F1: Sebastian Vettel wins Monaco Grand Prix – as it happened

Vettel, the race winner, speaks of Ferrari’s first win in Monaco since 2001. “It is a fantastic weekend for Ferrari,” he says. “I tried to push as hard as possible and I surprised myself a little to come out in front of Kimi.”

Raikkonen, meanwhile, is gutted. “It is second place but it does not feel that good. It is one of those days.” Thanks for your company this afternoon, here’s Giles Richards’s race report from Monte Carlo:

So, Vettel necks a drop or two of champagne. Raikkonen, though, hands on hips looks fuming. Nico Rosberg, a Monaco resident (very nice ... ) will interview Vettel on the podium.

And the Italian anthem to boot. They look they will be having helluva party tonight. the Ferrari mechanics in fine voice.

As for Mercedes, “will Lewis Hamilton push on from this?” emails Steve.

Vettel, Raikkonen and Ricciardo are cheered onto the swanky new Monaco podium, and it is time to celebrate in the only way they know how. Prince Albert hands the German the trophy. Raikkonen looks a little downbeat but it is a great day for Ferrari. Ricciardo, though, kisses his trophy, with Christian Horner smiling as he collects it down on the track. Here comes the Deutschlandlied, the German national anthem ...

So in the end it is Sebastian Vettel that leaps over the barrier to celebrate with his Ferrari team, but Raikkonen finishes second to ensure the constructor a one-two for the first time since the German GP in 2010. Daniel Ricciardo again raced well and he takes the final spot on the podium. Lewis Hamilton did superbly to overcome a difficult couple of days to end up in the points too.

Race result:

1 Vettel (Ferrari)

2 Raikkonen (Ferrari)

3 Ricciardo (Red Bull)

4 Bottas (Mercedes)

5 Verstappen (Red Bull)

6 Sainz (Toro Rosso)

7 Hamilton (Mercedes)

8 Grosjean (Haas)

9 Massa (Williams)

10 Magnussen (Haas)

It is a Ferrari one-two, with Kimi Raikkonen crossing the line in second. The celebrations are wild in the pits. “Yeeeessss,” yells Vettel. He is over the moon ...

Lap 78 of 78, final lap: “The battle is not over guys,” says Lewis Hamilton, presumably talking of the season ahead. He looks set to finish seventh, unless he can change anything on this final lap ...

Lap 77 of 78: We are into the penultimate lap at Monte Carlo, as Perez sets a new fastest lap of 1.15.017. That counts for nothing at this stage, though, with Hamilton still pushing sixth-placed Sainz. Will Vettel hold on to his comfortable lead to take victory?

Lap 76 of 78: It looks as though we are heading for a Ferrari one-two, as Vettel still leads Raikkonen out in front. In third is Ricciardo, then Bottas.

Lap 74 of 78: Max Verstappen continues to press Bottas but he cannot get close to enough. This is tough for Bottas, who is trying to keep swatting him away, with the Red Bull ready to prey on any errors..

And ... “Sadly, when is any day a good day at the office for McLaren?” asks an unforgiving Arthur Mitchell.

Lap 73 of 78: Lance Stroll’s Williams has been retired. We are down to just 13 cars left in this race now.

Lap 72 of 78: A disappointing finish for Danil Kvyat, whose race is over after Perez barges past him at Casino Square. Meanwhile, Perez did not appreciate the team orders to pit over the radio. “I need 200% concentration,” he yells.

Lap 71 of 78: Red Bull get a little lucky, after Ricciardo glances the barrier but his team report there is no damage to his car. The Australian has otherwise had an impressive race so far. Bottas asks “does it look comfortable?”, as the drivers fight to get their tyres back in the groove. “It will have been like driving on ice for those first few laps,” says David Coulthard.

Lap 70 of 78: We are approaching the business end of the race. Vettel still is out in front. Behind him is Ferrari team-mate Raikkonen, then there’s Ricciardo, Bottas, Verstappen, Sainz and Hamilton, whose in seventh.

Lap 69 of 78: Magnussen is being told he “can push like an animal” as he closes on Felipe Massa in 12th. The restart saw plenty of lock-ups and it has been a messy couple of laps for a few drivers.

Lap 68 of 78: A very tentative start as the cars attempt to get back up to speed. Stoffel Vandoorne crashes out at turn 1, prompting more yellow flags. His race is over and it is a bad day at the office for McLaren. A disappointing Monaco, but might Fernando Alonso prosper for them in the Indy 500 this evening?

Lap 67 of 78: There will be a couple of intriguing duels as the safety car shoots off: Vettel v Raikkonen, Ricciardo v Bottas and Verstappen v Sainz. As for Hamilton, can he continue to surge through the group? “Come on, Max, let’s get stuck into Bottas,” Verstappen is told.

