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Red Bull's Ricciardo wins Monaco GP

Chuck Penfold
May 27, 2018

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo has won the Monaco Grand Prix, the sixth race of the F1 season, for the first time in his career. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel came in second and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes finished third.

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Formel 1 | Grand Prix Monaco | Sieger Daniel Ricciardo
Image: Reuters/B. Tessier

Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo led from start to finish to win the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, despite having reported a loss of power in his car in the early laps.

"We had a lot to deal with during the race," Ricciardo said afterwards. "I felt a loss of power and I thought the race was done, but we got home only using six gears. I'm stoked."

The victory crowned a week of domination for the Australian, who had topped all three practices and all three qualifying sessions. Ferrari's German driver, Sebastian Vettel, followed Ricciardo around the track to finish in second place, while Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain came in third.  

"Daniel always had the right answer, he was always a bit faster than me," Vettel said before heading to the winners' podium. 

Hamilton: 'I did everything I could'

"A big congratulations to Red Bull and to Daniel, they did a great job all weekend and they were the quickest — we knew that would be the case," Hamilton said. "It would be nice to have been second, but I did everything I could."

Formel 1 | Grand Prix Monaco | Sieger Daniel Ricciardo
Ricciardo celebrated the win by drinking champagne from his bootImage: Getty Images/D. Istitene

This was Ricciardo's second win of the current Formula One season — after his victory in China last month — and the seventh of his career. The win elevates Ricciardo to third in the drivers' standings with 73 points. Hamilton, the defending champion, continues to top the table with 110 points, ahead of Vettel on 96.

Verstappen finishes in the points

Ricciardo's teammate, Max Verstappen, provided the most excitement of the race. After being forced to start from the back of the grid due to a crash in the final practice, the Dutchman recovered to finish in ninth place.

The next race on the F1 calendar is the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on June 10.

Relive the race as it happened below:

Lap 78:  Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo takes the checkered flag to win the Grand Prix of Monaco, ahead of Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel in second and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes in third! 

Lap: 77: Still Ricciardo ahead of Vettel and Hamilton.

Lap: 74: Green flag. 

Lap 72: Crash: Charles Leclerc (Sauber) smashes into Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)! Both drivers appear to be okay. It looks like Leclerc's brakes failed. Yellow flag, debris on track. 

Lap: 68: Ten laps to go and Ricciardo looks solid in the saddle, no sign of either Vettel or Hamilton causing him any problems between now and the end of the Monaco Grand Prix. 

Lap 65: Red Bull's Verstappen now his Hülkenberg in eighth place in his sights. Team radio: "If you are going to pass, keep it clean, please."

Lap 60: Verstappen overtook Sainz a couple of laps back by cutting a curve. He's now in ninth place. Ricciardo remains in third ahead of Vettel and Hamilton.

Lap 55: Nico Hülkenberg is told by his Renault team that teammate Carlos Sainz will let him by - and he overtakes.

Lap 53: Fernando Alonso is forced out of th e race. It appears to be a gearbox problem.

Lap 51: Hülkenberg comes into the pits, returns in 10th place, Verstappen back in 11th place now. 

Lap 50: Red Bull team radio praises Ricciardo again, as he continues to hold the lead that he started the race with. Vettel keeps getting told that Ricciardo is having problems, but there's no sign of him being about to captitalize. 

Lap: 46: Lewis Hamilton complains about the graining problem again. 

Lap 42: Hamilton considering heading to the pits due to his tire problem.

Lap 36: Hamilton reports tire problems to his team. He's told that everbody is struggling with the same issue. 

Lap: 31: Red Bull team radio tells Ricciardo that things aren't about to get better with his car, praises him for his hard work.

Lap 30: Red Bull team radio tells Ricciardo to keep things smooth, maintain concentration. 

Lap 29: Vettel is putting Ricciardo under pressure. Riccardo says he is losing power. 

Lap27: Vettel is trailing Ricciardo by about 1.5 seconds. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, has gradually made his way past several other drivers. He's up to 10th place after starting from the back of the grid.

Lap24: Kimi Raikkonen is faster than Ricciardo at the point, but is still in fourth place behind Hamilton.

Lap 17: Ricciardo hits the pits, and leaves with ultrasoft but manages to stay in first place. 

Lap 16: Vettel hits the pits at switches to ultrasoft.

Lap 15: FIA announce that no further action will be taken against Williams over Sirotkin's penalty stop. Vettel has dropped to 3.6 seconds behind Ricciardo.

Lap 13: An investigation has been launched. Williams are suspected of having worked on Sirotkin's car when he was serving his 10-second penalty.

Lap: 12 Hamilton makes an early pit stop and changes to ultrasoft. 

Lap 10: Things get even worse for Williams as the young Canadian, Lance Stroll blows a tire. 

Lap 9: Sirotkin serves his 10-second penalty and drops back to last.

Lap 7: Sergey Sirotkin (Williams) is assessed a 10-second stop-go penalty as his car was not ready to go in time. 

Lap 4: Daniel Ricciardo builds his lead to 1.5 seconds with the fastest lap so far. Ser

Lap 1: The Monaco GP is underway! No surprises on the start as Ricciardo is in the lead, followed by Vettel and Hamilton. Benton Hartley loses his front wing. This is quickly cleared from the course.

Formation lap: The drivers are off and on their way around the track on the formation lap. The start is just a couple of minutes off now. 

14:48 CET. After weeks of unbroken sunshine, the skies are cloudy over Monaco, with just minutes to go before the start of the Monaco Grand Prix. Australian Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo will be looking for his second win of the season, following his victory in China last month.  Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes starts from third in the grid, behind German Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.

Going into the Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton leads the drivers' standings with 95 points, ahead of Vettel, who has 78.