Monaco Grand Prix: Masterful Vettel heads Ferrari 1-2

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel extended his lead in the Formula 1 World Championship standings by winning the 75th edition of the Monaco Grand Prix for the second time in his career, heading home teammate Kimi Raikkonen who led early on from pole position.

Vettel chased Raikkonen early on, in what was a processional start to the race, but attacked with a series of exceptional laps when the veteran Finn pitted for fresh tyres. With it the German achieved the 'over-cut' and thereafter was simply untouchable.

At one point Vettel led the race by over ten seconds, before a safety car period bunched the field up for the final dozen laps, but at the restart he again scampered off into the lead, unchallenged, where he stayed to claim his third victory of the season.

After the race Vettel summed up his day, to reigning F1 World Champion turned MC Nico Rosberg, "Unbelievable - it was such an intense race. I was hoping to have a better launch. Kimi had a really good start but I had to be patient."

"I went through a really tricky phase with some tricky tyres - they started to slide but had a second chance after the pit."

"I got a couple of really good laps where I could control the pace and I was able to use the safety car. This circuit is tricky with cold tyres. We couldn't plan much but the plan was to pull away and as soon as the gap opened I took it."

"I was surprised myself. It is very special to win here. We will have a fun night and we have enough time to prepare for Canada," added Vettel who will arrive in Montreal with a 25 points lead in the drivers' championship and Ferrari top of the constructors' standings.

Raikkonen sported the face of thunder on the podium, but in truth, even if his team did engineer the swap, he simply did not have the pace of his teammate on a hot sunny day.

When asked to sum up his race, he responded, "Ermmmmm.... Hard to say really. It is still second place but it doesn't feel awful good. It is how it goes sometimes but we go to the next race."

It was a huge day for Ferrari, Italy a mere stone's throw away, as they ended a Monaco win-less streak that dated back to 2001 when Michael Schumacher last won for them at the sport's most hallowed venue.

It was the Maranello squads first one-two at Monaco since 1999 and, poignantly, 50 years after Ferrari driver Lorenzo Bandini perished during the race at the Principality in 1967 .

Daniel Ricciardo also benefited, by staying out longer than his main rivals, with the over-cut and a series of scintillating laps which saw him leap-frog Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen during the pit stop window, to claim third place when the chequered flag waved.

Ricciardo reflected, "Happier today for sure. Yesterday, we had so much to offer but we got our chance today. I had the track to myself for a few laps. Didn't enjoy the clip of the barrier. I wasn't sure if i damaged anything. When you get safety car, these tyres are like driving on ice."

Bottas was fourth in what was a tough weekend for the reigning world champions, although Lewis Hamilton managed to achieve some damage control by turning 13th on the grid to seventh in the race.

The Briton told reporters. "I feel good. I feel very positive. I am very happy. I came in to this race a lot further back and had no idea what was going to happen. The beginning of the race was boring but when I got some clear air, it was fun."

"The team said in the strategy meeting this morning I could only get 10th so I am happy. The gap to Vettel is big but not impossible to close. This has been the most difficult weekend I have had a while. I just have to let my guys know we are not going to give up."

"25 points is a long way but I am going to work as hard as I can to make sure a weekend like this is not repeated," added Hamilton.

Verstappen was fifth, but was not happy with the strategy, employed by his team, which saw him pit earlier than Ricciardo, much to his frustration, as he looked good for a podium at one point in the race.

Carlos Sainz again delivered way over expectations by finishing sixth for Toro Rosso, while his teammate Daniil Kvyat was unlucky to be tagged from back in an over ambitious move by Sergio Perez in the Force India. It was a DNF for the Russian and the first non-points finish of the season for the Mexican.

Haas had a good weekend with both cars in the points, Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen ending eighth and tenth respectively.

Felipe Massa split the pair in his Williams, with ninth place. The Brazilian did a good job salvaging points at a venue which has not been kind to the team in recent years.

Jenson Button's Formula 1 swansong was a sad affair as he started from the pitlane, spent most of the race last of all and then clattered into Sauber driver Pascal Wehrlein as the pair headed towards the tunnel.

The Sauber ended up on its side with the German squeezed up against the barrier. A scary incident which could have been much worse...

In retrospect, despite the smiles and hype, Button's heart was not seriously into the comeback and it is more than likely that it was his last grand prix.

Button said afterwards, "You never like seeing a car tip over because you don't know if the driver's head is alright so he most important thing is he is okay. I have just seen him and he seems alright."

"I enjoyed qualifying and I enjoyed some laps today. I never wanted to damage the car. Sorry to the team for doing that but when you see an opening, you take it. It has not whetted the appetite for anymore - definitely not."

It was a race of high attrition, only 13 drivers made it to the finish as the mean streets of Monte Carlo punished the slightest mistakes or mechanical deficiencies.

