Nico Rosberg has gone lights-to-flag to win the Monaco Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who managed to hold off Daniel Ricciardo in the final few stages of the race when the British driver struggled with his vision.
The German driver defended his Monaco crown, having won the race last year, and also matched his father’s tally of five grand prix victories in Formula 1.
After a tense qualifying session yesterday between Rosberg and Hamilton, they settled their differences cleanly on track today with Rosberg beating his teammate and re-gaining the lead of the drivers’ championship. However, Hamilton vented his frustration over the team’s pit strategy following two safety car periods in the race today, but was forced to settle for second place.
However, the real star of the race was Jules Bianchi, who finished eighth on track to score Marussia’s first ever points in Formula 1, having made its debut back in 2010. He was dropped to ninth following a five second penalty, but it still gave them two precious points.
The start saw Rosberg make a fine getaway to stay ahead of Hamilton, whilst Sebastian Vettel slotted into third place. His teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, was less fortunate, and dropped behind the fast-starting Kimi Raikkonen. Sergio Perez and Jenson Button went into battle, but the Force India driver came off worse as he ended up in the wall at Mirabeau, bringing out the safety car on the first lap.
On lap four, the race resumed and Rosberg stayed ahead of Hamilton. However, Raikkonen was on the move again as he passed Vettel for P3, but it turned out that the world champion had lost drive. He dropped down to last place, and after a pit stop he was able to get back on track for another lap before retiring from the race. Hamilton began to turn up the heat on Rosberg, and was on his rear wing in no time. The German driver held it together, though, and kept his teammate at bay, gradually opening up the gap.
Further down the order, Daniil Kvyat hit trouble with his car after making a great start, and was forced to park up his car and retire, bringing his first race at Monaco to a premature end. Jenson Button and Valtteri Bottas were the beneficiaries, moving up into P10 and P11, whilst Kamui Kobayashi was in the ‘magic’ 13th place for Caterham after 13 laps. Adrian Sutil was another man on a mission, making some brave overtakes at the Loews hairpin where – traditionally – overtaking is impossible.
Hamilton radioed to his engineer with concerns about his tires, but the team assured him that everything was in order. Rosberg enjoyed a lead of around 1.5 seconds at the front, and a lock-up at Mirabeau raised a few smiles in the paddock.
Esteban Gutierrez, Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton all were handed a five second stop/go penalty by the stewards for starting out of position on the grid, which they all duly took at their first pit stops.
In the battle for third place, Ricciardo made serious inroads on Raikkonen to get within half a second of the Finn. The Red Bull’s charge was stopped when the safety car was deployed to clear the debris caused by Adrian Sutil crashing into the wall on the exit of the tunnel. This sparked a mad dash to the pits for a fresh set of tires, but the order at the front remained unchanged after the stops.
Hamilton was quick to ask the team why he was not pitted one lap earlier, showing his discontent as he was still stuck behind Rosberg. They informed him that he did not have to stop again in the race, meaning that it was a straight fight to the end between the two Silver Arrows.
Having been in third place, Raikkonen was forced to make another pit stop after being hit by a lapped Marussia, costing him the chance of a podium finish. This did release Daniel Ricciardo up into third place ahead of Fernando Alonso.
On the restart, the Mercedes drivers once again set about re-establishing their lead, and Rosberg remained ahead of Hamilton, with the Briton still stewing over the decision not to pit one lap earlier. However, Rosberg was told to manage his fuel carefully for fear of running out later in the race.
Jules Bianchi was a man on a mission for Marussia, forcing his way past Kamui Kobayashi when Kimi Raikkonen made a move on the Caterham. The Frenchman was running in P12 at one point as he looked to give the team its best result of the season, and fought well to keep Vergne behind him around the tight corners of Monaco. Eventually, the Toro Rosso driver suffered an engine failure and had to retire from the race with 26 laps to go.
In the battle for the small points, Valtteri Bottas began to struggle with his tires, creating a train with Gutierrez, Raikkonen and Massa all looking to find a way past the Finn. However, it turned out to be an engine failure which eventually forced him to stop at the Loews hairpin.
Luckily, a safety car period was not required to recover the car. It did promote the train of cars up a place, and put Bianchi up into P11. However, he was under investigation for serving his five second stop/go penalty under the safety car, which is not permitted. Bianchi moved up into the top ten when Esteban Gutierrez spun at La Rascasse, ending both his race and Sauber’s hopes of some points.
At the front, Rosberg began to open up the gap to Hamilton, leading by over four seconds. The Briton reported that he had something in his eye and was struggling to see, allowing the German to pull well ahead and extend his lead. Hamilton once again got angry with his engineer over the radio, saying he “didn’t care” about the gap to Ricciardo despite the Red Bull closing in with fastest lap after fastest lap.
As Hamilton hit traffic, Ricciardo clung onto the back of the Mercedes with a few laps remaining. However, Raikkonen and Magnussen came together at the hairpin and ended in the wall, elevating Bianchi up into eighth place. Both drivers were able to continue, but had dropped down a few places.
In the final few stages, Ricciardo came close but not close enough to pass Hamilton. For Nico Rosberg though, there was sheer jubilation as he secured his second win in Monaco, and re-took the lead of the drivers’ championship.
