Going slow was one way to secure points at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday as Formula 1's much-hyped attempt to shake up the prestigious race brought little drama.
Overtaking is near-impossible on Monaco's narrow streets. To make the race more of a strategy contest, F1's governing body, the FIA, required two tire changes in the hope that smartly timed pit stops would create drama.
Last year's winner Charles Leclerc had predicted “chaos” but instead it was a frustrating race for many drivers as some drove extra slowly to create a gap for a teammate in front to pit without losing positions. Mercedes driver George Russell argued the go-slow led to dangerous situations.
Winner Lando Norris was scathing about the rule change, something he saw as an attempt to create “manufactured racing.”
Norris spent much of the race behind Max Verstappen, who delayed his second stop, hoping for a red-flag stoppage. That would have allowed a free tire change, and maybe given Verstappen the win.
“There’s not been any more overtaking here. I thought that was what was wanted,” Norris said. “Now you just give people opportunity by luck, by waiting for a red flag, waiting for a safety car. You aren’t getting a more deserved winner in the end of things.”
Mercedes driver George Russell spent much of his race stuck behind slow cars. Tensions boiled over when he accused Williams' Alex Albon of “driving dangerously slow” and “slamming on the brakes” in a terse radio message from Russell to his team.
Russell overtook Albon by cutting a chicane, adding he'd rather “take the penalty” than wait any longer. The stewards had predicted drivers might try that and Russell landed a longer-than-usual penalty which dropped him back behind Albon. Russell finished 11th, his worst result this year.
Williams wasn't the first team to drop the pace. Its drivers were reacting to an earlier go-slow from Racing Bulls. Liam Lawson held up cars and secured space for his teammate Isack Hadjar to make two stops before many other drivers had made one.
In the end, though, none of the more unusual strategies made much difference.
Verstappen made his long-delayed second stop and placed fourth, exactly where he'd started. Racing Bulls had little to show for its efforts as Hadjar started fifth but finished sixth. Both Williams drivers stayed in the points after each moved up a spot to ninth and 10th, but that gain was only because Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin broke down.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands gets a pit service during the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix race at the Monaco racetrack in Monaco, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Gabriel Bouys/Pool Photo via AP)
Williams driver Alexander Albon of Thailand steers his car during the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix race at the Monaco racetrack in Monaco, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares slipped further on Thursday after declines for AI stocks dragged the U.S. market to its worst day in nearly a month.
Traders are waiting for an update on U.S. inflation, and on a decision Friday by Japan’s central bank on interest rates. The Bank of Japan is expected to raise its key rate by 0.25 percentage point to tamp down price pressures, despite a contraction in the July-September quarter.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 1.2% to 48,929.95, with technology shares leading the decline.
Computer chip maker Tokyo Electron lost 3.5% while chip testing equipment maker Advantest dropped 4.1%.
Honda Motor Corp. fell 2.9% after reports said it was suspending production at some plants in Japan and China due to shortages of computer chips.
South Korea’s Kospi sank 1.8% to 3,989.06, also pulled lower by selling of shares in electronics companies and automakers. LG Electronics declined 4.3%, while Samsung Electronics lost 1.6%.
Chinese markets were mixed as Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.4% to 25,357.64, while the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.2% higher, to 3,876.40.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% lower to 8,575.50.
Later Thursday, the U.S. government will report on inflation last month. Economists expect that report to show prices for U.S. consumers continue to rise faster than anyone would like.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.2% to 6,721.43 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.5% to 47,885.97. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.8% to 22,693.32.
Slightly more stocks rose within the S&P 500 than fell, but they got drowned out by the drops for companies in the artificial-intelligence industry.
The sector is being pressured by questions over whether Big Tech companies' share prices have shot too high, whether all the investment in AI will be profitable and productive enough to justify the costs, and by worries over stratospheric levels of debt some companies are taking on to pay for it all.
Broadcom dropped 4.5%, Oracle fell 5.4% and CoreWeave sank 7.1%. Nvidia, the chip company that’s become Wall Street’s most influential stock because of its tremendous size, fell 3.8% and was the day's heaviest weight on the S&P 500.
Power companies that jumped earlier in the year on expectations for stronger demand from electricity-sucking data centers also lost some of their shine. Constellation Energy fell 6.7%.
On the winning side of Wall Street were oil companies, after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela.
That sent the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude higher by 1.2% to $55.94. just a day after it sank to its lowest level since 2021.
Early Thursday, U.S. crude was up 43 cents at $56.24 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 40 cents to $60.08 per barrel. It had climbed 1.3% on Wednesday.
That in turn helped ConocoPhillips rise 4.6%. Devon Energy rallied 5.3%, and Exxon Mobil climbed 2.4%.
Oil prices have been falling for most of this year on expectations that companies are pumping more than enough crude to meet the world’s demand.
Netflix added 0.2% after Warner Bros. Discovery’s board said it still recommends shareholders approve a buyout offer from the streaming giant for its Warner Bros. business, rather than a competing hostile bid from Paramount Skydance for the entire company.
Warner Bros. Discovery fell 2.4%, while Paramount Skydance dropped 5.4%.
In other dealings early Thursday, the U.S. dollar rose to 155.75 Japanese yen from 155.70 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1740 from $1.1743.
Dealers work near the screens showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, left, and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Jim Boyle, CEO of Medline Industries, poses for a picture outside the Nasdaq MarketSite, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Dealers work near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer watches computer monitors at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
