F1: Lewis Hamilton wins 2016 Monaco Grand Prix

Mercedes Driver Lewis Hamilton won the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix after a close battle with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo finished second, mainly due to an elongated pit stop by the Red Bull crew & Hamilton running a longer stint on his initial set of tyres. This victory marks Hamilton’s first win in the 2016 Formula 1 season. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez from Force India managed to secure the third spot.

The 2016 Monaco GP started on a wet track, with Daniel Ricciardo at pole position. Heavy rains in Monaco ensured that the race began under a safety car. In the first minute of the race, Jolyon Palmer from Renault crashed out, bringing in yet another safety car. After a while, Kimi Raikkonen crashed his Ferrari into the hairpin barriers, breaking his front wing and thus being eliminated from the race. 

Up at the front, Daniel Ricciardo was displaying amazing driving skills as the Red Bull streaked ahead, with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton fighting it out for second place. Both the Mercedes drivers were around a mile behind Ricciardo. But after their infamous crash in the Spanish GP, the Mercedes boys showcased better communication and coordination. 

In Lap 16, Rosberg gave way to Hamilton and allowed him to attack Ricciardo (team orders?). Hamilton followed a unique and brave strategy of continuing on the full wets, even when the track was drying. This allowed him to avoid a tire change to inters (intermediate wets), and thus swap straight to slicks. 

On the other hand, Red Bull decided to put on intermediate tyres to Ricciardo’s car in Lap 23. But to the surprise of many, including Daniel, the crew wasn’t ready with the tyres when he came into the pits. This cost the Australian more than 10 seconds, enough for Hamilton to take away the lead.

With just 6 laps of the race remaining, Hamilton continued to stretch the lead from Ricciardo, and even clocked the race’s best lap time. In addition to the tyre swap stint with Daniel, Red Bull suffered another disappointment when its other driver, Max Verstappen, crashed out of the race while on ninth position.

After Monaco’s result, Nico Rosberg is still leading the World Championship with 106 points, though his team-mate Lewis Hamilton has come close with 82 points. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo is currently on third spot with 66 points to his name.