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