Monaco GP 2025. Impressed with the strategy of Haas and Williams

Yesterday, I finished watching the F1 Monaco Gran Prix 2025, which was one of the most interesting Monaco GP of recent years. This time Norris won, with Leclerc second and Piastri third, so it was a good result for them.

However, this year was different as every car had to do at least 2 pit stops. Monaco is a track where positions and traffic matter a lot. You can go as slow as you want, even several seconds per lap, and the car behind will not be able to overtake. Therefore, what Haas and Williams did was use one of the cars to block traffic going slowly and then open a gap to allow the teammate to do the pit stops safely without losing a position. Williams did first with Albon, and after Albon did the mandatory pitstops, they switched positions with Sainz to do the same. The result is that both teams put their cars in points because they read the race perfectly.

On the other hand, there is the Mercedes team, which got blocked by Williams cars and didn’t try to do something different. The worst part is Russell, who cut the chicane to overtake Albon, which is against regulations because he expected to receive a 5-second penalty. He even recognised on the team radio that he did it on purpose. Luckily, FIA was fast and applied a drive-through penalty, but for me, it was an illegal intended move, so the penalty should have been stronger, stop and go or even disqualify.

The other negative note of this race is Fernando Alonso, whose engine broke when he was in the points. It was really unlucky because he did an amazing qualify and it was really a good chance to get his first points. But there will be another chance.

The next race will be the Spanish Gran Prix, we will see as this race normally is boring, even though I like it because it is my country’s race, I have to admit that.