Both he and McLaren team boss Andrea Stella, though, were reluctant to call this a definitive breakthrough.
After qualifying, Norris said it was “definitely a step in the right direction”.
After the race, Stella said: “Lando deserves to be praised for a very, very well-managed and executed weekend. And I think this is just the start of many more coming in the future.
“I don’t want to think about a turning point. The journey that we are going through with Lando is the counterpart of a journey that we are going through with Oscar.
“They are simply different in terms of what we are doing, because the two drivers are in different phases, or were in different phases, and because of the characteristics and the opportunities to work on.
“This is a journey that is not changed by one stage of the journey. Certainly, this one can help a lot with the consolidation of the work that we have done.
“It shows that when you put together and you pull off good work, and you believe in this work, then you see the results.
“So I think this can cement what we have done so far, but for me we are nowhere near at the final destination.”
Piastri, as befits a man of such coolness, was keeping it all in perspective.
“The margins are so fine, and if this is a bad weekend, it’s not going too badly at all,” he said.
Verstappen and Red Bull tried what they could in the race. They left their final stop to the last lap. It put them in the lead, from fourth place, after Norris, Leclerc and Piastri had made their final stops.
Had the race been stopped as a result of a big accident – not uncommon in Monaco – it would have meant they grabbed an unlikely victory, because of a rule that allows drivers to change tyres under a red flag but keep position.
But the red flag did not happen, and Verstappen dropped back. Lewis Hamilton should have benefited, but the Ferrari driver lost too much time – in traffic and otherwise – and was not close enough to move up from fifth.
Verstappen, always expecting a difficult weekend in Monaco because of the Red Bull’s traditional struggles in low-speed corners and over bumps and kerbs, said he had “no grip”.
“When we think about the championship,” he said. “I just want to go race by race, of course, some tracks you might be a bit better.”
The Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this coming weekend should bring Red Bull back into the game more.
“Less low-speed corners, more high-speed,” Verstappen said. “Hopefully, that will suit the car a bit better. It should be, yeah. I’m sure, well, I hope. Because if we’re 0.7 seconds a lap behind in Barcelona, that would not be good.”
A change to the rules, introducing tougher tests on the flexibility of front wings will affect all the teams. But whether it changes the competitive order remains to be seen.
Verstappen said: “People always hope for a big upset, but I honestly don’t think it will change a lot.”
