2016 F1 Round 6 Monaco Grand Prix – Hamilton beats Ricciardo in wet-to-dry race

Hamilton won the Monaco Grand Prix on May 29, completing 78 laps in 1:59:29.133 and finishing 7.252 seconds ahead of Ricciardo. Pérez took third and Vettel fourth. The race began behind the safety car on a wet track, which gradually dried.

Archive photograph of the podium at the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

The safety car came in at the end of lap 7, and pole-sitter Ricciardo immediately built a lead. Rosberg was slow with suspected brake glazing, holding up Hamilton for a time. Mercedes instructed Rosberg to let his team-mate through on lap 16, allowing Hamilton to begin chasing Ricciardo.

As the rain eased, Ricciardo switched to intermediate tyres on lap 23. Hamilton stayed on full wets and changed directly to ultrasoft slicks on lap 31. Red Bull then prepared supersoft tyres for Ricciardo, but a communication error meant they were not ready for his stop. He rejoined behind Hamilton.

On lap 37, Hamilton cut the chicane while passing a backmarker, giving Ricciardo a chance to attack at the exit. Hamilton held the position. After investigating, the stewards ruled his defence legal and imposed no penalty. Ricciardo was unable to get close enough to challenge for the lead again.

Pérez and Vettel fought for third in the closing stages. Hamilton, Ricciardo, Pérez and Vettel all set fastest laps at different points. Pérez ultimately secured the podium place, with Vettel fourth. Hülkenberg passed Rosberg at Rascasse on the final lap to take sixth, leaving Rosberg seventh.

Alonso finished fifth, Sainz eighth, Button ninth and Massa tenth. Button held off Massa’s pursuit, while the Williams driver claimed the final point. Bottas finished eleventh on the road but was later penalised for a collision with Gutiérrez.

On lap 8, after racing resumed, Palmer lost control after running over a white line on the pit straight and crashed. On lap 11, Räikkönen ran wide at the hairpin and damaged his front wing, then retired in the chicane escape road. Verstappen crashed near Casino Square on lap 34 and failed to finish.

After Kvyat and Magnussen collided at Rascasse, Magnussen pitted for a new front wing and continued, while Kvyat subsequently retired. Magnussen later crashed on his own at Mirabeau and also retired. The Saubers collided at Rascasse, with both Nasr and Ericsson retiring. Bottas’s ten-second penalty promoted Gutiérrez to eleventh and dropped Bottas to twelfth. Wehrlein received a total of twenty seconds in penalties for two separate infringements.