Lap 66 of 78: Both Saubers are out of this race then. Meanwhile, Wehrlein is up on his feet after that incident with Button.

Lap 65 of 78: Marcus Ericsson in the other Sauber has crashed passing the safety car. A bizarre one, and his race is finished. “What happened?” asks his team engineer. He was not doing anything illegal, race control had announced lapped cars could overtake but he got it all wrong.

Lap 64 of 78: “I am losing a lot of brake power,” says Lance Stroll. “I don’t know what to do, please help me.” That is not too encouraging for the 15th-placed Williams.

Lap 63 of 78: Great news: Pascal Wehrlein jumps out of his car and he looks to be OK. Hopefully he has not aggravated that neck injury. He is off to the medical centre to be checked out.

Lap 62 of 78: The yellow flags are still being waved. Vettel asks about Wehrlein. “No problem, he’s OK,” says his engineer.

Lap 61 of 78: Jenson Button is out of his car too. He looks to have gone flying into Wehrlein as he went to overtake. Wehrlein was pretty helpless and Button’s race is also over.

“I would be better if I could jump out,” Wehrlein tells the team radio. He’s trapped by the barrier it seems. Great news that he is OK.

Lap 60 of 78: The safety car is out and the yellow flags are being waved by the track marshall. It is the Sauber of Wehrlein, just after that bit of drama, who has crashed into the barriers. Hopefully he is all OK.

Meanwhile, Verstappen has come into the pits.

Lap 59 of 78: Sergio Perez has a moan about Wehrlein blocking him. He was not too impressed with that. Not a lot else is happening at the back of the grid. Unsurprisingly in many ways, we are yet to see a single overtaking manoeuvre. There’s still time, though.

Lap 58 of 78: Vettel leads from Raikkonen now by 12.6secs. In third is Ricciardo, then Bottas, Verstappen, Sainz and then Hamilton in seventh. All to play for ...

Lap 57 of 78: Hamilton has done superbly to close that gap to Sainz in sixth. Mercedes say the “track is breaking up” approaching turn one. That doesn’t sound too good. This is, however:

Lap 56 of 78: There’s a lot to play for in the remaining chunk of this race. Vettel is looking more and more comfortable out in front. Hamilton is told his pace “is very good”. He’s the fastest out there at present ...

Lap 55 of 78: Raikkonen is 11 seconds behind race leader Sebastian Vettel. Ricciardo, in third, trails the Finn by less than three seconds. Hamilton continues to push forward, setting his fastest lap to date.

Lap 54 of 78: Bottas is told a “raised manhole cover” is causing a few punctures on the track. He has been warned. Meanwhile, if Grosjean can continuet to make decent progress than Haas have every chance of their first points in Monaco.

Lap 53 of 78: Ricciardo is told that on the previous lap, he was 1.5secs quicker than Raikkonen, who remains just in front of him. 1. Vettel, 2. Raikkonen, 3. Ricciardo, 4. Bottas, 5. Verstappen.

Lap 52 of 78: Ocon, Ericsson and Palmer allow those quicker to bypass them. Ricciardo has had another good lap, and the gap between the Australian and Raikkonen is now down to less than 4.5secs. The Iceman is cooling.

Lap 49 of 78: More good progress by Sainz and Kvyat, both amongst the points, in sixth and ninth respectively. Team principle of Red Bull, Christian Horner, has been speaking. He says: “Unfortunately Max lost about three tenths in the pit-stop, Bottas then had to cover Max to open things up for Daniel, who has had the net-benefit from it.

“You are going to get winners and losers out of any strategic call: it was made in the best interests of getting ahead of Bottas. The cold facts in front of them, it is relatively easy to explain but when they are out there on a hot track, it is not so easy.”

Lap 47 of 78: Hamilton pits ... it is nice and slick, and he comes out of the pits in seventh, behind Sainz and ahead of Grosjean. Mercedes will take that.

Lap 46 of 78: Ferrari in a very good place here. They are on target for a 25-point maximum as it stands. Hamilton’s fate is difficult to know until he pits. So far, he’s shown plenty of mettle to give himself half of chance of an exciting finish. His brother, Nicolas Hamilton, is in the pits cheering on his brother.

Lap 45 of 78: Jenson Button has struggled to make any real progress: that 15-place penalty has made his job this afternoon incredibly difficult.

Lap 44 of 78: Vettel leads Raikkonen by five seconds. Hamilton, in sixth, remains amongst the points for now.

