F1: Monaco Grand Prix – live!

Lap 27/78: Verstappen is chasing down Hamilton at this point. This has not been comfortable for Hamilton with just under two-thirds of the race to come. With his tyres, the champion doesn’t want to have to push things too far.

Lap 25/78: The rain coming down would help Hamilton rather than his four chasers, on harder tyres than him. There are a few spots coming down. It remains to be seen how much will come down and how that will affect tyre strategies. Verstappen is told by his team of his penalty. The advice is to overtake Hamilton and ride off into the sunset…

Lap 23/78: Max Verstappen gets a five-second penalty for that pit clash with Bottas. Seems like a significant amount of negotiating went on for a lenient penalty. He either accepts five seconds in the pits or has it taken off at the end. He is in second, and now must try to chase down Hamilton.

Lap 21/78: Lewis Hamilton is asking about his tyres, with the rest of the leaders on kinder tyres than him. His won’t last the distance if he has to go full throttle. Bottas seems to be feeling better on his tyres. Vettel is lying in wait.

Lap 19/78: It’s all over for Leclerc. It has been a dreadful weekend for him, from his team making a mess of qualifying, and then the prang he got involved in when risking all and then the one he couldn’t avoid that ended his day. He is disconsolate as he climbs out of his car, which will need a bit of work to be repaired. Having to drive on this didn’t help.

Lap 18/78: Charles Leclerc has been in again. The floor of his car is wrecked. “The car is extremely difficult to drive,” he says. “I don’t want to give up but…” The end is surely coming for him.

Lap 16/58: A prang at Ras Cas. George Russell, Leclerc, Giovanazzi, Perez and Kubica all involved with Leclerc coming into the back of them. This is not Leclerc’s day at all. He ended up running into traffic. They get back underway before Hamilton et al catch them up.

Lap 15/78: Bottas has tyres that will take him to end and Verstappen surely has a stop penalty coming. The field is crawling through the track with the safety car in front of them, before they can begin again at the start of the next lap. Hamilton speeds into the lead. Leclerc is dead last.

Lap 13/78: Bottas is coming back into the pits, looks like running repairs might be needed but there is no sign of a puncture. Leclerc can be heard telling his team that the floor on his car has gone. The top four all pitted and are out the other side, with Verstappen and Vettel ahead of Bottas but Verstappen possibly facing a penalty.

Lap 12/78: Hamilton came in for a pit during the safety car lap, and then Verstappen and Bottas clash in the pits and touched. Verstappen comes out in front. The Mercedes had to double-stack and paid the price. That has cost them a place. Meanwhile, stewards are still cleaning up the track. Looks like Verstappen pulled an illegal move in coming out in front of Bottas. This is chaos.

Lap 11/78: Leclerc goes in and comes out in 20th place, having been lapped by the field. The car took a buffeting from his recklessness with a bad tyre. The floor came off his car and has made a mess on the track. A safety car is required to clear up the mess.

Lap 9/78: Oh no! Leclerc almost came off, but just as he was going to overtake Hulkenberg, his car hit the barrier and span. He has a puncture now. Is that his charge at at end? He drops down to 18th. His tyre is shredded and down to the bone. He has to come into the pits.

Lap 8/78: The top four are lapping at four seconds per lap faster. Leclerc’s charge is being slowed by Grosjean’s defensive tactics but this time he gets past to take 12th, at Ras Cas corner. Fearless stuff from him. All the action with the local hero at the moment.

Lap 6/78: The tight streets keeping this a tight race, as Leclerc is now in 13th, and looking at getting at Grosjean. He is on medium compound tyres which favour the rain. Up ahead, Ferrari teammate Vettel has lost five seconds on Hamilton in fourth. The real race is backed up behind Daniel Riccardo.

Lap 4/78: Bottas and Hamilton are at close quarters. Watching a replay of Leclerc taking over Norris, and good news for him is that he will not face a penalty for his transgression at the start when cutting a corner on Grosjean. That he dropped back meant he didn’t get a penalty.

Lap 2/78: Hamilton starts to open up a lead. On that opening lap, Riccardo got past Magnussen to claim fifth. Lando Norris lost places on that lap, too.

Hamilton gets away well, and Bottas and Verstappen tangle but the Finn stays in second. Leclerc took the inside lane, which is not allowed. Kimi Räikkönen and Lance Stroll clash but seem to OK.

The word is that there is a 90 percent chance of rain. That may add a bit of excitement: Mercedes are going for their sixth successive 1-2 here.

Liam “Ser Davos” Cunningham has just done a Game of Thrones/F1 interstitial. He strayed into Geordie even though he is now actually allowed to be Irish again.

Max Verstappen speaks at a chaotic start. His Honda team have their first top three grid position since the 2006 Chinese GP: “It is part of Formula One. You just get in the car and try to do your thing. It is hard to overtake but we will do our best.”

The pit lane is a sea of red caps, all in tribute to Niki Lauda. It is overcrowded down there. “Mercedes has to win,” says Jackie Stewart, adorned by red cap. “If you are driving well, it is difficult to overtake.”

Thirty years ago, Ayrton Senna won at Monaco with two gears, after learning a harsh lesson the year before.

And an interview with Charles Leclerc, whose push for home glory will have to wait until next year, probably. If it doesn’t, this would be one of the greatest drives of all.

Here’s Giles Richards’ story of Saturday’s emotional qualifying session.

For many of the drivers, this is a drive around a neighbourhood that offers them tax benefits, a nice sea view and ready access to France or Italy. To the rest of us in the lumpen proletariat, it is a whistle-stop tour through unimaginable opulence, a whiff of James Bond and yachts beyond the wildest dreams of all but Charles Freer in Howard’s Way.

Monaco is the most famous grand prix of all, one in which the recipe for success is getting in front and staying there, usually from qualifying. Lewis Hamilton is on pole, which gives him a great chance of repeating his success in the Spanish Grand Prix, and extending his leadership at the top of the drivers’ championship.

That he is unlikely to be chased down by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is a pity. The only Monégasque in the field had a nightmare in qualifying and begins 15th on the grid.

This renewal, meanwhile, will be a celebration of the three-times world champion Niki Lauda, who passed away this week, a winner of the race in 1975 and 1976, and someone associated with Ferrari, McLaren and latterly Mercedes, of whom he was part-owner of the team, and a constant presence in the pit lane, garage and back rooms of the sport.

Here are the grid positions.