Max Verstappen has taken his fourth grand prix victory of the 2023 season, prevailing around the streets of Monaco.
It marks Verstappen’s second win at the venue after he triumphed at the 2021 edition of the race.
Fernando Alonso crossed the line in second to take his fifth podium in six races, while Esteban Ocon secured Alpine’s first top-three result of the 2023 campaign.
The grand prix was plunged into chaos not long after the halfway stage when rain started to fall, causing multiple drivers to run off the circuit as they navigated the conditions.
The race started in dry conditions, with Verstappen successfully holding his spot off the line on the Medium tyre, with Alonso alongside him starting on the Hards.
Further back in the order, Nico Hulkenberg made contact with Logan Sargeant at Turn 6, which resulted in a time penalty as well as two penalty points on his licence.
Hulkenberg was one of three drivers to pit at the end of the first lap, with Sergio Perez and Zhou Guanyu joining him.
Soon after Hulkenberg’s incident, Carlos Sainz damaged his front wing while chasing Esteban Ocon as they ran in third and fourth.
Despite sustaining damage, Sainz was able to stay close behind the Alpine driver who also escaped without major injury.
Aston Martin suffered a scare when Alonso, who was running comfortably in second place, reported a puncture – however the team assured him that all was OK with his AMR23 car.
Hamilton was the first of the front runners to pit, switching to a set of Hard tyres on lap 32.
Ocon came in a lap later but his podium result was thrown into jeopardy as a slow pit stop put him under pressure during his out lap.
However, Sainz was unable to leap the Frenchman, causing the Ferrari driver to vent frustration over the radio regarding the Maranello-based squad’s strategy call.
Perez was forced to pit again for a new front wing after colliding with Kevin Magnussen at the Nouvelle Chicane, adding further depression to his difficult race weekend.
On lap 50 and after several suggestions that rain was on the way, the track started to become noticeably saturated.
Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas were the first to pit for Intermediate tyres as several drivers ran off the track amid the difficult conditions.
Soon, the entire field was pitting for Inters, with Alonso pitting twice in two laps – first for the Mediums and then again for the wet weather compound.
On lap 57, Stroll became the first retirement of the race as he damaged his car at the hairpin, while Perez was hit by George Russell who was rejoining the track following an off moment.
In the latter stages of the race, the conditions calmed, with Verstappen breathing a sigh of relief over the line, followed by Alonso and Ocon.
Lewis Hamilton was fourth, followed by team-mate Russell in fifth.
Charles Leclerc, in a rather timid home race, classified in sixth ahead of the second Alpine of Pierre Gasly.
Sainz lost out in the rain chaos, making a mistake in the first sector that dropped him down the order – he lost further time in the pits when Ferrari double-stacked the cars.
Dressed in a special livery, McLaren scored three points through Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who crossed the line in ninth and tenth respectively.
Both drivers past Yuki Tsunoda late on, who complained to his team over the radio about his brakes.
Magnussen was another retirement in the race, joining Stroll on the sidelines.
F1 will return in one week, taking to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix.
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