Lando Norris expertly converted pole position into victory during Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Norris collected his second victory of the season and his first at Monaco, giving McLaren its fifth triumph of the season.
World champion Max Verstappen used alternate pit strategy to lead the race late, but had to pit on the penultimate lap, handing the point back to Norris, who held off Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri for the career-making victory.
“It’s a long, grueling race but good fun,” Norris said. “We could push for quite a lot of the race, the last corner was a little bit nervous with Charles close behind and Max ahead but we won in Monaco.
“Doesn’t matter how you win I guess. I had an amazing weekend with pole, today, this is what I dream of. This is what I did dream of when I was a kid so I achieved one of my dreams.”
Norris said the biggest challenge came at the end of the race.
“The worst bit really was just the end. I felt quite under control the whole race but Max was ahead and Max was kind of backing it up a little bit and I knew then that was when Charles had the opportunity,” said Norris. “So I had to manage it quite a lot, I tried to back off Max so I could push when I needed to and chill when I needed to. I still had to manage, it was still a well-fought race but I’m very happy.
“My team are very happy and therefore, we’re going to have a wonderful night.”
Leclerc felt like he lost the race on Saturday.
“At the end of the day we lost the race yesterday. We should have done a better job,” Leclerc said. “Lando did a better job this weekend and he deserves the win.
“On my side, I realised a childhood dream last year, not this year, but considering everything I think it’s a lot above our expectations coming here. I thought that being in the top 10 would be a challenge. In the end we are second, very close to P1, so it’s been a good weekend overall – but I wish I won.”
Piastri – now just three points clear of Norris in the standings – completed the podium.
Verstappen ran an off-set tire strategy that saw the Red Bull driver go much longer across his stints, giving him the race lead into the very closing stages, but he dropped to fourth after completing his required second stop with a lap to go.
Lewis Hamilton came home fifth in the second Ferrari.
