Mercedes hand Rosberg win as Lewis loses out

Sometimes Monaco can be a classic race, sometimes it's a processional bore. In terms of the spectacle of 200mph cars navigating between the barriers of the most famous streets in racing it is quite breathtaking. Take a look at these machines going through the swimming pool section, it makes my heart jump, it's simply awe-inspiring how these drivers with millimetre precision thread their way through, jumping from kerb to barrier, just a whisker from disaster. And they do it 78 times pushing to the edge.

2015's race was in truth one of the more processional events, particularly at the front. Lewis Hamilton was serenely making his way to his fourth victory of the year and his second around Monaco. A quite brilliant pole position and a fine start followed by a great turn of speed when he needed it had taken him to a 20 second lead and just 14 laps from victory. 

Behind Max Verstappen had been all kinds of brilliant over the weekend. In the race a dodgy pit stop had dropped him out of a points paying position, but he was fighting back, using the leaders to pass people as he attached himself to their gearboxes as they lapped traffic. He came upon Romain Grosjean in the Lotus. One more pass and Max would be back in the points. Onto the start finish straight on lap 64, DRS wide open, he made a move...

Star of the race

In any other circumstances, Verstappen would have been far and away my star of the race. He livened up proceedings while everyone else stared at the back of the car in front. It was his first time racing through the barrier lined street track on the Mediterranean and he seemed immediately at home. He pushed his Toro Rosso, going second quickest in practice one, crashing in practice three, qualifying in the top 10 then running confidently in the points until a botched pit stop dropped him back. From there he charged. It's obvious he's going to be a Monaco winner at some point.

But then came lap 64, every driver will get bitten by Monaco at some point. Max had the circuit take a nibble from his rear wing during practice, but in the race, the barriers claimed the whole car. Darting around the back of Grosjean's Lotus, making a remarkable recovery back into the points, Verstappen was about to dive to the inside of turn 1 Sainte Devote, he claimed Grosjean braked early, Max had no time to clear the Louts, slamming into the back of Grosjean and then headed straight for the barriers. It was a sad end to a starring role, but it led to a safety car which destroyed Hamilton's race, the man who'd quietly been dominating the day.

Hamilton was the star. After last year's, and many other years Monaco disappointments, Hamilton was unstoppable. After losing his way on set up in qualifying he had bounced back to take pole position with two laps good enough for the top spot. If his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg thought he was about to get some momentum building for a title charge after his Spanish win, Lewis was certainly making him think again.

A fine start, a great turn of speed when needed, he was away. Then Verstappen crashed, safety car was deployed, the field would soon be closed up. Mercedes looked at the timing screens and thought Lewis had enough of a gap to pit for fresh tyres, seemingly as a precaution. This was to protect from Ferrari putting third placed Sebastian Vettel on fresh rubber and having a run on the Mercedes. But this is Monaco where passing is difficult at the best of times, surely staying out and avoiding any problems would be best?

Mercedes pitted Lewis, Rosberg in second with Vettel just behind didn't. Mercedes had also not checked the updated gaps, he didn't have enough of a gap, he wouldn't make it out in time to still be leading a race he was controlling with ease. He wouldn't even make it out second. Both his main title rivals who had nothing in answer to the pace of Lewis were now in front and there was no explanation from the team. They'd just cost their main driver the race. And Lewis knew it, third was no consolation. He was dignified in his defeat, he didn't criticise the team. He knew he was the fastest in Monaco, and he said he'll make sure he wins next time out. But this will hurt.  

The Winner

Nico Rosberg found himself winning Monaco for the third time in succession. He was lucky, very lucky, his Mercedes team had gifted him the win. To be fair he didn't put a wheel wrong during the race, but his wheels weren't as quick as his team mate's, so in reality it was pretty hollow, but he'll take it, now he's just ten points adrift on Lewis in the championship fight. 

Vettel took second for Ferrari, another one to play follow the leader. Ferrari were closer to Mercedes in the race, at least to Rosberg, but he'll know they need even more if they're going to challenge for the title. 

The battles

There were a few battles going on, but none which excited until Verstappen began his ultimately futile charge. Daniel Ricciardo made a move on Kimi Raikkonen in to Mirabeau after the restart which was rough, but the stewards deemed fair. Kimi was quite restrained when he called it rude, it left him just sixth.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso made a similar move on Nico Hulkenberg on the opening lap which left the Force India driver in the wall. He recovered to 11th, but his pace deserved more. 

Perhaps the best move was when Grosjean let Vettel through to lap him but brilliantly blocked out the charging Verstappen. There was some close running down the field, but it wasn't a passing fest, it was more these streets weren't built for two.   

Things of note

Red Bull got both their cars in the top five with Daniil Kvyat overtaking Ricciardo at the start to run fourth to the flag despite letting Ricciardo through to chase down Vettel and Hamilton on newer tyres. When that didn't work out the team instructed the order to be reversed. It was a good day after a bit of a disastrous 2015 so far.

