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Formula 1

Red Bull hands victory in Monaco to Hamilton

Mistake on the pitstops took almost certain victory to Daniel Ricciardo

The podium in the principality was completed by Mexican Force India driver Sergio Perez

It could have been the second consecutive race in which Red Bull meddled in Mercedes' domination in Formula 1, but instead the Austrian team delivered on a silver platter the victory in the Monaco Grand Prix to Lewis Hamilton's W07 with an error in the pits which cost the first win of the season to Daniel Ricciardo.

World's reigning champion finished the race with seven seconds ahead of the Red Bull Australian driver. The podium in the principality was completed by Mexican Force India driver Sergio Perez. The rain ensured a much more exciting race than usual.

For the first time in the history of the Monaco Grand Prix, the rain forced the race to start behind the safety car and only after seven laps did the race really began. Daniel Ricciardo was ahead of the two Mercedes and immediately began to distance himself in the lead, showing the Renault's engine pace progress. The German team, seeing that Rosberg was slower and delaying his teammate ordered them to swap positions, allowing Hamilton to try and catch the Aussie.

Hamilton got into the lead of the race as he opted to stay longer on track with rain tires. With intermediate tires Ricciardo quickly regained the lead when the world champion went to the pits to switch to ultra-soft tires. The Australian came to the pits on the next lap, but a communication problem meant that the tires were not ready which delayed the race leader. When he left the pit area Hamilton managed to stay in the lead and Ricciardo tried to take advantage of the fresher tires to try to overtake the Brit. The Australian was about to get it but fiercer defensive driving from Hamilton eventually stopped him, leaving Ricciardo protesting through the radio about the world champion's driving.

The British driver managed to absorb Ricciardo's pressure to take his 44th career win and the first of the season as well as the first since he won the third world championship at the United States Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez took home the first podium of the season for Force India thanks to a perfect tire strategy that put him in third place ahead of Vettel's Ferrari. The German also pressured the Mexican in the final laps, but Perez got the best.

Fernando Alonso returned to the points taking fifth place ahead of the other Force India from Nico Hulkenberg. Rosberg didn't go beyond sixth place which allowed Hamilton to close the gap in the championship to 24 points.

Carlos Sainz Jr., Jenson Button and Felipe Massa completed the top 10 in Monaco.

Check the Driver's and Consctructor's World Championship standings here.

**Resuls Monaco Grand Prix**
Pos	Driver	Team	Gap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1h59m29.133s
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	7.252s
3	Sergio Perez	Force India	13.825s
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	15.846s
5	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1m25.076s
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1m32.999s
7	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1m33.290s
8	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1 Lap
9	Jenson Button	McLaren	1 Lap
10	Felipe Massa	Williams	1 Lap
11	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1 Lap
12	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1 Lap
13	Romain Grosjean	Haas	2 Laps
14	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	2 Laps
15	Rio Haryanto	Manor	4 Laps
-	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Collision
-	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Collision
-	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	Spun Off
-	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	Spun Off
-	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	Collision
-	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Spun Off
-	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	Spun Off