MAX VERSTAPPEN has won the Monaco Grand Prix with ease – despite the rain showers rolling in.
Lewis Hamilton worked his way up to fourth, but narrowly missed out on a podium.
Celebrity A-listers were out in force in Monte Carlo for the most glamorous race on the F1 calendar.
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Verstappen celebrates another win
Max Verstappen keeps his record of finishing in the top two places in every Grand Prix this season.
The Monaco Grand Prix ending up being a testing experience when the rain threw all the drivers a huge curve ball.
With his Red Bull teammate pretty much out of this race due to his Q1 crash in qualifying, not many could see this race going any other way today.
Credit: Getty Monaco Grand Prix has French podium finish
Esteban Ocon has got himself a podium finish and scoops himself the driver of the day award in the process.
It has been a good weekend for Ocon and he had to work hard to hold off the two Mercedes cars.
Credit: @F1 Monaco Grand Prix race results
A testing race due to the rain but here are the results:
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
Max Verstappen wins the race by some 27 seconds from Fernando Alonso in second place.
Max Verstappen wins Monaco Grand Prix
Lap 77/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Hamilton still holds the fastest lap of the day.
He must be happy with the upgrades to his car with a fourth placed finish today.
George Russell still sits in fifth position and has an 11.5 second gap between himself and Charles Leclerc.
Pierre Gasly is in seventh place with Carlos Sainz behind him.
Lap 75/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Ocon could be in line for driver of the day today.
If he can hold on to get himself a podium finish he will surely be in with a good shout.
The two Mercedes have put pressure on him for long periods.
Verstappen has now opened up a 26.7 second lead.
Lap 73/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Max Verstappen has a huge lead in this race now.
Apart from a monumental mistake, this is a sure win for the defending champion.
Hamilton and Russell are managing to hold off Charles Leclerc.
The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton still has his sights set on Esteban Ocon in third place.
Credit: AFP Lap 71/78 – Verstappen leads, Ocon third
Esteban Ocon is managing to open up more of a gap over Lewis Hamilton now.
Meanwhile at the front of the race, Max Verstappen seems to have made all the right choices with his tyres today.
As conditions changed rapidly it did create a situation for all drivers out on the track.
Verstappen now has a 24 second lead on second place.
Lap 69/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Lewis Hamilton, now in fourth place, has clocked the fastest lap of the day.
Esteban Ocon will be focussed on trying to hold off the British driver to get himself a podium finish.
There is a yellow flag in place in sectors 1 and 2 currently.
Lap 67/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
The rain seems to have stopped now, whether the track will dry out in the short time left remains to be seen.
It does seem to be drying quickly though.
Verstappen looks nailed on for victory here with a 21.4 second lead over Fernando Alonso.
If conditions change, Verstappen has enough of a lead that he can react and pit.
Lap 65/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Max Verstappen has managed to open up a 19 second lead on Fernando Alonso.
The Spaniard’s choice to not take the intermediate tyres will cost him any chance of challenging the Dutch driver.
Had it panned out the other way, it could have been a race winning decision.
These are the fine margins we deal with in Formula 1.
Credit: AP Lap 63/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Lance Stroll is the first retirement of this race.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell find themselves in fourth and fifth place currently.
Esteban Ocon sits in third place with a good distance between himself and fourth place.
Russell has a five second penalty to serve still.
Lap 61/78 – Verstappen leads, Russell comes off
George Russell struggles on the first turn and comes off into the run off where Magnussen finds himself also.
This wet weather is causing all sorts of problems for the drivers now.
Despite struggling a few laps ago, Fernando Alonso has started to pick it up again and is shaving some time off Verstappen’s lead.
The Spaniard is only 15 seconds behind the race leader now.
Lap 59/78 – Verstappen leads, Magnussen hits wall
Magnussen was due to come into to change to wets but before he has chance to, he slides into the wall.
His car seems to come to a complete standstill but fortunately he gets it restarted and manages to drive into the pit.
That would have changed everything if the safety car had come out.
Fernando Alonso is managing to open up a gap on third place again.
Meanwhile George Russell is penalised for an unsafe entry from the pits.
Lap 57/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
The two pit stops for Alonso have caused him all sorts of problems as Ocon, Hamilton and Russell are all within touch of him.
Fernando Alonso is now 22 seconds behind Max Verstappen.
The Spanish driver could be struggling to hold onto his second place as Esteban Ocon gains on him all of the time.
Lap 57/78 – Verstappen leads, rain causing issues
In sector 2 the track is absolutely soaking and it is treacherous.
A yellow flag has come out, teams are trying to get their drivers on intermediate tyres.
Alonso opted for dry tyres and is having to come in to pit for the second time in three laps.
Absolute carnage in Monaco.
Credit: EPA Lap 55/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Sections of the track are now very wet.
It means that drivers on worn tyres are having to crawl through these sections.
Verstappen’s team tell him it may be a case of just taking it easy in the wet sections.
Fernando Alonso has decided to come into the pit lane.
Lap 53/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
The rain is starting to come down now as Max Verstappen tells his team about the weather.
On very worn medium tyres this could be an issue for the Dutchman.
Both Alonso and Verstappen are caught up in quite a bit of traffic now.
The circuit is starting to look very slick with the rain coming down.
Lap 51/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
There have been no retirements in this race so far today.
We have never seen a Monaco Grand Prix end with no retirements whatsoever.
There is some rain starting to sprinkle down with it threatening to break into a shower.
Lap 49/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Both Verstappen and Alonso have yet to pit in this race.
As the teams get more info on potential rain heading over, it is forcing the drivers to stay out there.
George Russell is now in third place.
Lap 47/78 – Verstappen leads, Gasly third
After Charles Leclerc’s pit this has allowed Pierre Gasly to take third place.
With George Russell now in fourth position.
Max Verstappen is some 34.5 seconds ahead of third place.
The weather radar is constantly changing and now no rain is expected for the remainder of the race.
Credit: Reuters
Lap 45/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Max Verstappen has done brilliantly to do this many laps on the graining medium tyres.
He tells his team that he will try and keep going on them for as long as he can.
Importantly, if he were to pit now, they could send him out onto a very clear track.
Waiting could change this and may play into the hands of Alonso.
Meanwhile, Leclerc was complaining about his tyres and has come into the pits.
He returns to the track in eighth position.
Lap 43/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Fernando Alonso is currently 20 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc in third place.
Aston Martin are keen for him to open up such a lead in excess of 21 seconds to allow him to pit and come back out ahead of the Ferrari.
With 78 laps in the race, having not pitted yet, it would take some drive to do it on one set of tyres.
Lap 41/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Verstappen has clear road in front of him now.
Red Bull are concerned that if he pits, he will still come out behind Fernando Alonso.
With the Spaniard on hard tyres, he could take them through to the finish.
Lewis Hamilton has clocked the fasted lap of the day but still sits in eighth place.
Lap 39/78 – Verstappen leads, Alonso second
Lance Stroll is causing a lot of drivers headaches today.
He has a lot of coming togethers with other cars so far.
Verstappen is edging ahead of Alonso once again on very worn medium tyres.
Some great driving from the Dutch driver on very grained tyres.
Credit: Getty
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
