Lewis Hamilton won a thrilling Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, in the process slashing team- mate Nico Rosberg's lead in the Formula One world championship from 43 points to 24.

It was Hamilton’s first win since he taking his third world championship last October in Austin, Texas. He brought to an end a miserable run of luck this season.

It was also Hamilton’s 44th victory – his favourite number.

Hamilton had to hold off a persistent challenge from Daniel Ricciardo, and the Red Bull driver looked the quicker man at times. But the Australian paid the penalty for a bungled pit stop that cost him victory when his team did not appear ready for him to come in.

Ricciardo finished second, but once again can consider himself unlucky in a difficult season for him.

Tyres falling off

The key to Hamilton’s win was the decision to keep him on wets for as long as possible before switching to slicks at the end of the 31st lap.

“The tyres were falling off in the last lap,” Hamilton said. “I prayed for a day like this and I feel blessed.”

Ricciardo’s second stop put him on slower intermediate rubber, but he was still able to put Hamilton under intense pressure.

“It’s the second week in a row that I’ve been screwed,” an angry Ricciardo said later. “I got called in by the team, so they should have been ready. I don’t want to talk about the race.”

The Red Bull team blamed the blunder on a “miscommunication”, and it cost Ricciardo his first victory in nearly two years.

Ricciardo had started on pole and attempted to pass Hamilton after the world champion made a mistake at the chicane. But the Briton afforded him little room.

“What the f***? was that?” asked a furious Ricciardo as he waved his hand at Hamilton. The incident was subsequently investigated by the stewards, who took no further action.

Nico Rosberg had a poor race and was overtaken by Nico Hülkenberg just before the end. So he took only six points from the race to Hamilton’s 25.

Conditions appeared to worsen in the minutes leading up to the start, and it seemed a wise move to start the action behind a safety car.

It finally came in at the end of the seventh lap, when the race proper got under way.

The difficulty of the conditions was obvious straight away, when Jolyon Palmer lost control of his Renault and crashed out. Max Verstappen, Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat also had crashes, as did the Sauber pair of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.

Ricciardo, who was on pole, immediately began to pull away, and Hamilton looked frustrated behind a slow Rosberg.

Slow Rosberg

The winner here for the past three years, Rosberg was incredibly slow in the early wet conditions, losing nearly 10 seconds to Ricciardo in the opening four laps after the safety car pitted at the end of lap seven.

He was told to move out of Hamilton’s way by his Mercedes team and eventually slipped to sixth in the order. That is where Rosberg seemed poised to finish, but he was passed in the closing stages by Force India’s Hülkenberg, finishing the race in seventh.

Hamilton showed what he is capable of by pulling out two purple laps, and after only four laps he was 10.3 seconds ahead of Rosberg. So he deserved his win after such a difficult season – but it was hard not to feel sorry for Ricciardo. – Guardian service