Ricciardo fends off Vettel for victory

Daniel Ricciardo drove a masterful race to fend off Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari and win the Monaco Grand Prix in a stricken Red Bull.

The Australian dominated the weekend and led from pole but shortly after his only pit stop suffered a power loss at one-third distance.

Ricciardo managed to hold off Vettel for the remaining 59 laps, as Lewis Hamilton took third in his Mercedes.The result means Hamilton leads Vettel by 14 points in the championship.

Ricciardo moves into third place, 38 points adrift.

Redemption for Ricciardo

Ricciardo had said in the build-up to the race that he felt Monaco owed him a win, following the pit-stop bungle that cost him victory in 2016, but admitted he would have to “earn it”.

His words turned out truer than he could have imagined at the time, as a race that had looked to be turning into a relatively easy cruise suddenly became filled with jeopardy.

“Two years later I finally feel like redemption has arrived,” Ricciardo said.

“We had a lot to deal with during the race. I felt loss of power and I thought the race was done. I got home just using six gears. Thanks to the team I got it back.

“There were a few doubts getting it to the end of the race but we won Monaco.” (BBC Sport)