Monaco Grand Prix Roundup

A weekend can be a long time in most sports and motor racing is no different. 

Prior to the Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was sitting in a place few could have predicted, even his dad.  Four consecutive victories and a peerless Mercedes hybrid car have propelled him to the top of the F1 Driver’s standings for the first time in a while.

After a miserable time here a year ago, Hamilton was determined pre-race to make new memories and preferably, ones that didn’t include Rosberg taking the title. The Monaco Grand Prix is the jewel in the crown of the F1 calendar and for more reasons than one.

It’s as rare as hen’s teeth to overtake on this notoriously twisty circuit with few real opportunities to overtake, more often than not, the driver that manages Pole then goes on to snaffle the chequered flag. So although the Mercedes are currently the fastest in a straight line, they needed to be on Pole if they were going to stand a good chance of maintaining their extraordinary start to the season.

Put another way, this also meant that this was the best opportunity for another team to snatch a podium and thereby get a foothold on the race to the title. However, there were three Steward’s Enquiries as a result of the Qualifiers.

The most contentious of these being that -having posted the fastest lap- Rosberg then managed to ‘sabotage’ Hamilton’s last lap, which was infact running faster, by locking up at Mirabeau, then reversing the car back onto the track, forcing the yellow flag to come out and Hamilton to slow down.

Certainly, a few people must have been holding their breath on the Enquiry result. In a previous incident in 2006, previous seven-time winner Schumacher was found guilty in a very similar circumstances, having crashed his Ferrari during Qualifiers whilst holding Pole position. He was found to have strategically forced the result in his favour, even though Fernando Alonso was lapping faster behind. Schu was therefore sent to the back of the grid, allowing Alonso Pole in his Renault.

The Stewards Enquiry this time around though was an extremely quick affair, faster than anyone expected and indeed, faster than was usual. Having viewed all information at their disposal, which is quite comprehensive, as it includes all the logs, the footage and the telemetry from the cars concerned, the verdict was unequivocal and found in favour of Rosberg: that he hadn’t impeded Lewis in any shape or form. Thus it was that Rosberg took P1 and Lewis P2 on the grid.

So, as with all the meetings that had gone before, Mercedes had muscled through to the front of the grid yet again, albeit with strong showings from Vettel and Ricciardo in team Red Bull.

Considering they were best buddies from their Go-Karting days, there are certainly signs of a serious rift between the pair, well above and beyond any healthy rivalry, although their boss was adamant that all is well and he can keep them under control, both before and after the race, the animosity was palpable.

So Sundays race started with Rosberg and Hamilton on P1 and P2 respectively, and Ricciardo and Vettel on P3 and P4. Just behind them, Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, but a full 1.4seconds off the pace.

As expected, Pole position held on to the lead for the whole of the race, Rosberg winning quite easily in his home Principality. However, Hamilton really needed to fight off Ricciardo for the second place podium in the last few laps, complaining of not being able to se out of his left eye for the second part of the race.

This means though that Hamilton relinquishes his grip on the Championship for the first time in this extremely absorbing start to the 2014 season. Nico now has 122 points, to Hamilton’s 118, with Alonso in third, but trailing some way behind with 61 points.

Things were decidedly frosty between the Mercedes drivers in the paddock afterwards, but so long as Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda can keep this pair cool on the track, Mercedes are already looking to be out in a class of their own.

The other news of note is Team Marussia actually getting points, there first in their five years of F1 competition, with taking down two points Jules Bianchi.

After a promising Qualifiers, Vettel had to retire with engine problems and didn’t finish. So, it looks like Mercedes have the constructor’s title all wrapped up already, but the rest of the season may all be about the feud between Lewis and Nico.