| 13.30 | Welcome to F1-Live.com and our live coverage of the 78 lap Monaco Grand Prix. |
| 13.32 | Qualifying is more important at Monaco than any other circuit on the calendar as passing is all but impossible at the tight 3.340km circuit with records showing that in the last decade, the winner has started on the front row of the grid eight times. |
| 13.34 | That is good news for McLaren Mercedes and bad news for the rest of the field as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton line up first and second. The MP4-22 seems to be the car to have at Monaco and the battle in qualifying between Alonso and Hamilton was very close. |
| 13.36 | Alonso is chasing his second win with McLaren while Hamilton is chasing his first. No rookie driver has ever won the Monaco Grand Prix, but the feeling is that Hamilton certainly has the pace to take the battle to his illustrious team-mate. Key points will be the run down to Sainte Devote and who pits first... |
| 13.38 | Felipe Massa doesn’t seem to have the pace in his Ferrari to challenge the McLaren duo, but the back-to-back Grand prix winner will be right there to pick up the pieces should McLaren stumble for any reason. With just three points covering Hamilton, Alonso and Massa, there is a lot to play for and a lot to lose. |
| 13.40 | Giancarlo Fisichella starts a fine fourth for Renault. He has run well all weekend (in contrast to Kovalainen who has struggled all weekend) and should be a factor for a major points haul. Being Monaco, anything is possible however and Fisichella will be eyeing the final spot on the podium. |
| 13.42 | Nico Rosberg starts fifth for Williams Toyota and will be aiming for a strong race. He has the pace to get ahead of Fisichella but is unlikely to trouble the top three. After his sixth position in Spain, Rosberg will be aiming higher at Monaco. |
| 13.44 | Mark Webber had a trouble-free qualifying run to sixth position on the grid in his Red Bull Renault. The RB3 has proven fast in recent races, but there is a big question mark over reliability. 78-laps of Monaco will be tough going, but should he finish, Webber should be able to secure his first points with the team. |
| 13.46 | BMW Sauber has not shone this weekend, but both Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica will be looking to pick up points to maintain the team’s advantage over Renault in the standings. Over at Honda, Rubens Barrichello in particular has been running well and may be able to challenge and score his first point of the season from ninth on the grid ahead of Jenson Button. |
| 13.48 | Alex Wurz starts 11th in the second Williams and will be looking for a trouble free race and perhaps lower points finish, while Tonio Liuzzi has done well for Toro Rosso and starts 12th ahead of David Coulthard who was penalised for his actions in qualifying. Coulthard should be able to make up ground and has traditionally shown well at Monaco. |
| 13.50 | Jarno Trulli starts a disappointing 14th in the lead Toyota. Team-mate Ralf Schumacher is 20th and is unlikely to get anything out of his weekend while Heikki Kovalainen has struggled all weekend in the second Renault and starts 15th. |
| 13.52 | Kimi Raikkonen has it all to do from 16th position on the grid after clipping the barriers in qualifying. It is a case of damage limitation for the Finn as he aims to score a few points for his championship ambitions. For the Super Aguri duo, Scott Speed and the Spyker pair, a finish is the target. |
| 13.54 | Tyre and fuel strategy can play its part at Monaco. As passing is so hard on track, many people will be looking to gain track position during the pits stops. As ever, we do not know what fuel levels the front runners are carrying, but even a few laps difference can win or lose the race. |
| 13.56 | It is overcast but it is dry and there’s a huge crowd on hand. |
| 13.58 | The drivers are all in the cars while the crew are awaiting the one minute siren so they can fire up the engines. |
| 13.59 | The engines fire up and the grid is being cleared. |
| 14.00 | The parade lap is now underway as Alonso leads the field away from the dummy grid. All 22 seem to have got away okay. |
| 14.00 | The front runners are all on the harder tyre option as this has much better duranility than the super-soft. |
| 14.01 | The field are using the parade lap to try and keep some tyre temperature and to get some heat into the brakes. |
| 14.02 | Alonso lines up on his Pole Position and the rest of the field take up position. |
| Lap 1 | The Monaco Grand Prix is underway as the field charge down to Sainte Devote |
