Max Verstappen wins wet Monaco Grand Prix

Alonso finished 27.9 seconds behind the Red Bull driver with Esteban Ocon third for Alpine, as the Frenchman claimed only the third podium of his career.

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell took advantage of the rain to cross the line in fourth and fifth respectively for Mercedes.

Sergio Perez started last after he crashed out of qualifying and finished 16th following a terrible race for the Mexican driver which included five pit stops.

With Perez failing to score, Verstappen extended his lead in the standings from 14 to 39 points after six rounds of 22.

A dreary race suddenly burst into life on lap 51 as it started spitting at Casino Square, through Mirabeau and on the entry into the tunnel.

Verstappen held a 10-second lead over Alonso but, despite the rain, Aston Martin hauled the Spaniard in for his first stop of the day and elected to send him out on the dry rubber.

However, the spots of rain became heavier and Verstappen - now on 52-lap old slick tyres - had to tippy-toe his way back to the pits.

"I have to drive super-slow because my tyres are f*****," said Verstappen.

The Dutchman briefly lost control of his Red Bull on the entry to the tunnel, grazing the wall, before safely making it back to the pits to bolt on the intermediate tyres.

Aston Martin's call to send Alonso out on the dry tyres afforded Verstappen some much-needed breathing space, with the Spaniard back in on the following lap for the intermediate rubber. He managed to hang on to second, but was now 22 seconds down the road.

A lap earlier, Mercedes and Alpine had been the first to move from dry to wet tyres, propelling Hamilton above Carlos Sainz and Russell ahead of Charles Leclerc. Ocon remained in third.

Sainz then became the first of the major players to spin - losing control of his Ferrari under braking at Mirabeau, kissing the wall, and dropping him down the order.

The rain continued to fall and the chaos continued. Russell was hit with a five-second penalty after he ran off the road, and rejoined in front of Perez, causing the two men to make contact.

Lance Stroll hit the barriers twice and Haas' calamitous decision to keep Kevin Magnussen on slick tyres backfired as the Dane crunched the wall at Rascasse.

Up front and with Verstappen in control, Russell put the power down to ensure his penalty would have no effect on his result, and called on his Mercedes team to allow him past team-mate Hamilton to help his cause.

"I am just stuck right up Lewis' gearbox here," said Russell, but the Mercedes men did not trade positions. Russell took the chequered flag ten seconds clear to keep fifth.

Leclerc finished sixth, one place ahead of Pierre Gasly, with Sainz eighth and Lando Norris ninth for McLaren.

1 Max Verstappen NED Oracle Red Bull Racing 78 Laps
2 Fernando Alonso ESP Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant + 27.921s
3 Esteban Ocon FRA BWT Alpine F1 Team + 36.990s
4 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team + 39.062s
5 George Russell GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team + 56.284s
6 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari + 61.890s
7 Pierre Gasly FRA BWT Alpine F1 Team + 62.362s
8 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari + 63.391s
9 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team + 1 Lap
10 Oscar Piastri AUS McLaren F1 Team + 1 Lap
11 Valtteri Bottas FIN Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake + 1 Lap
12 Nyck de Vries NED Scuderia AlphaTauri + 1 Lap
13 Zhou Guanyu CHN Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake + 1 Lap
14 Alex Albon THA Williams Racing + 1 Lap
15 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri + 2 Laps
16 Sergio Perez MEX Oracle Red Bull Racing + 2 Laps
17 Nico Hulkenberg GER MoneyGram Haas F1 Team + 2 Laps
18 Logan Sargeant USA Williams Racing + 2 Laps
19 Kevin Magnussen DEN MoneyGram Haas F1 Team + 8 Laps
Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant DNF

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