A fine result for Force India with Sergio Perez doing better than the team thought possible with a great seventh. Jenson Button brought McLaren-Honda their first points of the year with eighth. They are getting better even though Alonso retired half way through but he was running in the points. However, I fear there may be a dip in Canada where power is a nice thing to have.

Felipe Nasr topped up Sauber's points haul with ninth while Carlos Sainz got Toro Rosso a point with 10th despite starting from the pit lane. A great drive unnoticed thanks to the exploits of Verstappen. The Williams team were a disaster here, it should be a one off as their car just didn't work in a high down force set up. Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus showed well, but was an early retirement after having out qualified Grosjean for the first time this year.

One of the big talking points this weekend were the events of an F1 strategy group meeting that had taken place in the preceding week. They came up with various ideas including bringing back refuelling which had been banned previously because of safety and expense. Apparently when half the grid are struggling to pay the bills, it's now deemed affordable. I do applaud some ideas like making the cars five to six seconds quicker by 2017, but they didn't tackle the overriding issue which is costs.

It's apparently rumoured that customer cars is the solution, which means basically the top teams will sell their chassis to lower order teams. This has happened in the past, but generally speaking Formula 1 is meant to attract the best teams who build their own cars to go racing. This is what separates it from the other racing series. It'll eventually lead to a one make formula because why would anyone buy from a team who consistently doesn't win? It's not Formula 1. F1 is a driver challenge, but it is also a technical challenge. 

I want to know that these drivers are driving the fastest cars in the world, driven to be the best because each team is competing to make the ultimate machine. When that isn't happening you might as well call it Formula one make. They were better off discussing about how to enforce a budget cap whereby they open up the rules once more and let people create whatever they like under a basic set of rules to a certain amount of money. That and getting rid of the commercial rights holder CVC who continue to try to run this great sport into the ground.  

The Title Chase

So Lewis Hamilton leads by just ten points after Monaco. I'm not going to write about how this could turn the tide in the title chase. As far as I'm concerned after his defeat in Spain, Lewis showed he isn't going to let anything side track him from dominating this campaign. He came to Monaco and went fast. Rosberg could do nothing to respond. This isn't a title battle yet, although they'll be some conspiracy theorists saying Mercedes did it deliberately. They didn't, it would've been a mistake, but this story will run. However, the main story should be how Lewis took defeat in Spain and used it to dominate the next time out. After this race he'll reset and come back stronger, don't be surprised if he crushes the opposition at the next race in Canada?

Result

1. Rosberg - Mercedes
2. Vettel - Ferrari
3. Hamilton - Mercedes
4. Kvyat - Red Bull
5. Ricciardo - Red Bull
6. Raikkonen - Ferrari
7. Perez - Force India
8. Button - McLaren
9. Nasr - Sauber
10. Sainz - Toro Rosso
11. Hulkenberg - Force India
12. Grosjean - Lotus
13. Ericsson - Sauber
14. Bottas - Williams
15. Massa - Williams
16. Merhi - Marussia
17. Stevens - Marussia
R. Verstappen - Toro Rosso - accident
R. Alonso - McLaren - gearbox
R. Maldonado - Lotus - brakes

Rosberg wins in Monaco as Mercedes civil war begins

The Monaco Grand Prix truly ignited the battle for the 2014 world championship. In the all Mercedes fight for the title Lewis Hamilton looked to be in the ascendancy. Having taken the points lead in Spain after his fourth successive win it was crucial for Nico Rosberg to strike back around the streets he won on last year.

Rosberg duly took the victory from pole position, holding off sustained pressure from Hamilton for most of the race. He made a perfect start and despite fuel issues during the middle part of the race kept it all under control to take his second win of the year and hit the front once again in the championship battle.

If Rosberg had lost out to Lewis for the fifth time in a row, then it was going to start looking rather sketchy as to whether he’d ever manage to take the fight to Lewis. Have no doubts it was essential that he won this race.

That meant he had to lead out from the start, the best place to do that is to start at the front of the grid. He did this under, shall we say, controversial circumstances. Every time the Formula 1 circus arrives in Monaco there is mention of how Michael Schumacher supposedly parked his car at La Rascasse in 2006 and blocked the track to prevent Fernando Alonso setting a better time during qualifying.

No wonder there was immediate suspicion on Rosberg as knowing he was down on his own provisional pole lap he locked up going into Mirabeau and ran down the escape road bringing out the yellow flags. The pressure certainly seemed to be getting to him at this point, but suddenly that pressure was transferred to Hamilton.

Hamilton was behind Rosberg on the track, and after the first laps had been set was just 0.059 slower. On the second run he was quicker at the first sector but backed off as the yellow flags waved for his team mates car, Hamilton’s chances of securing the most important pole position of the year were over. Immediately he thought it had been done on purpose and from there his head seemed to go, this was a race he desperately wanted to take pole at and win to demonstrate his dominance over Rosberg as he had intimated in the lead up. That it seemed like he'd been wrong in his efforts to do so struck him hard.

