Monaco Weekend Review: Silver service around the streets of Monaco

In the week that Hamilton committed his future to Mercedes in a 3 year contract extension, Formula 1 docked in the Monaco Principality. The formidable, narrow street circuit is the brightest jewel in the F1 crown and it granted Rosberg his third consecutive Monaco win on a plate.

Silver service: the safety car and Hamilton's pit stop gifted the win to Nico on a plate.

Qualifying:

Rosberg entered Qualifying looking to achieve 3 consecutive Monaco poles for the first time since Ayrton Senna who was imperious around the streets of the principality.

Mercedes blitzed the opposition straight out of the box in Q1. As the chequered flag fell Hulkenberg escaped the drop despite clipping the barriers however Bottas was not so lucky. The combination of traffic and poor strategy from Williams claimed his scalp as he failed to escape the first drop out zone and qualified down in 17^th behind Nasr. Ericsson was only quick enough for 18^th ahead of the Manors. Mehri beaten by Stevens once more.

Both McLarens were quick enough for Q2 with Button finishing the session up in 8^th. Alonso was the final name on the sheet to make the second session. However that was as far as Alonso would progress as immediately into Q2 he was forced to park his car down into turn 1 due to an electrical fault seeing a return of the reliability issues for McLaren.

At the top, the Mercedes drivers were frustrated over radio as the pressure and necessity of a Monaco pole was building. This was enough for Rosberg to suffer a huge lock up into turn 1 and abandon both lap and track. Although far from intentional, unlike 2014.

At the back of the grid, with Alonso already down, Massa was out in 14^th rounding off an awful Saturday for Williams, the 3^rd placed constructors. Hulkenberg was a tenth faster in 13^th. McLaren’s quest for Q3 goes on as Button qualified P12 fractionally behind Grosjean following the yellow flag at the close of session. Perez drove fantastically well to make Q3 in the Force India.

Monaco: the most iconic track in racing.

Q3 opened with a queue to exit the pit lane as track temperatures dropped and the rain threatened. This ensured that an early flying lap was imperative. However the rain never delivered and Hamilton broke Rosberg’s sequence of poles to claim his first around the streets of Monaco.

Rosberg suffered another dramatic lock up into Turn 1- the fierce some Sainte Devote, leading the German to abort his lap and denying a true pole position shoot out. He was still fast enough for 2^nd however, and with a comfortable four tenth gap to Vettel in 3^rd. Red Bull looked stronger this weekend and utilised the tight nature of the track to mask power issues. Ricciardo was fastest for 4^th ahead of teammate Kvyat in 5^th. Although Ricciardo later stated that an engine set up mistake cost him 3^rd on his flying lap. Raikkonen was to start in 6^th ahead of a superb 7^th place for Perez. With both rookies in the Toro Rossos looking hugely competitive in lap times, Carlos Sainz qualified 8^th but to outperform his teammate Verstappen. He rounded off the top 10 in his first ever time out in Monaco. Maldonado split the Toro Rossos in 9^th.

Off track Grosjean was sanctioned with a 5 place grid drop following a change of gearboxes, and Sainz too was in breach of the regulations relegating him to start from the pit lane. Thus promoting the cars accordingly.

Had it not been for Schumacher’s penalty in 2012, it marked 4 consecutive pole positions for the Silver Arrows in Monaco. 

The Race:

As the 5 lights went out signalling the start of Formula 1’s most glamourous race, Hamilton maintained his lead into Sainte Devote as Rosberg fought of the Ferrari of Vettel leaving not an inch to spare in his efforts. Despite a sharp lock-up from Daniil Kvyat, who was now up to 4^th, the cars made it through Turn 1 unscathed and powered up the hill towards Casino Square.

Hamilton leads into Sainte Devote.

However Hulkenberg carried straight on into Mirabeau following contact with Alonso. This relegated him to the back of the field with over half a lap remaining before he could pit for a new nose. The Spaniard was awarded a 5 second time penalty for his troubles. Maldonado reported brake troubles as early as Lap 5. As a result when Maldando failed to slow the car Verstappen tried to capitalise and take 8^th place from the Venezuelan, only to damage his front wing in a failed attempt to pass. But in an effort to amend for his mistake, the young Dutchman eventually gained the place on the inside of Turn 1 leaving just the narrowest of margins. But as the rookie charged on, Maldonado was forced into retirement on Lap 7 thanks to the failure of the rear brake-by-wire system. A massive disappointment following a strong Saturday performance. His quest to see a chequered flag at Monaco and indeed this season continues.

