Thirteen seconds … count them off and relive the excruciating moment that cost Daniel Ricciardo a win in the Monaco Grand Prix as he sat waiting for new tyres in pit lane.

In a week in which a fired-up Ricciardo seemed destined to gain redemption from Red Bull's strategy failure at the Spanish Grand Prix, this time an inexplicable stuff up when his tyres were not ready gifted the race to Lewis Hamilton. It was Hamilton's first win of the 2016 season.

"Save it. Nothing you can say will make that any better. Save it," a disheartened Ricciardo said over team radio immediately after crossing the line 7.252 seconds behind, with Force India's Sergio Perez claiming third.

In a race that started under safety car for the first eight laps, the Mercedes world champion had made the brave decision to stay out on wet tyres until lap 31, nursing them through until opting for the new Pirelli supersofts on the drying track.

Ricciardo, who had changed to the intermediate tyre on lap 23, responded to Hamilton's move and had seemed to have built up enough of a lead to maintain track position with a smooth pit stop.

Some hope.

With his Red Bull in the box Ricciardo's garage crew were seen still scrambling in an apparent miscommunication about tyre selection with team strategists. Thirteen seconds later, Ricciardo was out on super soft tyres, but metres behind the charging Hamilton.

The Australian battled on gamely thereafter, getting his best chance to pass on lap 37 before Hamilton closed the door. Not for the first time this weekend it prompted an expletive from Ricciardo, but an investigation by stewards ruled that the Mercedes man had no case to answer.

With his tyres damaged from the chase, Ricciardo was left to follow Hamilton around for the rest of the afternoon, getting a sniff of a pass again on lap 52 before the chequered flag ended the torture.

The Australian cut a forlorn figure on the podium, despite Hamilton paying tribute to his skills and saying he was the best driver he had raced against.

"I don't want to comment on the race to be honest," Ricciardo said after the presentations.

"The tyres should have been ready. It hurts, it really hurts.

"Two weeks in a row I have been screwed. It sucks.  I didn't make the call. I got called, so they should have been ready. It hurts ... I felt I was quickest all weekend in all conditions."

Red Bull apologised to Ricciardo, with team boss Helmut Marko saying there had been a mixup on tyres between the strategists and the garage: "It was a human mistake."

For his part, Hamilton admitted he'd gambled to win, having to finish the race on the ultrasoft tyre as rain threatened to fall again.

"That was the longest run on ultrasofts," he said. "It was crazy. They were about to drop off."

It had been a bright start for the Australian, backing up his maiden pole position by opening up an early lead of almost three seconds by lap 11 and 11.6 seconds by lap 15.

Hamilton had been released by Mercedes to race Ricciardo on lap 16, with teammate Nico Rosberg – who was running second – out of sorts and holding up the world champion. Rosberg finished seventh.

Elsewhere on track, the usual Monaco barrier lottery made for some major racing incidents.

Renault's Jolyon Palmer lost grip along the main straight on lap nine, Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat again responsible for a major shunt on lap 21, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen retiring after hitting Haas' Romain Grosjean and Red Bull's last race hero, Max Verstappen, hitting the wall at Casino Square on lap 35. The Saubers of Marcus Ericssson and Filipe Nasr also took each other out after a dispute over team orders.