Lap 43 of 78: Sixth-placed Hamilton has stayed out there so far without pitting. Everybody else around him, except Vandoorne behind him, has stopped. Jolyon Palmer pits for a second time in his Renault. He’s on his way with another set of supersoft tyres.

Lap 42 of 78: Ocon insists “he did not touch anything” as he leaves the pits. Button comes in for a second stop – he will do well to finish this anything but last.

Lap 41 of 78: Max Verstappen is not a happy bunny. He fires a few expletives down the team radio when he learns of Ricciardo’s stop. Sebastian Ocon, on the other hand, has a puncture to his Force India.

Lap 40 of 78: Vettel sets a fastest lap, as Ricciardo exits the pits, in front of Bottas and Verstappen to take back third. Vettel himself now enters the pits. It’s a smooth stop, at 3.1secs and he comes out of the pits, in front of Raikkonen. It is role reversal for the two Ferraris.

Lap 39 of 78: Sainz pits, and he’s on to the supersoft tyres. He is a real chance of getting his hands on some points this afternoon. Magnussen, too, has just exited the pits. With all this going on, Hamilton is now up to seventh. We are at the halfway mark ...

Lap 38 of 78: Vettel, the race leader is due a pit-stop soon. Ricciardo comes in to pit as Raikkonen sets a modestly fast lap. This is a critical stage of this Monaco GP.

Lap 37 of 78: Ricciardo shaves a few more seconds to record another fastest lap. He’s had a good last couple of minutes. “You’re doing a very good job, your pace is excellent,” is the message to the Australian down the team radio.

Lap 36 of 78: Perez is not enjoying himself out there. His team tell him they need to change tact. Raikkonen is back out of the pits, he’s third, with Ricciardo in between him and his team-mate, Vettel.

Lap 35 of 78: Vettel leads, for now at least ... as Ricciardo sets a new fastest lap of 1.16.117.

Lap 34 of 78: Verstappen was going quick, he set a fastest final sector and the other Red Bull of Ricciardo seems to be making some ground. Raikkonen now pits ...

Lap 33 of 78: The chess begins ... with Bottas now pitting. The battle between Mercedes and Red Bull goes on. That was a good clean stop by Bottas, who nips just in front of Verstappen.

Lap 32 of 78: Button has been on the team radio once more. This is all a bit painful for him. Meanwhile, Verstappen comes into the pits, with Bottas still out there in third. He ought to come out in front of Grosjean, who is seventh. Bottas is told to “push hard” while Verstappen is in the pits.

Lap 31 of 78: Approaching the halfway mark, and we are yet to see any real movement, no significant signals of intent. Hamilton, for one, has been told to bide his time as the race goes on.

Lap 29 of 78: Verstappen makes a mistake as he comes out of the chicane but he gets away with it. Might we see a few cars coming in to pit shortly?

Lap 28 of 78: A very clean race so far. Only Hulkenberg has had any real issues, with his afternoon ending prematurely. The race length in time is likely to be around 1hr 50mins, if it continues without any snags.

Lap 27 of 78: That gap is now less than a second between the top two. They both fly through the chicane, past Button.

Lap 26 of 78: 1.1secs separates Raikkonen and Vettel as they both start to lap a bit of traffic. Kimi wants a blue flag, but he is not having things all his way.

Lap 25 of 78: Marcus Ericsson is not best pleased, “it is so difficult to drive this car” he says of his Sauber. He is wobbling all over the shop out there.

Lap 24 of 78: Hamilton says his “car is all over the place”. Is that his tyres causing him problems? He continues to shave milliseconds off the gap between he and Danil Kvyat, though.

Lap 23 of 78: Bottas looks as though he has nowhere to go and is doubtless waiting for the two Ferraris to pit. Lance Stroll in the Williams has just kissed the advertising hoardings strapped to the barriers.

Lap 22 of 78: A quick update on who’s where then: 1. Raikkonen, 2. Vettel, 3. Bottas, 4. Verstappen 5. Ricciardo, 6. Sainz Jr, 7. Grosjean, 8. Magnussen, 9. Kvyat, 10. Hamilton.

Lap 20 of 78: A new fastest first sector on the track for Valtteri Bottas who is 6.8secs off the pace of the race leader. Vettel is 1.6secs behind his Ferrari team-mate.

Lap 19 of 78: Hamilton is gaining on ninth-placed Kvyat. He is around 1.8secs behind him at present. In terms of the whole race. we are not seeing too many lock-ups on the track.

Lap 18 of 78: So Hulkenberg is this race’s first casualty. Hamilton moves into 10th now Perez has pitted. A busy couple of laps, and the Briton is, for now, up into the points. Perez’s front wing looked to have clipped another car and it was dragged on the tarmac before he came in to sort that.

