Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton set the quickest race lap in Monaco, beating race winner Charles Leclerc by almost a second after his short run on a fresh set of tyres.

This year's Monaco GP did not see much in the way of action, and the top ten drivers finished exactly where they had started out, including Mercedes (in P5 and P7), who had decided to try a different strategy in their bid to achieve a podium or even victory. The Brackley-based outfit sent its drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on the hard Pirelli tyres into the race.

However, that decision turned out to be the wrong one with the heavy crash of Sergio Perez and the two Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen bringing out a red flag.

The stoppage propelled drivers to change the tyres that they started the race on for a fresh set of Pirellis to try to complete the remaining 77 laps of the 78-lap Monaco round on the same set of tyres. It was a rather unfortunate incident for those who started on the hards as they were forced to change to the mediums for a mammoth stint on the yellow-banded rubber.

Although he could have completed the race on his mediums, Hamilton decided to make the additional stop on Lap 51 and attempted with an undercut to get the drop on Max Verstappen, who was in front of him, but in vain - the Dutchman successfully defended his position with a super speedy inlap. That in turn put a lot of pressure on George Russell, as Red Bull's man then came storming after him on fresh tires.

However, the RB20's pace advantage on the narrow street circuit was not enough for an overtaking manoeuvre, and Russell clung on to P5. "I had everything under control," said the 26-year-old Brit after the race - he would have liked to have gone even faster but had to manage his tires.

As a consolation prize, Mercedes at least managed to post the fastest lap of the race, and for the second time in a row after Imola (with George Russell), the team took the extra point. The fresh Pirelli rubber allowed Hamilton to chase after the quickest race lap. The Briton went on to record a 1m14.165s on a fresh set of hard tyres. It was the first time this year that the Briton set the fastest race lap.

Despite also ending his race on a fresh set of hards, Verstappen was unable to beat Hamilton's benchmark, clocking a 1m14.569s on his best lap. Zhou Guanyu set the third-quickest lap which was only 553 thousands of a second behind Hamilton's benchmark.

Race winner Charles Leclerc recorded the sixth-quickest lap time with a 1m15.162s on Lap 71. The Monegasque looked to perform several attempts to post the fastest race laps in the closing stages of the race, but he was instructed by his race engineer Bryan Bozzi to bring his car home. Interestingly, his team-mate Carlos Sainz's best lap was by four tenths of a second quicker than what Leclerc managed.

So far this season, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc have set the best race lap in two races apiece, with Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton setting the benchmark in a single race apiece.

Lack of pit stops

As far as the pit stops are concerned, there was no hectic work in the pit lane after the red flag interruption prompted drivers to complete the rest of the race on the same set of tyres.

On a track where overtaking is almost impossible, all the drivers were intent on avoiding the loss of time and position incurred by a pit stop. The delta time in Monte Carlo is 19 seconds, partly because the narrow pit lane means that the maximum permissible speed is a stately 60 km/h instead of the usual 80. The only other circuits on the calendar where this reduced pit lane speed applies are Zandvoort and Singapore.

At 2.1 seconds, Verstappen's was the fastest of only seven regular stops completed in the course of the race. One of these was an additional out-of-turn repair stop by Lance Stroll after he had ruined his tires when he made contact with the wall due to a driving error.

Kick Sauber completed the second-quickest pit stop when servicing Zhou Guanyu in 2.51s while the Swiss team's other pit stop took 2.56s.

Following their pit stop troubles at the start of the year, Sauber's team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi was delighted with the improved performance, claiming that "our pit-stops today have been our fastest during the entire season so far.

"They were fast and consistent – something important as it shows that we can react and improve. Our most important target for the upcoming races is to improve in each and every area to bring us back into the fight for points.”

Hamilton pitted for a set of new hards in the closing stages of the race with his stop taking 2.55s. Williams driver Logan Sargeant was also one of the drivers to pit in Monaco with his tyre service taking 2.66s.