Hamilton wins 2016 F1 Monaco GP

Reigning Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton secures another victory for Mercedes-AMG F1 Petronas after winning at this year's Grand Prix de Monaco. The race was ultimately led by Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo who secured first place during qualifying. The Australian racing driver however, lost the lead to Hamilton after the pit crew failed to quickly change his intermediates to slick tires.

The start of the race was immediately greeted by rain and the safety car deployed ahead of the pack. It was only in lap 7 did the weather improved and Ricciardo pulled away from Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. At first, Rosberg was trailing behind Ricciardo but was given a team order to let Hamilton pass as the German was struggling with his brakes in the wet.

In lap 23, Ricciardo pitted to change his wet tires for intermediates. It was during lap 32 where the pit crew and the team had a miscommunication, leaving Ricciardo stuck in the pits longer than usual. After the fix, Ricciardo chased down Hamilton who was now leading. The duel didn't last long however as a virtual safety car had to be deployed after Max Verstapeen struck the barriers in lap 37.

At the restart, Ricciardo charged on to take back pole position but struggled to keep up with Hamilton. In the end, Ricciardo settled for second place. At third place was Force India's Sergio Perez who managed to edge out Sebastien Vettel from Ferrari. McLaren-Honda's Fernando Alonso finished the race on a good note after securing fifth place while Force India's Nico Hulkenberg ended the race at sixth.

Rounding off the top ten racers were Rosberg, Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz, McLaren-Honda's Jenson Button and Williams

“This might be the best place ever to have win number 44 – it’s been eight years since I won here! What a special day… truly one of the hardest races I can ever remember having. To stay in the zone, not make any mistakes and come out on top is just unbelievable. I walk along here every day and think about the greats who have won this race – the likes of Fangio, Moss, Hill and Senna – and it’s a truly amazing feeling to have my name added to that list again,” said Hamilton.

Even with the second place win, Daniel Ricciardo was clearly frustrated at the podium as a result of the disastrous pit stop.

Still at the top of the 2016 Driver Standings is Nico Rosberg with 106 points while trailing behind is fellow teammate Lewis Hamilton with 82 points. Sitting at third now is Daniel Ricciardo with 66 points. At fourth and fifth are Ferrari teammates Sebastien Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen who have 61 and 60 points respectively.