Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.
The Monaco GP was stopped after barely half a lap due to a huge crash involving Sergio Perez and the two Haas cars.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had just led away easily from pole ahead of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, while behind Carlos Sainz first attacked Piastri at Ste Devote and then slid off at Casino Square with a suspected puncture.
Perez was eliminated by Kevin Magnussen trying to poke his nose into a gap on the run up the hill before Massenet, with their crash wreckage then swinging across the track and taking out Nico Hulkenberg as he tried to come by from just behind.
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Summary
Leclerc kept the lead from pole position and won the race ahead of Piastri and Sainz
The race was red-flagged on lap 1 after Perez crash with both Haas cars
Alpine team-mates Gasly and Ocon collide at the exit of Portier, with the latter sent into the air
With the red flag hold up, that was a long, old Monaco GP! I hope you've enjoyed the last three-and-a-half hours and thank you for joining us. We've got a short breather before the next F1 race, the Canadian GP, which takes place on 7-9 June. Until then, have a lovely rest of you Sunday and go well!
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, the rest of the field at the start
As is tradition at the Monaco GP, the national anthems of the winning driver and constructor is played after the trophies are handed out. The band has even remembered to play their instruments this time!
Aww, in the cooldown room Leclerc admits the emotions were getting to him with two laps to go and he was struggling to see. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to enjoy the feelgood factor of Leclerc finally winning his home race.
Sainz on third place after almost being out of the race on lap one: "It was a tight one and a very bad feeling on lap one that very quickly turned into a very good feeling being reinstated into P3. From there on the race pace was good as expected, it is just impossible to pass on the streets of Monaco."
Piastri on his runner-up result: "Tricky race, the pace at the beginning was incredibly slow and I had one little half-look before the tunnel but I didn't have a small enough car to fit into that gap. But, nice to finally put a result on the board."
Leclerc: "Already the emotions were coming, I was thinking to my dad a lot more than what I thought while driving. He has given everything for me to be here. It was a dream of ours for me to race here and to win, so it is unbelievable."
"No words can explain that, it is such a difficult race, I think that twice starting on pole position and we couldn't get it makes it even better. It means a lot, it is the race that made me dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver," Leclerc, choking back the tears, tells Button in his post-race interview.
Leclerc leaps into the arms of his Ferrari mechanics. That's his sixth career F1 win and must be his sweetest. It is also his first win since the 2022 Austrian GP.
Alonso misses out on points in 11th, ahead of Ricciardo, Bottas, Stroll, Sargeant and Zhou, who completes the finishers. The DNF-ers were Ocon, Perez, Hulkenberg and Magnussen.
Russell fends off Verstappen for fifth, with Hamilton in seventh. Tsunoda takes eighth, as both Albon and Gasly score their first points of the season.
Alonso has had a little bit of a reprieve these past few laps with Ricciardo looming slightly less ominously in his mirrors. But that may be about to change after Alonso dinged the Swimming Pool barrier with his right-front, altering his trajectory into the chicane and resulting in a juddering landing over the kerbs.
Five laps to go and Leclerc is about seven or eight minutes away from a maiden home win. His lead is up to 8.6s over Piastri, who is defending second for his life.
Using that traffic and upping his pace, Leclerc is suddenly 5.5s clear in the lead. A 1m15.767s last time around was his personal best of the race and put 1.5s more into his lead.
As leaders come by to lap Zhou and Sargeant for a second time, the Sauber is slow on the run to Mirabeau and Sargeant takes his chance to move past into 15th spot.
Sargeant grazed the wall at the Swimming Pool entry but it doesn't appear to have impacted him much as he continues to push on for the dubious accolade of avoiding finishing last.
Following his stop, Sargeant has closed back onto the tail of Zhou in the battle over 15th, but radios his team to say he's hit the wall. We're yet to see any pictures of his car to make a call on the extent of damage.
Russell looks in charge of the battle with Verstappen behind him, with the gap back to 1s, while his better pace has slammed shut the window for a pitstop for the top four.
If Stroll is going to make his soft tyre advantage pay in getting back ahead of the Alonso train, he's running out of time to do so. They will soon be losing their edge, if they haven't already.
Alonso doesn't appear particularly intent on carving chunks of time out of Gasly ahead. The Alpine retains a 14s advantage over the pursuing Aston, who still has Ricciardo clambering all over the back of him.
Albon remains intent on pushing Tsunoda into a mistake. Their battle is temporarily paused as both have to slow to allow Russell and Verstappen to lap them, before resuming in earnest.
Russell knows where he could be exposed to Verstappen so is focusing on using his battery and defensive lines accordingly. Verstappen hasn't found a way through and Hamilton is closing in on the pair of them.
