Lewis Hamilton claimed his second Monaco Grand Prix victory with a brilliant strategic decision that allowed him to jump pole sitter Daniel Ricciardo during the pit stops, which was also aided by a costly Red Bull error.
The chaotic race, which started under the Safety Car due to heavy rain showers just minutes before the start, saw Ricciardo pull a 20+ second gap to second-placed Nico Rosberg who was visibly holding his team-mate up.
With Mercedes asking Rosberg to step aside to release Hamilton, the Briton began to close down on the Red Bull driver.
A gamble with a wet to slick tyre strategy for Hamilton, whilst his rivals chose to switch from wets to intermediates, forcing them to pit once more than the Briton as the track dried, helped Hamilton to close that gap and emerge ahead as Ricciardo pitted for inters.
But the Australian wasn’t far behind as a switch to slicks for both beckoned. Hamilton – still on his original wets – pitted first, Ricciardo second. A poor stop from Red Bull cost Ricciardo several seconds and saw him emerge just behind Hamilton, where he would remain until the very end despite several attempts to pass.
Sergio Perez finished third as he pulled his Force India from 8th on the grid to complete the podium positions, finishing just two seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Fernando Alonso secured McLaren’s best finish of fifth, albeit 85 seconds adrift of the leaders.
Rosberg had a poor day, dropping from second to eventually finish seventh, losing sixth as he crossed the finish line neck-and-neck with Nico Hulkenberg.
Carlos Sainz, Jenson Button and Felipe Massa completed the top ten.
Sauber suffered a double retirement after Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr made contact with each other at La Rascasse. Although Nasr was told to let his team-mate through, he chose now to, forcing the Swede to make a risky move up the inside which ended with contact.
Max Verstappen found himself in the wall for the third time this weekend, following a minor brush with the barrier in practice and a heavy crash in qualifying. The Red Bull driver found himself in the wall at Massenet, but had been fighting in the top seven before the crash, despite starting from the pitlane.
Renault also suffered a double retirement as Jolyon Palmer lost control as he crossed the start/finish line on the first lap once the Safety Car had left the circuit. He crashed heavily into the armco on the left before ending up in the tyre wall at Ste Devote.
Kevin Magnussen, after switching to the slick tyres, out-braked himself at Mirabeau and planted his nose in the wall, but managed to recover before retiring two laps later with further damage.
Daniil Kvyat crashed out whilst attempting an overtake. But the Russian started on the back foot as his Toro Rosso found itself stuck in gear for the opening three laps behind the Safety Car at the start, dropping him a lap down before the issue was resolved.
Kimi Raikkonen also failed to see the end of the race thanks to a mistake into the hairpin which tore off his front-wing, which then became stuck under his car, leaving him with no choice but to retire his car.
