lewis Hamilton won an incident-packed Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday to get his Formula One championship bid back on track after a dismal run of eight races without a win.
Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo started from pole position and finished second — after a huge blunder from his team which failed to have his tires ready — with Mexican driver Sergio Perez third for Force India.
Hamilton, the defending F1 champion, started from third but soon overtook his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, and then held off Ricciardo with a gritty blocking move midway through.
With Rosberg — the championship leader — finishing seventh, Hamilton moved up to second overall in the standings, closing the gap on Rosberg to 24 points, while Ricciardo is in third spot.
But once the racing began properly, it was a thriller featuring multiple crashes and the comical sight of Red Bull’s pit crew not being ready for Ricciardo’s tire change.
The Australian driver was unforgiving, saying “everyone was running around like headless chucks (chickens).” He added: “It’s massively disappointing.”
Winner of seven of the past eight races Rosberg’s awful day was compounded when he was overtaken at the line by Nico Hulkenberg.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was fourth, ahead of Mclaren’s Fernando Alonso and Hulkenberg, who capped a fine day for Force India.
Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen were among seven drivers who failed to finish.s