A purple first sector for Hamilton came to naught as he encountered heavy traffic in the second sector, while Leclerc popped in a big lap on his fourth tour with the soft tyre to drop into the 1:10s with a 1:10.953 to go almost three-tenths up on Verstappen.

Charles Leclerc finished ahead of the pack in last year's Monaco Grand Prix, but can he make it two wins in a row at Circuit de Monaco Sunday, May 25? He'll contend with a star-studded field that features past Monaco winners Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton,

Because overtaking is rare, the race can be dull. So the sport has ruled that two pit stops are now mandatory in a bid to spice things up.