Lap 17 of 78: Hulkenberg has a “major gearbox problem” and his race is over. Kvyat nips in to take 10th spot as a result, Hamilton is now in 11th. Meanwhile, Perez is in the pits to change that front wing.

Lap 16 of 78: Another lap goes by, Kvyat says Nico Hulkenberg in front of him is losing some oil. There is smoke coming from the back of his Renault, and it does not look too good that’s for sure.

Lap 14 of 78: Raikkonen right now continues to set the agenda. That pole position yesterday was absolutely priceless, with the Ferrari holding all the cards. He has not needed to even peer into his mirrors to glance at Vettel. Not yet, anyway.

Lap 13 of 78: And the damage is a five-second time-penalty for Pascal Wehrlein for an unsafe release from the pit. Verstappen, meanwhile, spews a few frustrated words down the team radio.

Lap 12 of 78: Little drama so far in Monaco, but plenty of frustration. Raikkonen is still out in front, while Button remains the back marker as such.

Lap 11 of 78: Things are settling down a little bit. What is the plan for Ferrari this afternoon? Is Vettel going to push and try to unsettle Kimi. He is their man when it comes to the world championship title after all.

Lap 10 of 78: Button says Wehrlein is already struggling in front of him. He sounds pretty dejected. Perez has a bit of plate damage on his Force India but he appears to be coping.

Lap 9 of 78: The cars rattle around lap eight, and in the early stages, it is a case of so far so good for Kimi Raikkonen, who is on holding on to a 2.3 second lead to his team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton remains stuck down in 12th for now.

Lap 7 of 78: A message from race control, who sayt they are investigating an “incident involving the cars of Button and Wehrlein”, an “unsafe release”.

Lap 6 of 78: Raikkonen continues to lead from the front, despite shaving the barrier on the penultimate corner, with Vettel behind. 3rd, three seconds off the Finn is Bottas.

Lap 5 of 78: “It is hard to get close to these guys,” says Hamilton. The race “comes later” says his Mercedes race engineer.

Lap 4 of 78: Magnussen has gained two places up to move up into ninth, Raikkonen sets a new fastest lap of 1.17.072. He’s going for it.

Lap 3 of 78: Race leader Raikkonen is just over a second in front of Vettel. Hamilton is chasing Kvyat in 11th. Meanwhile, DRS has been enabled.

Lap 2 of 78: Wehrlein and Button, who both started on the back row, have already come into pit. That was obviously scheduled and they will not have plans to pit again after that.

Lap 1 of 78: Button starts from the pit lane. Hamilton, meanwhile, has already gained a place and he is up into 12th. A great start for the British driver.

Fernando Alonso has a quick word for Jenson Button, from Indianapolis. Button tells the Spaniard “I will pee in your seat”. Superb, and brilliant technology too, eh?

We are just a couple of minutes away from the off. It is an absolutely stonking day in Monte Carlo for the most glamorous race in the calendar. Raikkonen, who starts on pole, has not won at Circuit de Monaco since 2005.

The F1 drivers, suits and other guests gather on the grid for a minute’s silence, in respect of those who lost their lives in this week’s Manchester bombing.

Felipe Massa, who starts 14th on the grid says today he will “need a lot patience”, laughing. It is going to be mightily hard to nip in and overtake this afternoon. Esteban Ocon is struggling to get to his car, battling past A-listers as he goes. Jolyon Palmer says he will “try and move forward but it’s going to be tricky”. And Sergio Pérez meanwhile, is hoping “for the perfect start” because “90% of the race is about the first corner”.

Hopping from celebrity to celebrity, broadcasters are having a filled day on the grid. There are drivers with their cars too. Lindsey Vonn is talking about her “friend, Lewis Hamilton”. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, is stood in the shade. There is a brand spanking new podium at the circuit too. Who will be celebrating up there later on?

The retired Nico Rosberg, in a swanky grey blazer, is one of many guests in Monaco. There’s R2-D2 and Serena Williams too. “It reminds me of my younger days,” the 31-year-old says of being back besides the track. “Growing up I was a massive fan of our sport and now I have just gone back to that, with a stint of racing in between.”

Lewis Hamilton has been speaking, and he does not sound quite so defeatist this morning. “I think with the result that we had yesterday to end the season and be up ahead would be magical,” he says. “It was already going to be very, very hard to beat the Ferraris because they are so fast, but without a doubt I have so much confidence in my team. There is still a long, long way to go. If we are able to come back from such a feat it would be the greatest reward.”

Look, this photo by Jamey Price of Nico Hulkenberg’s car from yesterday’s session is just brilliant: