Vettel steals a march in title race with Monaco Grand Prix victory

Sebastian Vettel ended Ferrari’s 16-year wait for a Monaco Grand Prix victory and extended his championship lead in the process with a commanding drive.

Michael Schumacher’s victory in 2001 was the Scuderia’s last here, but the German took his second win in the principality after some blistering laps midway through the race. They allowed him to jump pole-sitter and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen at the pit-stops.

The Finn finished second with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo completing the podium.

Vettel’s third win of the season moves him 25 points clear of Lewis Hamilton in this season’s title race, as the Briton recovered from 13th on the grid to finish a creditable seventh.

‘If anyone overtakes here I’ll give you a tenner,’ said Jenson Button on the pre-race drivers’ parade.

How right the returning 37-year-old was. Wheel-to-wheel action was scare around the famously tight street circuit, emphasising the importance of the 200metre run from pole position to turn one in Monaco.

Raikkonen made the most of his first pole since the 2008 French Grand Prix, easily holding off Vettel into Saintedevote to keep his lead.

In fact, so tame were the opening few seconds that the top seven all retained their positions.

Starting 13th – also for the first time since that 2008 race in France – Hamilton was one of the few to make up places, getting up the inside of Stoffel Vandoorne off the line.

It was sweet revenge for the Briton, as it was the Mclaren driver’s crash on Saturday which ultimately scuppered Hamilton’s qualifying session.

Making his one-off return to the sport in place of the Indianapolis-bound Fernando Alonso, Button was forced to start from the pit-lane after his Mclaren team made a number of overnight changes to his car.

But he was cheered after received a good luck message from the Spaniard live from America before the lights went out.