My initial reaction to the incident was it was just a mistake, a driver pushing too hard knowing he was slower than his first lap and knowing that Lewis often pulls it out of the bag on his final attempt, just like he’d done in Spain. In fact Rosberg has had previous at messing up his final attempt in qualifying a few times this year, perhaps it was no surprise it should happen again.

I still think it was just a mistake, I don’t think Rosberg is the kind of driver who would do this kind of thing deliberately. But when you look at the replays it does at least look like he unsettles the car with a few movements of the steering wheel before he actual locks up his left front tyre. He just manages to guide the car down the escape road, but even with that most drivers would know that would bring out the caution flags.

Only Rosberg knows but on this occasion you have to give him the benefit of the doubt especially with regards to what has happened in qualifying in previous races this year. What it did do is ignite the fire that’s been smoking away for the past few races as the Mercedes drivers have come to realise this title is going to be fought by themselves.

Hamilton particularly seems to be letting the pressure begin to get to him despite his four wins this year. He knows he’s the quicker of the two drivers, but he knows that with the advantage Mercedes have Rosberg is always going to be there. So when on the occasions that Rosberg is quicker, and amplified by Lewis’ non-finish in Australia, he knows Nico will stay close to him on points and on weekends such as this can retake the points lead.

Lewis looked just utterly downcast, he obviously feels something dodgy went on despite the stewards exonerating Rosberg from any wrong doing. He even went so far to say that these two karting buddies were no longer friends. He ignored Rosberg completely after qualifying and after the race too. Nico is taking a more light hearted approach and saying they are still friends but this battle is just going to get more and more intense.

I hope Lewis doesn’t let it get to him too much as in reality this title is his for the taking. He is the better race driver, but he has in the past sabotaged himself by not letting his driving do the talking. Monaco could well have been a pivotal weekend in the championship.

Lewis’ driving can be affected by his emotions, when he’s in a good place he’s brilliant, when he’s not it can start going wrong. He can’t let any paranoia creep in. He already started questioning the team on the radio for not pitting him earlier when the second safety car came out for Adrian Sutil’s crash. But Mercedes have a policy of favouring the lead car as most teams do, something he did actually acknowledge after the race.

Rosberg needed to steal the advantage this weekend and he did just that. He was fast all through practice and looked in general to have the edge over Lewis. He took pole position, he made a perfect start and never let Lewis get to him despite two safety car periods. In the closing stages Hamilton got something in his eye which cost him several seconds and left him vulnerable to attack from the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, who hounded him to the flag to make up the podium. Even during this period of the race Hamilton was more concerned with how far away Nico was rather than the fast catching Australian.

Whatever though, Rosberg took a fully deserved victory for Mercedes and with it there will now be two very distinct teams within the Mercedes garage. Canada can’t come soon enough for the next chapter in this title thriller.

Final Result:

1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes

2. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

3. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull

4. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari

5. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India

6. Jenson Button - McLaren

7. Felipe Massa - Williams

8. Romain Grosjean - Lotus

9. Jules Bianchi - Marussia

10. Kevin Magnussen - McLaren

11. Marcus Ericsson - Caterham

12. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari

13. Kamui Kobayashi - Caterham

14. Max Chilton - Marussia

R. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber - Accident

R. Valtteri Bottas - Williams - Power Unit

R. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso - Exhaust

R. Adrian Sutil - Sauber - Accident

R. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso - Exhaust

R. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - Turbo

R. Sergio Perez - Force India - Accident

R. Pastor Maldonado - Lotus - Fuel pump

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Marussia score in Monaco

Behind the civil war that looks like breaking out at Mercedes, Monaco was significant for many reasons not least that after over four years of competing at the highest echelon of motor sport Marussia took their first points.

Ok, so there were several retirements in this race. Sergio Perez failed to give Jenson Button enough room on the opening lap and spun into the barrier causing the first safety car. Both Toro Rosso’s had qualified brilliantly in the top 10 but mechanical problems robbed them both of a decent finish as did an engine failure for Williams’ Valtteri Bottas. Esteban Gutierrez joined the already mentioned Sutil in the barriers for Sauber while running a very strong eighth, while Kimi Raikkonen took himself and Kevin Magnussen out at the Loews Hairpin, sliding up the inside in a brave move that took them wide and stuck at the side of the road.

That though is to take nothing away from an excellent drive by Bianchi who despite being penalised five seconds for taking an initial stop go penalty for lining up in the wrong grid position under the safety car which is against the rules still came home in ninth place. What’s more is that it was done with genuine good pace. Officially he is classified behind Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, but on the road he held him off by over a second.

Couple that pace with an excellent barge against Kamui Kobayashi’s Caterham and you have to offer nothing but praise for a driver and team who are now in their fifth year. These two points take them to ninth in the constructors championship ahead of Sauber which is extremely impressive. This year Marussia have looked far more competitive but for various reasons haven’t been able to show their potential. They are still a long way off the ultimate pace but at least now they don’t have that pressure of when are they going to score their first points.

