Sergio Pérez triumphs in Monaco GP as Charles Leclerc fumes at botched stop

Sergio Pérez took victory at the Monaco Grand Prix after a race in treacherous wet conditions, decided in moments of intense strategic decision-making where his Red Bull team pulled off a coup against Ferrari. He beat Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz into second place while the Spaniard’s teammate Charles Leclerc, who had started from pole, managed only fourth behind his title rival Max Verstappen.

Mercedes also struggled, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell making little progress from their starting positions, finishing in fifth and eighth respectively.

Pérez’s first win at Monaco is the third of his career and his second for Red Bull, having taken the flag at Baku last year. It is just the comeback the Mexican would have wanted, unhappy at being told to move over for Verstappen in Spain and having crashed in qualifying on Saturday. He looks more and more confident in his car and with a team who have been executing their plans with precision over recent races.

To take victory over Ferrari on a track where the Scuderia had looked to have the upper hand was quite an achievement and, crucially, has ensured Verstappen has further extended his lead over Leclerc in the championship fight. He now enjoys a nine-point advantage, while Pérez is in third place, 15 points behind his teammate.

For Leclerc, the inability to convert pole into a win will be a disappointment but he has at least finally ended his Monaco curse: until Sunday he had failed to finish in any of his five races there.

Rain had begun falling heavily, delaying the start delaying by 16 minutes and meaning the cars opened on full wet tyres, doing two formation laps behind the safety car, before it was stopped as the downpour grew increasingly heavy.

Fortunately the rain