Nico Rosberg won the Monaco Grand Prix for the third straight year after a late crash involving teenager Max Verstappen undid lewis Hamilton's bid for a fourth win of the season.
Hamilton looked set to take his 37th career win after leading from the start, until the 17-year-old Verstappen rammed his Toro Rosso into the back of Romain Grosjean as he tried to overtake the lotus driver.
That meant a safety car had to come out at the start of the 64th lap, and when Hamilton was then called in for a pit stop by Mercedes, he suddenly found himself behind both Rosberg and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.
"I can't really express the way I feel at the moment, so I won't even attempt to," a despondent Hamilton said. "I thought Nico had pitted, so I thought the guys behind were pitting. I came in with full confidence that the others had done the same." When the safety car finally went off track, Hamilton had only a few laps to try and get past Vettel and Rosberg on the most difficult track to overtake on F1. "It wasn't the easiest of races, but the team has been amazing all year long and we win and lose together," Hamilton said. "I'm sure we'll sit down after this." Asked how he will respond, a dejected-looking Hamilton said: "Come back to win the next one." Hamilton's lead has been cut in the past two races and he is now just 10 points ahead of Rosberg, who launched his title bid at a similar stage last season, while Vettel is 28 points behind in third place heading to the Canadian GP.
Perez finishes seventh
Sahara Force India's Sergio Perez held on to his grid position to finish seventh in the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix here today, claiming his best result of 2015 in the process. Force India looked in the hunt for a doubles points finish but an opening lap collision between Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso put paid to their hopes.