Charles Leclerc finally broke his Monaco Grand Prix curse on Sunday as Red Bull had an off weekend with Max Verstappen sixth and Sergio Perez crashing out on the first lap.

Leclerc ended years of frustration at his home race by taking the jewel in the Formula One calendar from pole at his third attempt.

A tearful Leclerc said: “No words can explain this. It means a lot, it’s the race that made me dream of becoming a F1 driver.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri followed the man from Monaco across the line with Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari in third.

Leclerc had started at the front of the grid at the circuit he used to travel along on the bus to school as a kid in 2021 and 2022 only for misfortune to stop him winning on both occasions.

With Ferrari now a much smoother run ship under Fred Vasseur this was a far slicker Ferrari team than then, and Leclerc dictated the pace perfectly from the front, until the end of the first lap.

Perez spun after being hit hard from behind by Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.

Nico Hulkenberg in the other Haas was a third innocent casualty.

The race on the narrow streets of the Principality was interrupted for around 30 minutes to allow debris to be cleared off the circuit.