Lewis Hamilton rises to victory in Monaco menance

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton rose to victory in a dramatic Monaco Grand Prix after starting 3rd on the grid and running behind Ricciardo and Rosberg for almost 16laps to take his first victory of 2016 by risking a pit stop on a drying track and changing directly into the slicks.

The 2016 Monaco Grand Prix started behind the safety car with Ricciardo on the Redbull in pole as the conditions were treacherous due to heavy rain that was pouring. 

The race started only on Lap8 with Ricciardo pulling away cleanly while Rosberg struggling to keep up with the RedBull and Hamilton all over him. The race was filled with lots of accidents, clear ups and Virtual Safety Cars adding up to the rain in the tight and hard to overtake Monaco circuit.

Kyvat pitted for a new steering wheel, Palmer crashed on the start finish straight, Raikkonen ended his Ferrari losing front wing and Ricciardo flying away with the lead ahead of the Mercedes.

Hamilton tries everything to get ahead of his slow team mate but his efforts are curtailed. On Lap 16 Rosberg left room for his team mate to pass and from then on Hamilton started to pull away from Rosberg but kept up the distance to Ricciardo´s lead without losing much. 

As the track was drying all the drivers switched to intermediates from wets, Hamilton risked his chances and stayed out on the track waiting for the track to dry fully and change into slicks before the other drivers go in for change. Ricciardo catched up Hamilton and was trying to get ahead of him but Hamilton held up and kept him on bay. 

On lap 32 Hamilton dived into the pits to change into ultra softs and so did other drivers. Ricciardo pits too but to his nightmare his tryes were not ready and his team makes a blunder. 

While Ricciardo exit the pits Hamilton narrowly get ahead of the RedBull and gains the lead of the race. Initially Hamilton struggled to work his ultra softs to speed as Ricciardo was fully attacking him. Hamilton even missed the chicane out of the tunnel and instantly closed the door on Ricciardo and regaining his line.

Meanwhile Sergio Perez moves into 3rd with a brilliant strategy and Alonso moves into 5th ahead of Rosberg who suffered a slow pit stop. 

Ricciardo never stopped attacking but one of his attempts flat spotted his tyre and lost his pace. Verstappen on the other Redbull crashed after climbing up to 11th from starting last, Nasr and Erricson on the sauber collide after ignores a radio call to let Erricson pass. A plastic bag debris falls on the track bringing the VSC to clean it up.

In the previous restarts Ricciardo was attacking Hamilton but this Hamilton is comfortable ahead and managing the pace. Another short spell of rain was expected 8laps from the end as if to bring few more twists to the race. 

The expected rain didnt come up until the last lap and Hamilton on the Mercedes took a commanding victory ahead of RedBull of Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez coming third while Vettel crossed 4th.

Drama once again began as the rain started fall and drivers behind were struggling for grip and even Alonso missed a chicane and Rosberg tip-toeing only to lose his 6th position to Hulkenberg on the final straight. 

Sainz, Button and Massa complete the top 10.

Hamilton was jubilant with the stunning victory while Ricciardo was all dejected for getting screwed for the second time in a row by his team. Force India´s Sergio Perez dedicated the podium to his team boss Vijay Mallya.