Despite brushes with the track walls, the Dutch Red Bull driver finished comfortably ahead of Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso in an Aston Martin with Frenchman Esteban Ocon third for Alpine.

“Clipped the walls a few times,” said Verstappen. “It was super difficult out there, but that’s Monaco.

“Super nice to win it and super nice to win it the way we did today with the weather everything and stay calm and bring it home.”

Verstappen’s closest challenger in the standings, teammate Sergio Perez started at the back of the grid after crashing in qualifying and finished outside the points.

In a race enlivened by frequent contact between cars and also a brief rain shower, the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, despite a five-second penalty, were fourth and fifth, with Monaco native Charles Leclerc sixth for Ferrari.

“Max drove super well,” said Alonso, who started on the front row. “We didn’t have any chance.”