Lewis Hamilton wins Monaco Grand Prix in the spirit of Lauda

TIL Desk Sports/ Lewis Hamilton won the Monaco Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday, nursing his car’s worn tyres to the finish in a nail-biting victory worthy of the team’s late great Niki Lauda. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was runner-up, ending Mercedes’s run of five successive one-two finishes, with Hamilton’s team mate Valtteri Bottas third.

Max Verstappen crossed the finish line second for Red Bull but dropped to fourth due to a five-second penalty imposed for an earlier unsafe release and collision with Bottas in the pitlane.

“That was definitely the hardest race I’ve had but nonetheless I really was fighting with the spirit of Niki,” said Hamilton, who dived into the trackside swimming pool after the podium formalities.

“I know he will be looking down and taking his hat off. I was trying to stay focused and make him proud,” he added of the Austrian, the triple world champion and Mercedes team’s non-executive chairman, who died on Monday aged 70.