2017 Monaco Grand Prix

Championship standings

Vettel holds a six-point lead over Hamilton. In the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes leads Ferrari by eight points, with Red Bull Racing a further eighty-one points behind in third.

Previous race

At Barcelona, Hamilton won after overtaking Vettel on lap 44 on the pit straight. Bottas retired with an engine failure while running second; Ricciardo inherited third for his first podium of the season. Räikkönen and Verstappen both retired at the start following a multi-car collision that also punctured Massa’s tyre and forced Alonso off the road.

Entrants

Fernando Alonso misses the race to compete in the Indianapolis 500, becoming the first active Formula One driver to race at Indianapolis since Teo Fabi in 1984. Jenson Button returns from his sabbatical to substitute for Alonso. This is Button’s first race start since the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Before the national anthem, a minute’s silence is observed on the grid in memory of the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing earlier in the week.

Milestones

Button’s start will be the 306th of his Formula One career.

Practice

In Thursday’s first practice, Hamilton set the quickest lap at 1:13.425 — approximately 0.2 seconds ahead of championship rival Vettel. Verstappen was third; Toro Rosso’s Kvyat was the fastest driver outside the top three teams in sixth. In FP2, Vettel went quickest at 1:12.720, with Ricciardo, Räikkönen and Kvyat behind; Mercedes struggled, finishing eighth and tenth. The session was stopped for ten minutes after a crash by Stroll.

Saturday’s FP3 ended with Vettel fastest at 1:12.395 — a new lap record — with Räikkönen 0.3 seconds behind. The session was interrupted eight minutes in when Ocon crashed in the swimming pool section. Ricciardo had a brake-by-wire failure and ended the session sixth. Button finished twelfth but incurred a fifteen-place grid penalty for changing the MGU-H and turbocharger.