Vettel and Raikkonen can’t catch a break

To my mind Sebastian Vettel looked every bit as quick if not quicker than his team mate Daniel Ricciardo this weekend. But problems with his Energy Recovery System (ERS) in qualifying and then a Turbo failure in the race put paid to any kind of decent result this weekend. Once these reliability problems go, then we’ll see if he can do anything about Ricciardo.

Meanwhile Kimi was outqualified by Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso by over eight tenths of a second, which is huge. It only account for one place on the grid though. Off the start he was fantastic, Alonso got boxed in behind the Red Bull’s allowing Kimi to rip past both Alonso and Vettel into the first corner. At the first restart he got by Ricciardo too and ran a strong third for the opening third of the race.

However, during the second safety car period his race came apart, he was hit by Max Chilton’s Marussia and had to pit for a second time after maintaining his position through the first pit stops during the Sutil safety car. This dropped his right down the field, but he’d managed to climb back up into the points to join the battle for fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth. However a perhaps overly optimistic move on Magnussen sent them towards the barriers. With a turning circle which is not a lot they had to reverse out of the situation leaving them both down the field.

It was such a shame, it looked like he could have been on for a podium before the Marussia incident, and he had a healthy lead over Alonso. Perhaps in Canada Kimi might get a smooth weekend for the first time this year.

The battles through the field

Ricciardo continued his great form by qualifying and finishing third and moving ahead on points of his four time champion team mate. His attack on Hamilton at the end of the race was fantastic racing. He’d saved his tyres well and used that pace to really give Mercedes their first race of the year albeit with safety car intervention.

After Vettel retired in the early laps and Kimi dropped back Fernando Alonso ran a rather lonely race to finish fourth. As usual he’ll have run to the maximum for lap after lap, but the Ferrari race pace is no match for either Mercedes or Red Bull, it’s just another nail in the coffin for the Ferrari-Alonso relationship. Although the question of where he would go and who would take him is an interesting one, as at the moment there doesn’t seem any seat available that would be any better than Ferrari. 

Red Bull have their chosen two, both Mercedes drivers are signed up until at least the end of next year, with Rosberg a year on top of that. McLaren are unlikely to have him back and would need to settle in with Honda during 2015 anyway. The reputation he gained at McLaren for unsettling the team and his current frosty relationship with Ferrari have made him seem like someone who is difficult to work with, despite his other reputation as being the best around. Is the best enough though if it can hold the team back?  For now Alonso and Ferrari are stuck with each other.

Nico Hulkenberg launched a great move on Magnussen into Portier and then held off a train of cars for many laps. Eventually he finished less than a second ahead of Jenson Button who also put a good move on Magnussen down the start finish curve to finish fifth and sixth respectively.

It was a significant result for Hulkenberg. His Force India team mate Perez has taken the only podium of their campaign so far, out raced him in Spain and out qualified him in Monaco. He needed a strong result because after Perez was dumped by McLaren, for Hulkenberg to be out performed by him would be significant damage to his reputation and hopes of ever getting into a top car. He drove well avoided trouble and held off faster cars on degrading tyres, it was a fine showing indeed.

Felipe Massa didn’t stop under the safety car but managed to get his Williams into the points for seventh after starting seventh. Grosjean inherited eighth for Lotus ahead of the delighted Bianachi, while Magnussen managed to sneak back into the points for tenth.

It ended up being a rather eventful Monaco race with plenty of action down the field, and lots to look forward to with the many intra-team battles down the field. But what it has really done is ratchet up the title tension between the Mercedes drivers. Can Rosberg use this momentum to win again in Canada and pile the pressure on Hamilton, all will Lewis manage to respond in the best way he can, by just driving faster. With the drivers seemingly no longer talking, this is proving to be a battle than cannot be missed.

Final Result:

1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes

2. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

3. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull

4. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari

5. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India

6. Jenson Button - McLaren

7. Felipe Massa - Williams

8. Romain Grosjean - Lotus

9. Jules Bianchi - Marussia

10. Kevin Magnussen - McLaren

11. Marcus Ericsson - Caterham

12. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari

13. Kamui Kobayashi - Caterham

14. Max Chilton - Marussia

R. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber - Accident

R. Valtteri Bottas - Williams - Power Unit

R. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso - Exhaust

R. Adrian Sutil - Sauber - Accident

R. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso - Exhaust

R. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - Turbo

R. Sergio Perez - Force India - Accident

R. Pastor Maldonado - Lotus - Fuel pump

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Monaco Forecast

Monaco is the race every driver wants to win. It's combination of tight slow corners and lack of meaningful straights surrounded by barriers which never forgive an error make it one of the most challenging circuits of the year and a true test of driver skill; it really is like threading the needle, except you have a turbo charged 750bhp monster behind you. 

The new power units are going to make this a massive challenge for the drivers this year. The power delivery means they're going to have to caress the throttle peddle, which will be magnified by the reduction in down force and the conservative Pirelli tyres meaning grip is not as bountiful as it once was. Another problem cited by Jenson Button is that a new track surface from Casino Square to until the start of the tunnel will offer no grip so cars with good traction that can get heat into their tyres will be needed even though it's predicted that that part of the circuit will be low grip whatever.

