Hartley crashes out as Ricciardo triumphs

New Zealand Formula One driver Brendon Hartley suffered more frustration as he crashed out of the Monaco Grand Prix as Australian Daniel Ricciardo swept to victory.

Hartley was giving the top 10 a nudge late in the race yesterday when he was hit by the Sauber of Charles Leclerc and forced to withdraw.

Hartley had made a solid start but collected some front wing damage and had to pit early on lap 14 and suffered a five-second time penalty for speeding in the lane.

He recovered to move up to 11th before Leclerc took him out. Stewards ruled it a brake failure and not the fault of either driver.

‘‘I made a small mistake which allowed Charles to get a little bit closer and he said he had a brake failure so he apologised for that,’’ Hartley said.

‘‘I didn’t see him coming at all, he came from a long way back, locked his front brake and took me out of the race.’’

Red Bull’s Ricciardo steadied his nerve when victory threatened to escape him again as he overcame a significant mid-race power loss to win the race.

After guzzling champagne from his sweaty shoe – as he likes to do – it was time to cool off. The popular Australian swan-dived into the swimming pool located on the roof of Red Bull’s motorhome in Monaco’s glitzy harbor.

Better known for his attacking prowess and razorsharp overtaking, Ricciardo had earlier shown outstanding defensive driving to fend off Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari despite losing an estimated 25 per cent of his engine power.

Vettel closed to within one second of Ricciardo with more than half of the 78-lap race left. It seemed certain the German would pass him at some point, but Ricciardo held firm for the seventh win of his career.

Even though the 3.34km street circuit is narrow and notoriously difficult to overtake on, it was still a remarkable drive by Ricciardo, given his damaging power deficit.

Vettel is now three points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton, of Mercedes, who finished third.