Lap 30 looked to end Verstappen’s hopes of a top 6 finish this time out. He was stationary for a disastrous 31 seconds as the mechanics struggled to change his rear tyres. He joined all the way down in 13^th.

Despite a fantastically well-coordinated stop for Ricciardo on Lap 37 he resumed the race still behind his teammate, Kvyat who was up in 5^th with Raikkonen in 3^rd yet to stop. A lap later and Rosberg was called in for his stop in an effort to consolidate 2^nd place ahead of Vettel. So too did Raikkonen, and resumed racing in 5^th place, splitting the Red Bulls.

Lap 43 saw yellow flags waved in sector 1 in response to another Alonso retirement due to gearbox issues. Despite his first lap incident, Alonso had been banging in the fast laps in a solid drive for P10. This ended what could have been a potential points finish for the 2005 and 2006 world champion.

On Lap 56 we saw slight evidence of Sainz Jr.’s inexperience as when he slowed down under blue flags to allow Vettel to lap him, Verstappen exploited Sainz’s over generosity and nicked the position off his teammate through Rascasse. Verstappen’s focus continued as he replicated this tactic on the slowing Bottas into Portier for P11. However Grosjean was wise to Verstappen’s moves as on Lap 61 he blocked the 17 year old round Loews hairpin when letting Vettel through. But just when it looked like Verstappen had admirably worked his way back to a points scoring position his race was over. On Lap 64 he tried to pass Grosjean who opted for a defensive approach into Turn 1. Max caught the rear of the Lotus sending his car into the Techpro barrier. Max was fine despite the big shunt and exited the car unassisted. Grosjean was able to resume however, and the virtual safety was signalled bringing the cars to a slow pace and forbidding overtaking. Perhaps the only silver lining for Toro Rosso was the fact that this promoted Carlos Sainz into 10^th, despite having started from the pit lane.

Pun intended: Christy! Verstappen left with only 3 wheels on his wagon.

This brought the team strategists into play, with Button opting to pit in order to make the most out of the circumstances. So too did the race leader as Hamilton pitted for super soft tyres from a 25 second lead. But this single call by Mercedes cost Hamilton the lead. His tyres would have gone the remaining distance and taken him to a race win, but instead Hamilton re-joined in 3^rd behind Vettel and new race leader Nico Rosberg with just 12 laps to go.

With 8 laps to go the safety car came in leaving a straight up sprint to the finish line. However Ricciardo’s effort to take full advantage of the restart to overtake Raikkonen to regain P5 was over zealous and he made contact with the Ferrari in order to make the move stick. And despite an investigation by Race Control, no action was taken against the move. He then proceeded to take P4 from his teammate in a Red Bull effort to capitalise on the Australian’s fresher tyres in order to maximise the chances of a podium finish. However if this condition was not met, Kvyat was given permission to reclaim his 4^th place.

Hamilton fell victim to his team’s orders and crossed the line down in 3^rd forfeiting what would have been a dominant Monaco win. Instead it was his teammate and main championship rival Nico Rosberg who reached the chequered flag first to take a hat trick of wins in the Principality and his first ever consecutive F1 wins. Vettel crossed the finish line in 2^nd. 

Muted celebrations on the podium.

Kvyat claimed P4, his highest finish in F1 ahead of Ricciardo. The narrow streets of Monaco did well to disguise the Renault powertrain shortcomings.

6^th for Raikkonen followed by a sterling drive for Force India’s Perez as Checo brought the car home in 7^th. McLaren’s renewed partnership with Honda finally gave way to point scoring as former Monaco winner, Jenson Button finished P8. Rookie Nasr finished an impressive 9^th and Carlos Sainz raced from last to 10^th to claim the last available point.

Hulkenberg was 11^th ahead of Grosjean and Ericsson. The two Williams of Bottas and Massa finished a dismal 14^th and 15^th. Mehri beat Stevens for the first time this season. Alonso, Maldonado and Verstappen all failed to finish with the latter having been giving a retrospective 5 place grid drop for Montreal and 2 penalty points on his super license.

With Hamilton driving the slowest in-lap and then crashing into his 3^rd place marker board, he had plenty of time to reflect on the actions of his team. Lauda and Wolff have since come out to apologise to Lewis and to condemn the strategy decision.

Although Rosberg acknowledged the gifted win, he has closed the gap to Hamilton in the Drivers’ Standings to just 10 points. There is no doubt that Hamilton will have a burning desire to undo the damage next time out in Montreal, Canada.