As usual they've brought the soft and super soft tyres. Monaco doesn't destroy the tyres like some tracks so the grip shouldn't be too bad. There is one DRS zone on the start finish straight but even that won't make passing easy. 

The weather looks like it won't complicate things too much, qualifying should be sunny while the race looks like it'll be much the same. However, Thursday practice has rain forecast at the moment so setting up the cars may prove difficult.

After a season which has so far been dominated by the Mercedes team, this weekend is a real chance for another team to shine. Well, so the theory goes at least. Now Mercedes have a great chassis, but it's their exceptional power unit which has really been giving Championship leader Lewis Hamilton and his team mate Nico Rosberg their quite significant advantage.

With Monaco's longest straight being not very long and actually quite curvy there is hope from the other teams and possibly from the fans too which would like to see a winner not driving a silver arrows.

We'll see how that pans out as the weekend goes on, but here's a few facts to start off with. Rosberg took pole position and won last year. The year before Michael Schumacher took pole position in a not so wonderful Merc. So far so ominous. 

However Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has said that in previous years Monaco has flattered them. Before this year they were very hard on the tyres and this track suited them. Tyre degradation is not so bad here and their car worked the tyres hard so got them up to temperature quicker. Although Rosberg won the race as slow as he dared to preserve them.

Now they've resolved these issues, they might not have quite the same advantage. Already both Mercedes and Fernando Alonso are predicting that this track represents an opportunity to upset the form book.

Red Bull are the likely contenders. They've probably got the best chassis on the grid. Corner for corner, Red Bull are there. It's when it comes down to grunt that their Renault engine loses out. The Mercedes advantage certainly won't be wiped out but you can definitely expect them to be a lot closer this weekend.

Sebastian Vettel would dearly love to get his season back on track and there's not much better of a drivers circuit to show nothing's wrong. Watch out for Daniel Ricciardo too. He's in exceptional form and could well continue to outperform Vettel. Webber often did around the streets, so there's nothing to say Ricciardo won't either. 

But Vettel seemed to turn a corner last time out in Spain and I think if anyone's going to be out gunning the Mercedes duo, particularly for pole position then it's going to be him. Then again, if you got pole in Monaco you can't be discounted from the win either.

Alonso too will be on the lookout for a strong result. We all know he can pull a great result from nowhere and Ferrari's chassis is only a little worse off than Mercedes and Red Bull. Again it's the power unit letting them down. But Monaco is a drivers circuit, it's one of the few places where a driver can really make a difference. Let's hope Kimi's positive upturn in form will continue too.

Other teams which may be in the mix could be McLaren. Button has been cautiously optimistic. Force India too look like they may be more competitive than in Spain. However the under achievers of the season so far, Williams might be fairly optimistic. I only say this on the basis of the Mercedes theory already discussed. Williams work their tyres the hardest this year so maybe they might spring a surprise particularly in qualifying. Felipe Massa took a great pole position in 2008, so don't discount him.

Lotus made significant progress in Spain and Romain Grosjean will be a man to watch. He's not gone brilliantly at Monaco in the past despite a fourth place grid slot in 2012. But I think he's getting better and better, he'll definitely be troubling the points finishes. Pastor Maldonado needs to get a good result this weekend. His season thus far has been pretty atrocious and with rumours of the Venezuela Government backing being withdrawn he needs to produce something positive to shout about.

McLaren's Kevin Magnussen will hope to use Monaco to show off his skills again after running well under the radar the last few races. He's had a bit of contact in the opening rounds so I hope the close barriers don't put him off. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Daniil Kvyat in the Toro Rosso can do as well. Monaco is a true test and he's been by far the most impressive rookie this year.

Sauber have admitted their updates didn't work in Spain, so I wonder if Marussia can hope to maybe steal a grid slot or two. Look out for Kamui Kobayashi too in the Caterham but I don't expect them to be causing any surprises.

It does all look like a rather interesting and exciting weekend ahead. It may all just be highly optimistic with regards to the fight at the front, perhaps looking for hope of more than just a world of silver, but there is a distinct possibility this may just be more than a Mercedes fight for the win. There are genuine reasons to believe that for the first, and maybe only time this season, Mercedes are under threat and that at least is a tantalising prospect as we head to the sports most challenging race.

Monaco in hindsight

This column is linked to the forecast and will be a regular feature that looks back at some of the predictions made and other issues arising from the race just gone, in this case Monaco.

Just for a moment, let’s forget about the whole tyre testing debacle that’s engulfing Mercedes right now. They had scored pole position in the three previous races and yet pretty much sank down the field without trace. Not in the principality though.

Here they knew exactly what they needed to do. After locking out the front row they set a slow pace to look after the tyres. Sebastian Vettel described it as being stuck behind a bus. But when they needed to be quick such as around the pit stops, they used the pace they’d kept in reserve.

Nico Rosberg in particular was able to open up a gap at will and then control it from then on. It was impressive driving. The only thing denying them a 1-2 was a safety car and Lewis Hamilton holding back in the pit lane just that little bit too long.

