F1 Monaco GP live commentary and updates - Race
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Russell in conference with his pitwall, who ask how much faster he'd be in clear air. About a second a lap, he reckons.
And we have a second DNF of the day: Valtteri Bottas brings it into the garage.
Russell reporting that Hadjar has graining on his front-left, and is likely due a stop imminently. That's interesting given Pirelli prognosticated a medium-soft one-stop race.
"No front, no rears, no nothing," complains Hadjar.
Hamilton complaining "there's a lot of deg on these tyres", and that's unexpected. Pirelli suggested it would be minimal, but obviously the teams haven't done much running on the C4 so far this weekend.
Leclerc 4.7s further adrift. 6.7s the gap from him to Hadjar – who has Russell tucked under his rear wing. Piastri then seven seconds off the Mercedes.
Looks like the leading group has settled into tyre management mode, lapping in the 17s - Antonelli 3.6s ahead of Hamilton in P2 on lap 14 of 78.
Antonelli lost a second and a half of his lead to Hamilton while lapping those cars.
Ocon into the pits as Perez also visits to serve his penalty. Hard tyres for the Haas.
Antonelli already coming up to lap Bearman and Bottas.
Drive-through penalty for Perez - out of position on the grid. Replay suggests he might have pulled into Bortoleto's box...
Antonelli has cleared off to the tune of 5.5s as the lap count knocks on the door of double figures.
Cadillac clearly looking to pick up track position when others pit ahead, quite smart given the cars' positions in the field... but Bottas now reporting smoke from his front brakes again.
So that's Perez, Alonso, Stroll, Bottas, Bortoelto and Bearman as the early visitors to the pitlane. The Aston Martins on softs – of course! Why make life easy?
Perez now being investigated for a startline infringement.
No further investigation for Russell.
Having a look at the start and opening lap from various angles. Superb 'seizing of the moment' by Gasly to pass Norris at the exit of Ste Devote as the two McLarens duelled for position, while it looks like Bearman's front wing met teammate Ocon's car. That'll be a tasty debrief.
We were about to nod to Perez for bagging a few positions at the start but the Cadillac has popped into the pits to swap those softs for mediums.
Russell 'noted' for being out of his box on the grid.
Well that stop could pay off for Bortoleto. Those hards can easily last the whole race.
Bearman into the pits for a new front wing, Bortoleto also stops – hards on, softs off – and Verstappen brings his car to a halt in the box.
A clean getaway for Antonelli and he leads the field on the opening lap. Hamilton, Leclerc, Hadjar, Russell, Piastri, Gasly, Norris, Lawson and Albon follow.
"What can I do?" asks Max.
"Just bring it home," he's told.
AND THEY'RE OFF
And it's happened immediately! Max Verstappen's car goes into anti-stall as the whole field boils past him.
F1 TV's graphic listing Juan Manuel Fangio as the first Monaco Grand Prix winner. Strictly speaking that would be William Grover-Williams...
And we have the starting tyre compounds. Everyone on new mediums apart from the Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, who are launching on new softs.
Will Sergio Perez be able to profit from the empty grid slot ahead of him? The Ferrari-powered Cadillac ought to be brisk off the line...
Just under 10 minutes to go until the start. Bortoleto will be joining proceedings from the pitlane but Lawson's car has made it to the grid.
Of all the national anthems, Monaco's most resembles the theme tune to a WWII 'caper' movie from the 1960s.
Gabriel Bortoleto also still in the pitlane, having been unable to get his Audi going. A freshly repaired Audi after his contretemps with the barrier during qualifying yesterday, which induced a red flag.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1 Team
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
THE CELEB DRINKING GAME
Now, this being the Monaco Grand Prix, we are veritably drowning in celebs, pseudo-celebs, liggers, timewasters, 'influencers' and other hangers-on.
So this, of course, means drinking two fingers' depth of the beverage of your choice every time the F1 TV feed cuts to one of these individuals. Three fingers if it's somebody you neither recognise nor care about.
Let's get started with thesp Karen Gillan, who merits two by dint of high-profile roles in the likes of Dr Who and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Karen Gillan visits the Haas F1 garage.
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
LAYING DOWN THE LAWSON
Liam Lawson, who was due to start P10, has yet to leave the garage. The team reports a "car systems issue".
Car of Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Marcel van Dorst / EYE4images / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Fascinatingly - feel free to disagree - it's six months to the day since Lando Norris won the world championship in Abu Dhabi. My, how tempus has fugited.
What a weekend we've had so far. Everyone was expecting Ferrari to dominate, and that's how Friday panned out, but on Saturday Mercedes and Red Bull came to the fore.
0.043s separated Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen on the front row of the grid, while Charles Leclerc smote the barrier at Tabac on his final push lap.
That, of course, means the two fastest-starting cars on the grid are launching from the second row.
Meanwhile it's been a grotty weekend for George Russell, who has been pondering whether he needs to adapt his driving style to take the battle to his teammate. Russell lines up P6, behind Isack Hadjar.
And on the fourth row, the two McLarens. Over half a second off pole...
By: Stuart Codling