| Lap 1 | A clean start as Alonso leads Hamilton and Massa. |
| Lap 1 | Hamilton chasing hard exiting the tunnel as Massa is being left. |
| Lap 2 | Heidfeld made ground at the start and runs fifth as one of the Toro Rosso's has gone off and into teh Armco. |
| Lap 2 | Liuzzi lost the back end on the approch to Casino and hit the barriers with the right hand side. He is out of the race. |
| Lap 3 | Alonso backed off a lot under the waved yellow as Hamilton really closed in. He was taking no risks and the now the STR is removed by crane. |
| Lap 3 | Raikkonen is now 12th after starting 16th. |
| Lap 4 | Ralf Schumacher runs last in the Toyota behind Albers. |
| Lap 5 | Alonso pulls almopst a second on that lap and pulls out a 2s gap on Hamilton. |
| Lap 5 | Barrichello has moved up from the start from ninth while Button has lost a place. |
| Lap 6 | Alonso pulls out another fast lap and extends his lead. |
| Lap 7 | Rosberg lost a position at the start but is now right on the back of Heidfeld's BMW Sauber. |
| Lap 7 | The top three are not getting any closer, as the gaps are extending each lap. Massa has a large gap now to Fisichella. |
| Lap 8 | Raikkonen is still stuck behind Button in 12th |
| Lap 9 | Rosberg is continuing to put pressure on Heidfeld, but passing will be very hard. |
| Lap 11 | Alonso now has the gap out to four seconds. |
| Lap 11 | Hamilton does not seem to be in the groove as his lap times fluctuate quite a good deal. |
| Lap 11 | BMW started the race with the soft tyre and that helped Heidfeld at the start to get ahead of Rosberg but now he is struggling for pace a great deal. |
| Lap 12 | Heidfeld (5th) is backing up the field a great deal and is now 15s behind Fisichella. |
| Lap 13 | On the super soft tyres, Heidfeld is losing two seconds a lap. I don't know why they opted to do that as the tyres onlu last a few laps before going right off. |
| Lap 14 | Ralf Schumacher still runs last in the Toyota. |
| Lap 15 | Nothing much happening as Alonso continues to drop Hamilton. while Massa is a couple of seconds down in third. |
| Lap 16 | Heidfeld continues to struggle in fifth. Strange and rather spoling tactics from the German BMW racer as he is backing up about half of the field now. |
| Lap 17 | Alonso has now lapped Ralf Schumacher and Christijan Albers. |
| Lap 18 | The sun is now out and the threat of rain seems to be over. |
| Lap 19 | Alonso is now really in the traffic as he passes Sutil |
| Lap 19 | Webber pits from 8th position with a problem. He climbs out. |
| Lap 20 | Hamilton bangs in a fast lap and makes some slight gain on Alonso. |
| Lap 21 | Alonso lost a lot of time in traffic on that lap as the gap is suddenly down to three seconds. |
| Lap 21 | Hamilton is now in that traffic as he closes in in Trulli. |
| Lap 21 | Trulli doesn't get out of the way for a few turns and Hamilton loses the time he had gained. |
| Lap 22 | A massive moment for Alonso as he gets the car sideways in the ultra fast swimming pool section |
| Lap 23 | Alonso and Hamilton are now both on the ragged edge. |
| Lap 23 | Alonso and Hamilton are now trading fastest laps. |
| Lap 24 | Fisichella pits from fourth position. The first proper stop. |
| Lap 24 | Rosberg now pits his williams from sixth. Fisichella exits right behind Heidfeld which won't be good news for Renault. |
| Lap 25 | Hamilton gets the gap down to five seconds as Massa is falling back a little. |
| Lap 26 | Albers has pitted his Spyker but he is miles slower than Sutil this weekend. |
| Lap 26 | Alonso pits from the lead. Massa also pits. |
| Lap 27 | Clean stops as Hamilton takes over the lead. Massa took soft tyres. A strange decision. |
| Lap 27 | A big slide from Hamilton who is pushing hard and hoping to gain ground. |
| Lap 28 | These are key laps now for Hamilton who is pushing hard as Alonso gets up to speed. |
| Lap 29 | Fastest lap of the race from Hamilton but Alonso is also right on the pace on his new tyres. |
| Lap 29 | Rosberg lets Hamilton through by taking across the chicane giving Hamilton the racing line. |
| Lap 29 | Hamilton pits the McLaren and takes the hard tyres, the only tyre to race this afternoon. |
| Lap 30 | So Alonso has regained the lead from Hamilton |
| Lap 30 | Heidfeld has yet to pit and Fisichella is stuck behind him. |
| Lap 33 | Heidfeld pits his BMW Sauber from fourth position. |
| Lap 34 | Heidfeld exits behind Button and ahead of Raikkonen. |
| Lap 35 | Alonso and Hamilton remains close at the front while Massa has dropped way off on the soft tyres and is lapping 2s a lop slower. |