So now let’s return to the tyre testing. The tyres didn’t affect Mercedes in the way they had, was this because of the Pirelli test? I don’t believe so. As I’ve said before Mercedes struggled with tyre wear last year and yet were competitive in Monaco. This is because Monaco has a less abrasive surface and is full of slow corners.

This means that the energy going through the tyres is significantly less. It could well be the same in Canada which is all about traction onto long straights, something the Mercedes had already proved it was good with in Spain’s final twisty sector. The surface is also similar to Monaco, so they could be in line for another decent showing.

However, it was noted that by rival teams that Mercedes were approaching their use of the tyres differently but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of their tyre issues. They’ve said so themselves but it seems to me it’s something inherently built into the car. It can’t be pure coincidence that the last 2-3 years they’ve suffered with excessive tyre wear.

Which makes the tyre test even more significant; if they had been told by the FIA they can use their 2013 car (in the regulations if you’re going to test you have to use a 2 year old car as Ferrari did in Bahrain when Pirelli asked them to test some tyres, as current cars in season testing is banned) on the condition the test was available to everyone, then to fail to do so does make it seem, as Red Bull put it, underhand even if they had some sort of approval.

The other condition the FIA specified was that the car would be run by Pirelli, this did not happen. You’re always learning in Formula 1 even if Mercedes didn’t know the compounds they were running and most of the compounds were for next year although one could have been used in Canada too but it has been recently announced will not be used.

You begin to see why the other teams are in such uproar about it. It looks as if this case will go to the International Tribunal, an independent body separate from the FIA. They will assess the report from the Monaco stewards and can hand out penalties including fines, bans and exclusions.

I would think a significant fine will be handed out if they are found guilty as surely they won’t hurt a manufacturer which has been so supportive of Formula 1 and will be supplying a great deal of the grid with new regulation engines next year.

We got our first safety car of the year in Monaco, in fact we got two safety car periods and a red flag to boot. So at least that was something I got right but it was fairly obvious. If we have a quick run through some of the other predictions 

I made I said tyres wouldn’t be as significant a talking point. Well I got that bit slightly wrong, although I was talking about them not being such a significant factor in the race.

I thought Mark Webber would be able to outperform Vettel too, but it’s just not working for him this year. He showed great pace all weekend and looked to have a little edge in Thursday’s practice sessions but wasn’t able to get the lap in when it mattered in qualifying. Webber is already 50 points behind Vettel, that’s two race wins. He needs to beat him in Canada otherwise a supporting role will not be far away. Of course whether he’d support Vettel after Malaysia is an entirely different story.

Force India had a good run to get both cars into the points, but it could have been so much better for them. In Q1 Paul di Resta was left stranded on worn tyres as the track conditions improved and he was left down in 17^th on the grid. He had looked quick all weekend, and would have been battling higher than the 9^th position he was eventually rewarded with. Adrian Sutil did get into Q3 and battled hard from 8^th to 5^th.

Both McLaren’s did get into Q3, but I said Jenson Button was the one to look out for. I was wrong it was Sergio Perez, I think after the reputation he is picking up at the moment most of the drivers will be keeping an eye on their mirrors for him. I don’t think he was overly aggressive to be honest, but perhaps he is risking a bit too much on occasion, and I don’t think the final move on Kimi Raikkonen into the Nouvelle Chicane was really on, which punctured Kimi’s left rear and lead to Perez’s retirement.

Button managed to grab sixth by the end but it’s now three weekends in a row where arguably, Perez has been the stronger driver. Jenson will be keen to put the young Mexican in his place in Montreal, a track he’s won at in the past.

Perez left a mark on Kimi, but Kimi seems to want to leave a mark on Sergio. He was more than disappointed, Kimi seemed angry, well a laid back angry,  when he suggested that drivers talking to Perez won’t help, ‘maybe someone should punch him in the face’. Kimi would have every right to feel aggrieved as that move dropped him down the field and he went from 4 points off the title lead to 21. Not a good day.

It was a very disappointing weekend for Ferrari too. They have a significantly stronger car than last year, but they are not making the best use of it. They didn’t have the pace on Sunday that has been there all year. Hopefully for them this is just a small blip, because really you could make a strong case why Alonso should be leading the championship, the fact that he isn’t shows the whole team, including Alonso haven’t been at the same level as they were in 2012.

They came into Monaco on a fairly dominant Spanish Grand Prix performance and were one of the favourites to contend for victory, but qualifying is still a problem and the race where Massa suffered a suspension failure and Alonso’s pace was poor was unexpected. Alonso looked asleep as he was passed three times with moves he just didn’t seem capable of reacting too.

Of course being the driver he is I feel sure he’ll be back on top form in Canada, but last year this wouldn’t have happened, he and the team would have maximised everything to get the best result they could, and I think it’s fair to say they could have done better than 7^th.

This will all make Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull rather happy. They were probably slower than three teams in Monaco and yet came out with a double podium; not a bad days work. Red Bull are obviously held back by the tyres, that being the case though, they haven’t looked at all like being the fastest out there all year, yet they have come away with 2 victories and are leading both championships quite comfortably at the moment despite their tyre complaints.

