Ricciardo holds off Vettel in Monaco

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo steadied his nerve when victory threatened to escape him again as he overcame a significant midrace power loss to win the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position.

Better known for his attacking prowess and razorsharp overtaking, the Australian showed outstanding defensive driving to fend off Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari despite losing an estimated 25% 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 victory of his career.

“So much went on for me in that race, trying to figure out what was going on,” said Ricciardo, who was fastest in all three practice sessions as well as qualifying. “This was probably the best weekend of my career.”

Vettel shaved a few points off championship leader Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, who finished third.

“I think we had the pace,” Vettel said after missing out on a 50th victory. “But Daniel had the answers all the time.”

Hamilton made an audacious move by pitting for new tires several laps before his rivals, but was worried they would wear out by the end.

“It would have been nice to have come second but I did all I could,” Hamilton said.

In the end, Ricciardo’s winning margin was seven seconds — but only because Vettel lost time after the virtual safety car came out for the last few laps. The incident happened when Charles Leclerc shunted his Sauber into the back of Brendon Hartley’s Toro Rosso. Drivers are not allowed to overtake when the VSC is deployed and must maintain a steady speed. It happened too late to influence the race.

Kimi Raikkonen was fourth for Ferrari.