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.

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."

Button says he's struggling with the rear tyres - he'll be pitting soon, one would imagine.

Rosberg is now knocking about a second a lap off Hamilton's lead.

Jenson Button is informed that folk are starting to pit - he's in seventh, with Alonso about to box two places behind him.

Hamilton's feeling much happier now that he has a nine-second advantage over his foe, saying his tyres are good.

Terrible pit stop for the whippersnapper Max Verstappen - he's going to be back on track in 13th, which is so disappointing for him.

Rosberg is ready to start pushing - nine seconds behind Hamilton, but two seconds ahead of Vettel.

The status quo continues.

Hamilton has a gripe about losing time in the traffic, as if Rosberg and Vettel aren't having the same problem.

I have to say, as we move towards the halfway point, this hasn't been a particularly enthralling race so far. Unless of course you're a huge fan of blue flags.

Hamilton's been warned about his brakes, by the way, advised to rely on the lift-and-coast.

Hamilton's furiously slicing through the back of the pack, looking to get past Hulkenberg now.

Tyre strategy being discussed over the radio, with the leaders still on primes.

Hamilton is clocking up the fastest laps now, four and a half seconds ahead of second-placed Rosberg, and taking only 80 seconds to get round the circuit.

Nico Rosberg's team advise him to start closing the gap to Hamilton - just in case a safety car comes into play.

Rosberg is now four seconds behind Lewis Hamilton as he duels with the backmarkers and Sebastian Vettel.

Kimi Raikkonen is tight-lipped about a problem over the radio - "the one I already told you about".

Time for the blue flag song as Rosberg and Vettel move through the back of the pack.

Both those Mercs are concerned about the threat of Vettel.

Rosberg is turning his attention to holding off Vettel, as Hamilton moves towards a three-second lead again.

And Vettel is really pressing on Rosberg now, just over a second behind.