Good afternoon, all, and welcome to our LIVE coverage of the Monaco Grand Prix. We get under way in one hour round that famous twisty, turning track, with Lewis Hamilton starting on pole.

Ricciardo wants to know how well he's doing, and he's reassured that he's faster than everyone around him at the moment.

Stevens is now three laps behind at the back of the field.

Vettel is closest to pressuring a rival, but even he's two seconds behind Rosberg.

Alonso's problem was temperature-related, it seems, with elements overheating.

To be honest, there's not much of huge interest going on - the field is spread, and nobody is really pressing to move up a place.

Fernando Alonso is looming in brooding fashion around the garage, gulping water to rehydrate.

Lots of complaining over the radio about the blue flags and the backmarkers, which is a bit of a theme so far this season.

Will Stevens is dropping back at the end of the field.

Verstappen is close on the back of Bottas. It is good to see some aggressive driving, particularly in a race that seems to be edging towards stasis.

"What happened, what happened?" asks Jenson Button about his team-mate. "It doesn't affect us," comes the reply.

Ah, it's Fernando Alonso, who's locked up and skidded off the track. He's straight out of the car and the crane is about to lift it out of the way.

Yellow flags. What's happening?

Max Verstappen is next in line to be lapped - 69 seconds behind the race leader.

Rosberg clocks the fastest lap so far on these fresh tyres, while Roberto Merhi is under investigation for crossing the line at the pit exit.

"Oh, we didn't make it," observes Vettel.

Rosberg is out ahead of Vettel - great stop there.

Flurry of activity down in that pit lane now with Raikkonen in too.

And Rosberg is next in!

Ricciardo pits after reporting a problem with his rear tyres.

Probably a good strategy, mind. You know how stroppy these diva drivers can get.

Heh, Fernando Alonso doesn't know why he had a time penalty. His team tell him it was the incident with Hulkenburg at the start, but add quickly, "Thanks to your pace, it hasn't affected us."