Vettel wins crash-hit Monaco thriller

Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel took his fifth victory in six races when he won a crash-hit Monaco Grand Prix thriller for Red Bull on Sunday.

With the safety car twice deployed and the race red-flagged after 71 of the 78 laps due to a pile-up at the Swimming Pool complex, the 23-year-old German held on from the re-start for his first win in the principality.

Vettel now has a 58-point lead over McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who scrambled to sixth place despite a drive-through penalty and numerous scrapes that triggered another stewards' investigation.

Ferrari's double world champion Fernando Alonso finished second and ahead of McLaren's 2009 winner Jenson Button in third, with the top three separated by just 2.3 seconds in a knife-edge chase to the line.