VERSTAPPEN WINS HIS FIRST MONACO GRAND PRIX TO LEAD THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Max Verstappen for this first time in his career now leads the Drivers World Championship after winning a rather lacklustre Monaco Grand Prix with Hamilton finishing down in seventh with Sainz in second for Ferrari for his first Monaco podium with Norris taking third again for his first Monaco podium.

It was yet again another disappointing Monaco weekend for home boy Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) after taking pole on Saturday - failed to even start the grand prix let alone finish one - which he has never been able to do in any category.

It was a good start from both Verstappen and Bottas but it was advantage Verstappen into the first corner which would turn out to be a very dominant drive from the Dutchman. Sainz (Ferrari) gets away well in third.

Early on in the race - just eight laps in Hamilton and Perez (Red Bull) are reporting issues with following cars ahead of them with Hamilton behind Gasly (Alpha Tauri) and Perez behind Vettel (Aston Martin).

On lap 14 - the Haas of Nikita Mazepin was shown the black and white flags for exceeding track limits - the same flag was shown to Norris on lap 19, Schumacher (Haas) on lap 41 and then finally for Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) on lap 77.

The drama really kicked off on lap 30 of 78 when Hamilton was the first to blink by pitting first - he pitted from seventh and comes out eighth behind Perez. The next lap Bottas comes in for his stop from second and suddenly it all begins to unfold for the Finnish driver as the front right wheel - simply does not come off and puts Bottas out of a race he could potentially have won. This gifts Sainz second and Norris third - the places they would end up on the final lap.

On lap 34 Verstappen comes in for his stop and with a big enough gap to the rest he comes out comfortably still in first.

On lap 68 Hamilton pits once more to go for the fastest lap - he pits from seventh and stays seventh.

The next race is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.