Vettel is doing well, in fact he is doing an Alonso of 2012 and is getting the best results that are available to him, he’s not been out of the top four all year whereas Alonso has suffered a retirement and two low top 10 placing’s while Kimi has also had a couple of low top 10 points positions.

Vettel is the only one getting the job done every weekend at the moment, if the rest want to stop him getting a fourth world title, they’re going to have to up their game, and quickly.

all photo's taken from autosport.com 

Rosberg untouchable around the crazy streets of Monaco

The sound of the engines roaring and reverberating off the buildings of Monaco must be a particularly awesome experience, but to thread your car for 78 laps knowing you’re untouchable must be a supreme feeling.

Nico Rosberg was fastest in every practice session, took his third consecutive pole position on Saturday and was never headed on Sunday to secure his second Formula 1 victory. He looked absolutely dominant.

Sebastian Vettel got a great start, but Rosberg was already wise to it and cut him 

off and headed down to Sainte Devote in the lead with his team mate Lewis Hamilton safely behind having also headed off the Red Bull.

At first as the race slowly heated up it looked like Mercedes might have tyre issues again, as they almost cruised around in the opening laps making sure the tyres were kept as fresh as could be.

This became evident after contact Pastor Maldonado in the Williams pitted in the early stages and was lapping up to two seconds faster than the leaders. But this was all part of the plan, if you keep on line and inch your car into the right position it’s almost impossible to pass around these streets.

However, just as it seemed like a queue was forming behind the Mercedes they slowly started stretching their legs, their conservation work over and this became more obvious as some of the leading pack pitted. First Mark Webber dropped out of fourth place to get fresh rubber on lap 26, followed by Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button a lap later switching from the super softs to the soft tyres.

Now tyre degradation was never expected to be that high in Monaco, it’s surface is less abrasive and the lack of fast corners ensure that the tyres are not over worked. Still, the fact that the early stoppers could barely lap any quicker than the Mercedes pair showed just how well they’d managed the tyres in the opening phase of the race.

In fact they went on for longer until lap 31, a lap later than Sebastian Vettel and just as the safety car made its first appearance of the season as Felipe Massa copied his accident from practice 3 into the barriers at Sainte Devote. This is when the race really got going.

The Mercedes had to pit both cars at the same time, Lewis was only a few seconds adrift of Nico so hung back in the pit lane to allow his team to reset themselves after servicing the lead car. But this didn’t work out for him.

The safety car had picked up the Red Bull’s but allowed them to pass as it was waiting for the leader to come round, they scampered around and just managed to get in front of Hamilton as he exited the pits. But for that, it would have been a silver arrows 1-2; although it wasn’t for lack of trying from Lewis that this wasn’t achieved. Webber was perfect as he kept the Mercedes behind.

Lap 46 and Max Chilton in the Marussia had Pastor Maldonado alongside into Tabac. The Englishman failed to see him and edged him into the Armco wrecking the techpro barriers too further along and causing Jules Bianchi to lose his nose. The Red flag came out to reset the barriers.

Rosberg had by now built up a four second lead ahead of Vettel, but again it was wiped out and again he had to lead a restart after all teams had taken the opportunity to switch to fresh rubber as is allowed under the regulations. For the second time he managed the situation perfectly, pulling away in the lead.

Lap 62 now and another safety car after Romain Grosjean who had hit the wall three times already this weekend now hit a car instead, wiping out Daniel Ricciardo as they battled for 13^th. The Lotus was almost launched over the back of the Toro Rosso coming down into the Nouvelle chicane.

Both were out with Grosjean once again having questions raised about his driving and a 10 place grid penalty for Canada. This incident meant Rosberg had to watch his lead get swallowed up for the final time. However, he made no mistakes and lead away again five laps later. He opened up a manageable gap yet again and responded when needed.

He was in brilliant form, and Mercedes boss Ross Brawn came on the radio to say he couldn’t have driven any better. In his home town, Rosberg took the chequered flag to win. He was absolutely ecstatic and deserves to be. No one got near him, he dealt with all the incidents that came his way including a near miss with a pigeon, managed the tyres and was fast when he needed to be; a thoroughly deserved win with Lewis Hamilton unfortunate to only come away with fourth.

Lewis has been complaining he can’t drive the car the way he wants to at the moment, especially on the brakes. Perhaps when he gets more comfortable in the car we’ll see things change but right now Rosberg is putting him under significant pressure.

However, Mercedes are racing under protest. It was discovered last night that Mercedes had been asked by Pirelli after the Spanish Grand Prix to perform a 1000km test to assess some new tyres, most of which are for next year it has to be said, and the team weren’t allowed to know which compounds they were using anyway.

Now in season testing is not allowed so some teams have taken exception to this despite it being ok’d by the FIA. Red Bull protested before the race and it remains to be seen if this will affect the race result, although if it’s been allowed by the governing body I don’t see why it should.

