Russell’s tougher penalty had no effect on his result: Monaco GP analysis

Formula 1’s mandatory two-tyre-change rule for the Monaco Grand Prix produced a race of bizarre strategies.

Five drivers had stints which lasted a single lap. Isack Hadjar pitted twice by lap 19, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli made his first visit 50 laps after that.

All bar the top five drivers disappear off the top of the standard view on our race chart below. You can zoom out to spot Antonelli falling over four minutes behind the leader. This, of course, was not because he was unable to drive quickly, but because he was prevented from doing so for much of the race by rivals ahead slowing down to help their team mates. This was the case for many other drivers on Sunday.

Antonelli was a strong candidate for the driver who had the most frustrating race of anyone. His team mate took matters into his own hands, cutting across the Nouvelle chicane on lap 49 to pass Alexander Albon.

Russell’s race engineer Marcus Dudley told him to give the place back. His driver responded that he would rather take the penalty.

The stewards took a dim view of this and increased his penalty from a standard 10-second sanction to a drive-through penalty. But even so, he finished no lower than he was set to before he cut the corner.

Afterwards, some drivers spoke scathingly of how the rules had increased the motivation for teams to use “manipulation” strategies. Even the Williams pair, who were among those holding the rest of the field up, complained about the tactics.

The strategies were widely predicted before the race. Alexander Albon said he expected Racing Bulls to use Liam Lawson to create a gap for Isack Hadjar, which was exactly what happened. Once that was done, the Williams drivers repeated the process, Albon making space for Carlos Sainz Jnr.

The two-tyre-change rule was brought in as a reaction to last year’s race, where an early red flag allowed drivers to complete their single mandatory change, then nurse their tyres to the end. But while last year drivers complained they were lapping slower than Formula 2 at times, this year some of them were even slower than that.

2025 Monaco Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2025 Monaco Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2025 Monaco Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2025 Monaco Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

2025 Monaco Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

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2025 Monaco Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

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2025 Monaco Grand Prix

• Winning Monaco GP meant less than ‘getting my groove back’ in qualifying did – Norris
• ‘Successful’ or ‘wrong’? Team bosses differ over F1’s Monaco rule experiment
• If I’d pitted four times I’d have still finished fourth – Verstappen
• Russell’s tougher penalty had no effect on his result: Monaco GP analysis
• Antonelli made “optimistic” move because he felt “embarrassed” – Bortoleto

Browse all 2025 Monaco Grand Prix articles