia. And make sure you keep up with us by firstly subscribing. A lot of you don't. And for all those you do, thank you. Thank you for showing up and also commenting and having a word with us about what you feel about the race. We love it. And we'll be back doing so on Tuesday.
[00:41:30] So just make sure you subscribe and click the bell notification. Catch you in a bit, guys. Take care. Bye-bye.