When the lights went out to signal the start pole sitter Raikkonen made a clean getaway and led from Vettel, Bottas, Verstappen and Ricciardo. Sainz kept sixth ahead of Perez and Grosjean.

Magnussen, however, jumped past Hulkenberg and Kvyat to take P9. Kvyat dropped to P11 just ahead of Lewis Hamilton who had passed McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne at the start.

At the rear of the field Button, who had started from the pit lane, and Wehrlein pitted at the end of lap one, with the German swapping supersoft tyres for ultrasofts. The pair almost collided on the way out from their stops, however, and Wehrlein was subsequently handed a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release.

With ten laps gone, Räikkönen had succeeded in eking out a two secionds gap over Vettel, with the German enjoying a 3.6 seconds advantage over Bottas. The opening stint then began to settle but as the race headed towards the 20-lap mark Vettel began to edge closer to Räikkönen and by lap 25 the German was just a second behind his team-mate as the Finn began to clear the first backmarkers, Button and Wehrlein.

Once past the pair Räikkönen again eased ahead, extending his advantage again, this time to 1.5 seconds by lap 32.

Further back, Hamilton was up to 10th place following the earlier retirement of Hulkenberg with gearbox problems and an early stop for Perez. The Briton was not enjoying the afternoon, however, and a third of the way through was on the radio saying that he could do little as his car was “all over the place”.

Verstappen was the first of the leading pack to make a pit stop, attempting to undercut Bottas on lap 34 with a stop for supersofts. The Dutchman closed hard but when Bottas pitted the Finn emerged just in front to hold position.

Vettel now led the race, 4.7 seconds ahead of Ricciardo, with Räikkönen third. Vettel set the race fastest lap on his 37th tour, a 1:15.587, in the hope of overhauling his team-mate and the tactic played perfectly with the German emerging from his stop for supersofts marginally in front of Räikkönen.

Ricciardo worked his stop for the red-banded Pirellis even better, jumping both team-mate Verstappen and Bottas during his brief halt in the pit lane.

Behind the top five, Hamilton who was still on his starting ultrasofts, had now risen to sixth ahead of Vandoorne, who also needed to make a pit stop. Sainz was eighth ahead of Grosjean and Kvyat.

By lap 45 Hamilton was the only driver still needing to pit, with Mercedes putting the Briton on a long first stint to see how many cars he could jump in the space vacated by those pitting around him.

By lap 48 and his stop for supersofts that answer was delivered – six beyond his grid slot – and the three-time champion settled into seventh place, just under 10 seconds behind Sainz.

At the front, Vettel was forging ahead, blasting to a 9.7 seconds gap over Räikkönen over the 10 laps following his stop. Räikkönen’s pace, which had dropped to the edge of the 1m17s bracket, settled into managing the six seconds gap back to Ricciardo.

Ricciardo was determined to make a fight of it however and on lap 51 the Australian ran 1.2s quicker than the Finn and closed the gap to 4.5 seconds.

Behind the top three, Bottas was not fourth but 13s behind Ricciardo, while Verstappen was a second behind the Mercedes and looking to attack. Sainz was now sixth but behind him Hamilton was closing, with the Briton now just 3.8s behind the Spaniard. Grosjean was now eighth ahead of Kvyat and Vandoorne.

On lap 61 the gaps closed when Button collided with Wehrlein as the pair went through the Portier corners. The Sauber was flipped onto its side and smacked into the barriers on its upper side. The Safety Car was immediately deployed and the medical car despatched, but it soon became clear that Wehrlein was unhurt and once he was freed from the wreck, the work of clearing his Sauber from the track began.

In the meantime, team-mate Ericsson also exited the race. The Swede went to pass the Safety Car to unlap himself, as allowed, but appeared to overcook the move and under braking he lost control and hit the barriers at Sainte Devote.

Racing eventually resumed on lap 67 and Verstappen immediately tried to pressure Bottas. The Finn though could hardly have noticed, so intent was he on swarming over the back of Ricciardo’s Red Bull. All three held position, but the tussle allowed the Ferrari duo to get away and a lap later Vettel was 3.8 seconds ahead of Ricciardo.

Further back Vandoorne’s race ended at the re-start when he outbraked himself and hit the barriers at Sainte Devote.

The final handful of laps settled thereafter. Vettel pulled away again at the front to take his second career Monaco win, , while Räikkönen managed to hold on to second place despite continued pressure from Ricciardo who chased the Finn all the way to the flag.

Behind Ricciardo, Bottas also held position, finishing fourth ahead of Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton and Grosjean.

Kvyat looked set for ninth but the Toro Rosso driver was hit by Perez in Rascasse late in the race ending the Toro Rosso driver’s afternoon.

It meant that Massa who had stopped during the safety car period for ultrasoft tyres claimed ninth place ahead of Magnussen.