Lewis Hamilton wins thrilling 2019 Monaco Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has won the Monaco Grand Prix, managing his tyres superbly to hold off all of his rivals, whilst Charles Leclerc’s nightmare weekend was compounded as he retired from his home Grand Prix.

Despite managing on the medium tyres for over half the race, Hamilton held off his challengers to claim his fourth win of the season. Max Verstappen was his nearest challenger but was given a five-second penalty for an incident with Valtteri Bottas (P3) and finished fourth. Sebastian Vettel completed the podium benefitting from Verstappen's penalty to finish second.

Leclerc who was climbing the field after qualifying forced the safety car out on lap nine. He bumped his Ferrari into the barrier trying to overtake Nico Hulkenberg at Rascasse and with debris all over the track, the field were all backed up by the safety car which signalled the chance to pit for the leaders. The Monegasque tried to recover but after another pit stop his race came to an end.

Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen and Vettel all came in for fresh tyres. Whilst the Brit got away cleanly, Bottas and Verstappen came together as they were released from their stops and Verstappen moved into second. However, the Dutchman was handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe release whilst Bottas came back into the pits for another set of hard tyres and to check for damage.

Despite a late surge on a hugely concerned Hamilton, Verstappen was unable to make the move and Hamilton secured an impressive win even if at times it looked as if his team had got the strategy wrong.

It was a good weekend for the Toro Rosso’s with Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon both scoring points. The pair finished P7 and P8 respectively the team’s best finishes this season. Pierre Gasly (P5), Carlos Sainz (P6), last year’s race winner Daniel Ricciardo (P9) and Romain Grosjean (P10) completed the point scoring positions.

There were also signs of improvement for Williams, who for the first time this season finished in positions which weren’t last or second last. George Russell came home in P15 and Robert Kubica P18 to mark their best result of the season.