Lando Norris conquers Monaco with a flawless weekend, reigniting his F1 title bid and silencing doubts with style and confidence.
A first win in Monaco is always special, especially when it restores confidence and puts you back in the title fight! With his victory in the Principality yesterday, Lando Norris closed the gap to just three points behind Oscar Piastri in the standings, gaining a tremendous boost in self-belief.
On the podium, what might the McLaren F1 driver have felt after his second win of the year?
“Well, all I could see were camera lenses. So, I can dream of more, but it was… I mean, it’s the feeling.”
“Of course, seeing the team and everyone there, my mum and dad down below… Yes, it’s those inner feelings that are really special.”
“Seeing the checkered flag and, yes, winning in Monaco is something I dreamed of as a kid. There are lots of things everyone dreams of, making it to Formula 1, winning a Formula 1 race, and winning a race in Monaco.”
“And we did that yesterday. So yes, proud of the whole team, of myself, and it’s a great achievement for all of us.”
Pole position, fastest lap, victory: Lando Norris completed the hat trick. A perfect weekend for him! Everything he had hoped for!
Was he not worried, however, about a last-minute overtake from Charles Leclerc, desperate to win at home for the second year in a row?
“I wasn’t hoping for any drama up front. I think there were definitely tenser moments in the race when I had to push, and Charles was never far behind.”
Tension, Tactics, Perfect Execution
“Especially at the end with Max ahead, there were tense moments when I was trying not to get too close to Max, because that’s when Charles had opportunities.”
“But I think we handled it well with the strategy. It’s always difficult to know what we could have done better. I’m sure we can review and reflect on it.”
“But in the end, the result was perfect. Tricky at times, with the number of cars—there were big groups of cars, so overtaking them (under blue flags) without making mistakes, without anything silly happening, was always the most nerve-wracking part.”
“Otherwise, I felt good. I felt good with the tyres, with the tyre management and the stints and all those things. So yes, I was happy.”
Calm, Clarity, Confidence Gained
Did Lando Norris fear that Max Verstappen’s strategy (slowing down late in the race waiting for a red flag) might have cost him a deserved win?
“What can I do? Nothing. It’s out of my control.”
“No point thinking about it. If it had happened, it had happened. He wins Monaco, fair play. Yes. I was happy. I was just focusing on my own race.”
“Of course, I was praying it wouldn’t happen, but I wasn’t thinking about the rest.”
A Norris 2.0, brimming with confidence in Monaco?
Lando Norris, who had been doubting himself before the race, now emerges more confident than ever?
“I think Saturday gave me confidence. Yesterday… Yes, nothing new in the sense that I’ve had confidence every Sunday this year.”
“I didn’t need confidence on Sundays, but Saturday was a more important day for me. I was prouder of Saturday than I almost was of yesterday.”
Redemption, Resilience, Rising Momentum
“Not just because a Monaco pole sets up a win, but the achievement of doing it, whatever the track, is something I’m prouder of.”
“So yes, a good weekend for me—not just in terms of results but personally, to give me that momentum, that boost, it definitely makes me feel better going into Barcelona next week.”
Harshly criticised over recent races for his mental fragility, Lando Norris has silenced everyone—at least for this Grand Prix. A sense of personal redemption for the Briton?
“Yes. People can write what they want. It’s not up to me. People have their own opinions, they can do all these things.”
“The fact is none of them are true, 99% of the time. So, it’s nonsense. I don’t care what people write as long as I know the truth and my team knows the truth, and that’s fine.”
“I’ve worked hard these last few months to get back that momentum I had in Australia, that confidence. What I felt this weekend was a small step forward, but that’s not it. It’s not like I’ve succeeded now and everything’s back.”
Pride, Pressure, Progress, Purpose
“There are still things I need to work on, and also things on the team’s side. And I’m not just talking about making a faster car, because the car is fast enough—but giving me the things I need from the car to excel and maximise results, to deal with the differences compared to last year’s car… it’ll get better.”
“So, still things on both sides, but I’m very proud of Saturday. I’m happier about Saturday’s result than yesterday’s.”
“I mean, yesterday was incredible, but I was more emotional on Saturday than I was yesterday. That shows how much Saturday meant to me, to kind of get back my qualifying rhythm, because it’s something I’ve had my whole life.”
“It’s always been good, until this year. And I’ve had to work hard to try and get it back. For no other reason than a few small things I clearly struggled with and also just facing tough competition.”
“Having Oscar, Charles, Max—I’m up against the best guys in the world. And if you’re not performing at the highest level, you’re not going to compete with them.”
“So yes, no one knows the amount of work and effort that goes into it except me and my team. And they’re the only people who need to know what goes into it and to know the truth about everything. And that’s how it’ll stay.”
“The best thing is, one day my kids will be able to tell everyone I won in Monaco. That’s probably the thing I’m most proud of.”
Norris Masters Monaco 2025
Monaco 2025: a Grand Prix that will go down as one of the defining moments of Lando Norris’s career. Title or no title, he has already made history.
“I think it would be at the top of the list, for sure—especially because of the weekend it was—with the pole and the race. It wasn’t just a pole or just the race. It was both together, and I think that’s perfect.”
“Either way, it’s something you can be very proud of for the rest of your life. But I think it’s cooler to also talk about my lap time on Saturday—the 1:09—it’s very unlikely it will be beaten any time soon, unless the track changes or something.”
“Next year’s cars won’t be anywhere near as fast as this year’s. I hope that lap time stands for a very, very long time. So, that’s cool.”
“It’s the meaning, the history, the people who have won here before. They don’t always become champions, but most of them do.”
“And just knowing that in 30 years I’ll be able to say, ‘I mastered Monaco that year’—or hopefully a few others—but that year is something I look forward to saying.”
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