It shouldn’t take away from the Rosberg, but people will ask how Mercedes seemed so much better on the tyres at this race. My answer is they suffered from poor tyre wear last year too, and Rosberg could have won here in 2012, so how significant the test was remains to be seen.

Adrian Sutil and Sergio Perez make the moves

Sutil and Perez really starred in today’s race making some brave and opportunistic moves. As they said in the commentary on Sky they were rolling the dice today. Unfortunately for Perez it ended up not paying off.

After handing a place back to Button, he later got him back again into the chicane, and then made another great move on Fernando Alonso into the same place. He tried his luck on Kimi Raikkonen but this time it ended his race.

It was a racing incident and I think Kimi was already making it clear that he was coming into the apex of the chicane out of the tunnel. As Perez went for the gap Kimi was there they clashed, leaving Kimi with a slow puncture and Perez with failing suspension and a damaged front wing. Kimi later said Perez needs to be 'punched in the face'.

It was still impressive and aggressive stuff from the Mexican and it was sad to see him retire from 5^th. This allowed Adrian Sutil into the top 5, who himself had made Loews hairpin, sorry Fairmont Hairpin, his passing place of choice.

Sutil effectively mugged first Button, then Alonso and was looking menacingly at the back of Perez before he retired. A decent result for the Force India, scoring his first points since Australia.

Championship contenders

Sebastian Vettel was the top finisher in the title race with second place. I found his race rather strange. The safety car gave him second spot, as I doubt he’d have challenged Lewis properly. And that’s kind of how it felt today, Vettel was just out there to secure some decent points. That’s fair enough really especially when your main rivals are not having good days, but I’m not sure it was Vettel’s choice.

The team once again told him to calm down as he set an outrageously fast lap in the closing stages, he said he did it for satisfaction and maybe to show he’d have liked to have fought harder for the victory. I’m not sure he could have, but it was decent points and he’s extended the gap at the top to 21 in front of Kimi.

Fernando Alonso ended up with 7^th and lost a lot of ground to Vettel. I thought Ferrari would be strong here and that they were about to launch a sustained attack for the top of the title race. The team said he had some debris stuck in the front wing which was hurting the aerodynamics, but in truth he never really looked like he could challenge and not even his usual brilliant self.

He was caught napping by Perez, Sutil and Button in the second half of the race and just didn’t seem to have the pace. Coupled with the strange incidents that afflicted Massa I think Ferrari will be investigating this weekend rather thoroughly.

Kimi Raikkonen had good race pace in practice but was always caught up in the pack, spending the large majority of the race in 5^th. After his Perez incident he found himself back in 16^th. He quickly made progress and with 2 laps left he was 13^th. Unseen by the camera’s by the time the race ended he was 10^th. I’d love to have seen his on board camera footage from that. He’s still within a race win of Vettel, but this would have definitely disappointed him more than usual.

It’s by no means certain that Mercedes will play a huge part throughout the year to come, but they’re certainly going to spring a surprise or two again at some point. It’s at those times the top three have to have good damage limitation. Today Red Bull did, Lotus and Ferrari did not. Sometimes it’s these results which win championships.

Rest of the top 10

Mark Webber looked strong this weekend, he certainly had the pace of his team mate but they was no room to pass. After the first safety car he ended up in the final podium spot and there  he stayed. It was a decent display but I thought maybe he’d have an edge on Vettel this weekend.

Jenson Button again felt his McLaren team mate Perez was being a bit too strong armed, but after a disappointment in qualifying with  a faulty fuel pump, luck swung his way in the latter stages and he made a nice move on Alonso to secure 6^th. At present, that’s a good result for the Woking squard.

Jean-Eric Vergne turned his best qualifying performance of 10^th into 8^th. He never looked really threatened and kept up the pace of the leaders well. A good showing after his team mate Ricciardo had looked to be gaining the upper hand.

Paul di Resta took 2 points for 9^th place. He should be very proud of the result; he pitted early anticipating a safety car which never came when Charles Pic’s Caterham retired. It meant he had clear air and when others pitted and safety cars and red flags enabled him to get fresh tyres he found himself in a position to take advantage of further incidents ahead of him. A strong drive after qualifying only 17^th.

Racing at Monaco and looking to Canada

Monaco is a special place to race, just watching the cars go through the swimming pool chicane is utterly mesmeric. Watching an on board lap is a thing of beauty. That’s why even when the race has yet to come alive it’s still a treat to see these cars race on such majestic streets.

Today’s race wasn’t exactly amazing in its first half, but this event is almost like a flat tour de France stage. You know you’re going to get the good stuff by the time the end comes. Today was no different, although perhaps it wasn’t exactly a sprint finish.

We now look ahead to Canada. Kimi and Alonso can’t afford to let Vettel get further ahead in the championship battle, but can Mercedes become a permanent factor in the title race? How much if any, did Mercedes gain from the Pirelli test? Will Pirelli’s apparent tweaks for Canada make any difference and will they even be allowed? And if Monaco can be this wild, then Canada is going to be amazing; lots to look forward to as we head to North America.

all photo's taken from autosport.com