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Rosberg races back to top with Monaco win
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GERMANY’S Nico Rosberg won the showcase Monaco Grand Prix for the second year in a row yesterday to snatch back the Formula One world championship lead from Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton.
Rosberg’s second victory of the season, from a controversial pole position that increased the tension between the two title rivals, took his points tally after six races to 122 with Hamilton on 118.
The Briton, who complained 13 laps from the end that he had something in his eye and could not see properly, was second as dominant Mercedes chalked up a sixth win in a row and fifth successive one-two finish.
“It’s another special day for me, for sure,” said Rosberg of his fifth career win. “Lewis drove well and pushed me massively hard. The pressure was on but I kept it cool and pulled a bit of a gap at the end.”
Australian Daniel Ricciardo took third after chasing Hamilton nose-to-tail to the finish while quadruple world champion teammate Sebastian Vettel, in his 100th race for Red Bull, retired after eight laps with a power unit problem.
After coping with two safety car interludes, Rosberg took the chequered flag 9.2 seconds ahead of Hamilton after the two had spent the first half with little to separate them.
Hamilton, who had been embroiled in controversy on Saturday when he suggested Rosberg might have deliberately brought out yellow flags in qualifying to prevent the Briton beating him to pole, had a comparatively low-key afternoon.
The wheel-banging drama and Ayrton Senna-Alain Prost style rivalry that some had expected, or hoped for, never materialized and Hamilton’s hopes faded entirely when he told his team over the radio about his vision problem.
“It was just something that came through the visor — it was nothing important,” he said in a post-race podium interview. “It was a good day for us — it’s very important for the team to get another one-two,” he added, even if the body language indicated the pair would not be dining together any time soon.
In a 78 lap race of attrition, with only 14 finishers out of the starting 22 on a dry but overcast afternoon, Rosberg lapped all but the three cars behind him.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took fourth place with Nico Hulkenberg fifth for Force India and Jenson Button back in the points in sixth with McLaren after the team had gone three races in a row without.
Felipe Massa was seventh for Williams, ahead of two Frenchmen — Romain Grosjean in a Lotus and an astonishing ninth for Marussia’s Jules Bianchi despite serving two stop/go penalties.
Mexican Sergio Perez crashed at Mirabeau after being tagged by Button on the opening lap. That brought out the safety car for two laps while the Force India was craned away. It was deployed again on lap 26 when Sauber’s Adrian Sutil crashed at the tunnel exit and speared into the barriers.
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