| Lap 36 | Massa is now half a minute down on the leader. Taking the soft tyres early may have been a mistake. However, the McLaren duo will have to take it at the end, but they will stay out as long as they can. |
| Lap 38 | Davidson (16th) has been handed a drive through penalty for ignoring the blue flags |
| Lap 38 | Davidson takes his penalty. |
| Lap 38 | Barrichello pits his Honda from fifth. |
| Lap 39 | Barrichello exits right in front of Hamilton. |
| Lap 39 | Now Davidson makes his first proper pit stop. |
| Lap 39 | Kubica (5th) has yet to pit. |
| Lap 40 | Kubica is pushing hard ahead of his first and only stop. |
| Lap 41 | Alonso is chasing Kubica to put him a lap down but now Kubica yields and allows the McLaren through |
| Lap 42 | Massa remains third and is actually getting some decent pace from the super soft tyres at the moment. It seems they drop off big time and then come back in a bit in terms of grip. |
| Lap 42 | Button pits his Honda from seventh |
| Lap 43 | Button exits ahead of Rosberg who really has lost ground in the first round of stops. Rosberg of course spebt the first stint stuck behind Heidfeld. |
| Lap 44 | Coulthard pits from 13th and is having some work done on the front wing. |
| Lap 45 | Alonso has got the gap out again to over seven seconds. He is in control and errors aside, he may have done enough to take the win now. |
| Lap 45 | Alonso extends the gap again. The question is how long he will have to run on the slower softer tyres in the final stint compared to Hamilton. |
| Lap 46 | Wurz pits from sixth position. |
| Lap 46 | Kovalainen has also pitted his Renault and teken soft tyres. He is not a factor today though. |
| Lap 46 | Kubica makes his one and only stop from fifth |
| Lap 48 | Trulli has slipped back in the race and is now 10s ahead of Ralf Schumacher. Neither have pitted but they have no pace anyway. |
| Lap 48 | Kubica rejoined in fifth so his one stop strategy has worked well. Raikkonen has yet to pit, so his seventh position at the moment is not secure. |
| Lap 49 | Raikkonen pits from seventh. |
| Lap 49 | Trulli pits his Toyota. |
| Lap 50 | Only the top four are on the lead lap. Alonso has the gap out to ten seconds now and Massa is half a minte back in third. |
| Lap 51 | Raikkonen is now 11th after his stop. A poor race from the Finn as he has made no real progress. |
| Lap 52 | Alonso pits from the lead. Ralf Schumacher also pitted. |
| Lap 52 | Alonso is now on the soft tyres, so this is the time that Hamilton should be able to gain a lot of time on the faster harder tyre. |
| Lap 52 | Alonso will have to oit but will stay out as long as he can |
| Lap 53 | Hamilton is pushing hard as he slides through the hairpin. |
| Lap 53 | Hamilton pits from the lead. |
| Lap 53 | Alonso regains the lead from Hamilton. That will be it for the battle for the lead. |
| Lap 55 | Massa remains third but 20s down on Hamilton. Fisichella is the same gap back in fourth while Kubica is fifth ahead of Nick Heidfeld. |
| Lap 56 | Massa pits and takes another set of softs. Fisichella has also pitted his Renault from fourth |
| Lap 56 | Sutil is stopped on track. He was 18th and he hit the barrier just as Liuzzi did at the start of the race. |
| Lap 58 | Alonso now has Hamilton right on his rear. The gap is suddenly a second. |
| Lap 59 | Hamilton is pushing hard, but will McLaren allow them to race to the flag? |
| Lap 60 | The McLaren duo run nose to tail but a second slower than Massa. |
| Lap 61 | Rosberg pits. His race has been very odd as he continues to slip back. |
| Lap 62 | Barrichello pits from eighth. Button pitted a lap ago. |
| Lap 63 | Correction, Button didn't pit but he needs to pit again as he has not run the soft tyre yet. Now he does pit. |
| Lap 64 | Raikkonen is now up to eighth position and on for a point. |
| Lap 65 | Raikkonen is pressuring Wurz for seventh position. |
| Lap 68 | The McLaren duo are lapping fast but not racing flat out. |
| Lap 72 | No changes althouygh Kubica has a moment in the hairpin and runs wide. |
| Lap 74 | Kubica seems to have a small problem, but he remains in fifth as Fisichella is lapped. |
| Lap 75 | Albers has pitted his Spyker Ferrari. He was last anyway. A retirement. |
| Lap 77 | Alonso on his way to the win now. |
| Lap 78 | Fernando Alonso wins the Monaco Grand Prix from Lewis Hamilton. |
| Lap 78 | Massa will finsih in third ahead of Fiscihella, Kubica, Heidfeld, Wurz and Raikkonen. |
| Lap 78 | Alonso secured the pole, the fastest lap and the race win. |
