Securing his third-straight pole on Saturday, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was finally able break a string of disappointing finishes and win on his home track.

The 27-year old grew up in Monte Carlo and won just 30 years after his father Keke took victory on the same circuit.

Going into the race, the Mercedes duo of Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton had the top two positions, with Hamilton fending off the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber going into turn one.

With Rosberg protected, he stretched his lead while carefully nursing the Pirelli tires that Mercedes has seemed to struggle with this season.

Surprisingly, drivers were able to make the Pirelli supersofts last for at least 25 laps, when Webber made the first stop.

Three laps later, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who was involved in a crash during qualifying, collided with the barrier in almost the exact same spot, bringing out the pace car. Hamilton pitted for fresh rubber dropping him down to fourth and putting Vettel and Webber right behind Rosberg.

When the pace car came in, Rosberg was able to protect his lead and drive uninterrupted.

On lap 45, Pastor Maldonado (Williams) and Max Chilton (Marussia) were involved in a collision, sending Maldonado into the air and throwing the soft barriers onto the width of the track, resulting in a red flag.

During the 25 minute delay, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was instructed to give position back to McLaren’s Sergio Perez, after Perez tried to cut underneath the Spaniard at the Nouvelle Chicane, forcing Alonso to cut the corner. It was a move that Perez used throughout the race, but despite the Ferrari challenge, the decision stayed.

When the track was cleared, Rosberg held his lead off the rolling start again, and by lap 53, extended it to two seconds.

On lap 63, the Lotus of Romain Grosjean ran into the back of Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) coming out of the tunnel, bringing out the safety car again. Ricciardo was forced to retire after losing his rear wing. Grosjean returned to the pits for a new front wing, but was retired soon after when he noticed front suspension damage.

Grosjean’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen, was looking to come within two races of Michael Schumacher’s consecutive points record, when he suffered a punctured rear after Perez tried the same diving move at the Nouvelle Chicane. Returning from the pits three spots out of the points, Raikkonen managed to grab the final spot on the last lap. Despite his strong return, the move put a significant dent in his championship hopes, dropping him from four points to 21 behind championship leader Vettel.

“It was a really disappointing day,” Raikkonen said. “Because of one stupid move from Sergio [Perez] we’ve lost a lot of points to Sebastian [Vettel] in the Championship and you can’t afford to lose ground like that. He hit me from behind and that’s about all there is to it. If he thinks it’s my fault that he came into the corner too fast then he obviously has no idea what he’s talking about.”

The Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber finished a strong two-three behind Rosberg, who was elated to take his second-career F1 win.

“Monaco is such a special place to win and it just feels amazing today,” Rosberg said. “It was my childhood dream to win this race and to do it in a Silver Arrow on the streets where I have lived all of my life is fantastic. I can't quite believe it has happened yet and it will probably take a while to sink in. Thank you to the team for the car that we had this weekend and it's good to have been able to show the same level of performance on Sunday and convert our pole position.”

With his second-place finish, Vettel leads the championship with 107 points, followed by Raikkonen (86), Alonso (78) and Hamilton (62). The win puts Rosberg up to sixth place with 47.

For the constructors championship, Red Bull stays in first with 164 points, compared to Ferrari's 123 and Lotus-Renault (112). Mercedes sits a close fourth, with 109 points.

The next race will be held at the famed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, for the Canadian Grand Prix June 7-9.