Monaco – Race: Under pressure, Ricciardo tames Vettel and Hamilton!

One hour before the start of the race, the threatening clouds over Monaco turned into fine

Raindrops. The sun, so present since the beginning of the weekend, was playing hide-and-seek at the time of the grid set-up for the drivers.

The rain stopped at the start, but the sky remains cloudy. The 20 drivers set off without issues and without any incident, which is a miracle on the narrow streets of Monaco. Daniel Ricciardo manages to maintain his first position despite a good start from Vettel. The Australian holds his ground in the middle of the track against the Ferrari, which can do nothing.

Behind, in the descent of the Casino, Romain Grosjean and Brendon Hartley make contact, relegating the Frenchman to the last position just behind his teammate. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen begins his comeback and overtakes Lance Stroll at the Tunnel exit, then Hartley; while Sirotkin has to serve a stop-and-go penalty. The Russian’s Williams still did not have its tires fitted on the starting grid, 3 minutes before the critical time.

C’est la débandade dans le clan Williams. Lance Stroll touche le mur au 10ème tour et rentre à son stand, perdant de nombreuses secondes. Après sa pénalité, Sirotkin navigue déjà à un tour des leaders. Le Russe évite de justesse une nouvelle pénalité, ses mécaniciens étant intervenus sur sa monoplace durant le stop and go… Lewis Hamilton est le premier des hommes de tête à s’arrêter au 12ème tour. Il repart 6ème, derrière Esteban Ocon. Ricciardo et Vettel continuent en piste. L’Australien a presque 3 secondes d’avance sur la Ferrari au 15e tour, tandis que Valtteri Bottas est en 3ème position.

On fresh tires, Hamilton quickly catches up to Ocon who doesn’t resist when the Mercedes attempts to overtake him, exiting the Tunnel before the Nouvelle Chicane. It is on lap 16 that Vettel decides to pit and switch to ultrasoft tires. He is followed by Ricciardo the next lap, also on the same tires as well as Kimi Räikkönen.

LAP 17/78

Vettel pits for ultrasofts, followed by Ricciardo

And they maintain the top two spots#MonacoGP 🇲🇨 #F1 pic.twitter.com/maIl7aGshW

— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 mai 2018

Among the top 10, only Pierre Gasly extends his first stint, after 25 laps of the race. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez loses a lot of time in a pit stop that drags on.

The battle at the front is between two groups. Ricciardo and Vettel vie for victory with the Ferrari clawing back tenths of a second on the Red Bull; and Hamilton against Räikkönen for third place. Initially isolated in 5th position, Bottas regains speed after switching to super-softs, allowing him to close in on Räikkönen and put pressure on him.

Max Verstappen has still not stopped after 26 laps of the race and finally enters the Top 10. A few laps later, Ricciardo announces to his team that a power and battery charging issue is preventing him from driving at full speed. Vettel takes advantage to close in to less than a second behind the Red Bull.

On the 36th lap, Lance Stroll comes into the pits once again after hitting the rails. Gasly stops for the first time on the following lap and goes back out on Super Softs in 10th position. Nico Hülkenberg is the only driver yet to stop, holding 6th place with his Ultra Soft tires!

At the front, it’s the status quo. Ricciardo manages to keep just over a second ahead of Vettel, but Hamilton is closing in on both men, less than two seconds behind the Ferrari. On lap 47, Max Verstappen makes his first stop and comes out on Hyper soft tires. The Dutchman’s end of the race will be total attack with this compound!

#MonacoGP
Max Verstappen s’arrête ENFIN aux stands !!! pic.twitter.com/ZrprgZGGS5

— Automoto (@automoto_TF1) 27 mai 2018

Last driver to change tires, Nico Hülkenberg stops his Renault on lap 49 and opts for Hypersofts like Verstappen. The German comes out in 10th place, just ahead of the Dutchman. Three laps later, Fernando Alonso has to stop his McLaren on the track due to a gearbox problem with the #14. This frees up 7th place for Gasly, just behind Ocon.

Ahead, Ricciardo, Vettel, Hamilton, Räikkönen, and Bottas are closely packed. The two Renault drivers are also fighting for 8th place against Verstappen. Carlos Sainz, slower than the two men, lets his teammate Hülkenberg pass on the climb up to Beau Rivage and blocks Verstappen, who is harassing the Spaniard. He eventually finds the opening in a forceful maneuver at the tunnel exit and takes 9th place.

LAP 57/78

Verstappen puts a move on former teammate Sainz for P9

But takes to the kerb to get the job done#MonacoGP 🇲🇨 #F1 pic.twitter.com/O5vvIVjKSb

— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 May 2018

The Renault drivers livened up the end of the race in the Principality, with Nico Hülkenberg closing in on Pierre Gasly. The German was followed closely by Verstappen, providing an exciting battle for sixth place.

In the last 10 laps, Hamilton loses ground on the leading duo while Ocon closes in on Bottas’s Mercedes, battling with Räikkönen. On the 71st lap, Charles Leclerc, the local favorite, misses the braking at the tunnel exit due to the explosion of his left front brake disc. He can’t avoid Hartley’s Toro Rosso ahead of him, causing the virtual safety car to be deployed for 2 laps to clean the track. For both involved drivers, it’s a retirement!

The green flag is shown to the drivers again, on the 75th lap. The final four laps pass without difficulty for Daniel Ricciardo, who wins in Monaco. This time, the Australian fulfills his dream in the Principality. The Red Bull driver claims his second victory of the season, the seventh of his career! A great anniversary for the team, celebrating its 250th Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton finish second and third. The Ferrari driver collects seven valuable points in the drivers’ championship. Behind them, Bottas, Ocon, and Gasly make an impression, in sixth and seventh place!

The 2018 #MonacoGP is in the history books 🇲🇨

And this is how they crossed the line in the principality 👇 pic.twitter.com/Sd68TD4E9E

— Formula 1 (@F1) 27 mai 2018

From our special correspondents in Monaco