Max Verstappen finishes just outside podium places at Monaco Grand Prix
Max Verstappen finished in fourth place in the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday. The reigning champion started the race in fourth place after Saturday’s qualifying session. Most of the positions throughout the race were unchanged compared to the qualifying spots, with Lando Norris of McLaren coming out victorious.
The Monaco circuit is a street circuit with very little space to maneuver and overtake cars. Therefore, the qualifying positions are often vital to the outcome of the race. This year proved no different.
The FIA, the association for F1, had implemented a new rule for the 2025 edition to try to make things more exciting. Every team was obligated to make at least two pit stops.
Verstappen was one of the last cars to make his first pit stop, which came in the 29th lap.
As has often been the case this season, the Dutch driver was struggling with his car. “These shifts feel like I am driving in the Monaco Grand Prix of 1972,” he quipped to his team on the radio.
Red Bull had an interesting tactic in an attempt to finish higher than fourth as they realized, like almost every team, that it was impossible to go past a car on the track.
Verstappen was leading the race for large parts because the other cars around him had already had two pit stops. He then waited for as long as possible to do his second pit stop, as a red flag would have meant that he could do the pit stop and keep his first place. But this red flag did not come, and, therefore, he had to go into the pits before the last lap and came back out in fourth place.
Norris picked up the victory in the race, with Charles Leclerc of Ferrari coming second and Oscar Piastri of McLaren finishing in the final podium place.
Verstappen remains in third place in the Championship standings after the race with 136 points. Piastri is still top with 161 points, and Lando Norris has now bridged the gap to the top spot by just three points.
