Once again Monaco has thrown yet another curve ball into the championship mix - we have at least two very displeased champions sulking in the uninhabited corners of their respective garages. Vettel for one might do well to stay away from a Renault dealership for a fear of him unleashing his German wrath upon the French manufacturer after today. Meanwhile everyone might do well giving Hamilton a wide berth, especially if you happen to be the angry Briton's team-mate. You could say he has to keep one eye open for Nico this season because that battle has just got a lot more intense, and the post race interviews were full of venom and less than subtle criticism. The off track anxiety is almost as edgy and threatening than the racing, even in a race which saw accidents, safety cars, imploding engines and a race long battles throughout the field, some ending some seemingly impossible physics defying overtakes. It wasn't the demolition derby of 2013 but what we were handed today was so much better - and when the chequered flag fell we were treated to one of the most popular results in years. The first big race of the day delivered, the only thing we didn't get was a wheel to wheel push and shove match between the two Mercedes drivers, but I can't say it is all quite so calm in the garage now.
The Race
Before the start the discussions were were focussed on trying to second guess which of the two silver cars would make it through St Devote with all four wheels attached - Niki Lauda himself said that the atmosphere in the team was... difficult. So those folk hiding out further back were hoping for a little bit of contact in the first corner to finally seize an opportunity to beat a Mercedes for once. There was also the remote threat of rain, but as we all know - as soon as the rain is mentioned it is almost guaranteed not to arrive... as it turned out we didn't need it...
When the lights went out at the end of a tentative formation lap Hamilton saw his only real chance of stealing the lead vanish as Rosberg drove effortlessly away from the line. The big gain was made by Raikkonen who beat Alonso and Ricciardo at the start round the outside of St Devote, slotting in behind Vettel on the run up Beau Rivage. It seemed like we had gotten away without any contact, but that only lasted until Mirabeau when Jenson Button got into the back of Sergio Perez. The Force India was nerfed round into the barrier and one sector into the race, the safety car was thrown.
On the restart we saw Raikkonen sweep past Vettel before St Devote, it turned out that Sebastian was having more mechanical dramas, it appears the curse of Mark Webber still haunts the Red Bull garage and his former rival's car. Vettel brought the car into the pit lane, and despite trying to rejoin the race, it was game over within a couple of laps. The star from qualifying Daniil Kvyat was also suffering from mechanical dramas in the engine department and had to retire... another Renault failure - might be an idea to lock the doors at Renualt HQ as there'll be an angry German and a Russian with a powerful death stare lining up outside. Add to that list Pastor Maldonado whose car broke down before the start there are many displeased customers.
While Rosberg and Hamilton built a gap to Raikkonen in third, we were made aware of a series of grid position violations at the back of the grid. Because Maldonado didn't make the start, Gutierrez, Chilton and Bianchi ended up starting in the wrong position, all three were handed one of the new fancy 5 second pit stop extension penalties. Elsewhere Adrian Sutil was delivering one of his Monaco specials, overtaking where it shouldn't be possible - and like last year the loews hairpin remained his hunting ground. Sutil threw the Sauber across the kerb on the inside to make it past Grosjean's Lotus. A few laps later Sutil was at it again down at the hairpin, his next target was Marcus Eriksson to take 17th place, Max Chilton was Adrian's next target. Unsurprisingly Sutil didn't take too long to dispatch the Marussia, but this time he decided to make the pass into Nouvelle Chicane... it was a little straight forward.
Inside the top ten - everyone had started to space themselves out - except the top two... Hamilton was not letting Rosberg get out of his sight... an idea which is will be much funnier later... constantly staying about 0.8s behind the other Mercedes. Raikkonen and Ricciardo were circulating anonymously several seconds behind them while Alonso appeared to have no friends miles away from anyone else as Magnussen and Vergne were keeping everyone else at bay. It could be said that the race was at risk of getting a little stagnant, because it was almost time for the one and only round of pit-stops... wouldn't it be a shame if someone threw a spanner in the works of their strategies. Then there was Adrian Sutil - the Nouvelle Chicane was littered with shards of carbon fibre, at first we all assumed that he'd tried one to many mental overtaking efforts and it had finally gone wrong. But the replay showed he had an identical moment to Kvyat and fired it into the opposite wall. Cue safety car number two and decided everyone's strategies for them.
While the SLS was going round we heard Hamilton complaining relentlessly over the radio, which seems to be a regular occurrence these days. Lewis wanted the team to bring him in before the safety car was announced as it looked inevitable based on Sutil's accident. Elsewhere in the queue of cars Max Chilton somehow managed to crash into the back of Kimi Raikkonen - forcing the Ferrari team into another stop to replace a punctured tyre pushing Kimi well down the order.
At the restart Magnussen seemed to forget that overtaking before the safety car line was illegal and passed Vergne into Rascasse. Keven redressed the position but didn't account for Hulkenberg in the remaining Force India, Nico somehow executed a sublime overtaking manoeuvre into the second part of Portier without any contact. Magnussen did a good job to spot Hulkenberg's move and allowed just enough space to avoid an accident. Further back an outstanding battle was developing between Kamui Kobayashi and Kimi Raikkonen - the Finn recovering from the additional pit stop. Kamui's car looked completely out of control at all times. At the point when Kimi finally took the place we saw Kobayashi sliding almost pointing straight at the wall, how on earth neither car made contact with each other or the wall is a complete mystery. Jules Bianchi wasn't quite as subtle when taking the position from the Caterham driver after Raikkonen had done so. In Rascasse Jules just defiantly biffed Kamui out of the way with precision - if giving someone a good shoving can be precise. Little did we know how important that pass would be
The story at the front of the race was developing further, Rosberg was informed that his fuel consumption was too high and needed to conserve in order to bring it back in line - if there was any chance for Hamilton to take the win this was it. Nico couldn't run at full capacity because of the fuel issue and therefore was potentially vulnerable, but Lewis couldn't do anything about it. The gap remained between 0.8 and 1.1s, while messages went backwards and forwards between the Mercedes team and the two drivers - Rosberg trying to balance speed and fuel conservation and Lewis demanding information and trying keep up with Nico.
As the race crossed two thirds distance the field had once more spread out quite a lot - no-one was more alone than Alonso who was now 30s clear of Hulkenberg and 10s behind Ricciardo. all by his self. Vergne was also about to be all by himself as another Renault mechanical drama made the Toro Rosso emit lots of smoke and making it all smell rather terribly. So Jean-Eric joins the queue of people lining up outside of Renault HQ demanding retribution. Speaking of elongated queues Bottas was accumulating one of his own with Gutierrez, Raikkonen and Massa . Valtteri was struggling for pace and was losing seconds per lap to the line of cars behind him, the source of his lack of speed suddenly became abundantly clear as the engine in the back of the Williams erupted as well. It isn't that often that we see a Mercedes engine malfunction, so the line of angry drivers outside the Mercedes factory will be much smaller than the one outside Renault
Bottas' demise put Gutierrez at the front of the queue, and remained under pressure from Raikkonen and Felipe Massa - he didn't hold onto that position for too long as the Mexican clipped the wall on the inside of the Rascasse and ruined the rear suspension. It was close to being another late safety car intervention, which would have been interesting, but the talented Monaco marshals wheeled the Sauber off into the pits very quickly. As a result Raikkonen no longer had anyone immediately in front of him, and could pick up the pace and catch up to the next queue of cars. That particular queue was headed by Nico Hulkenberg and contained both McLarens - Hulkenberg's tyres had reached the end of their usable lifespan and Magnussen was virtually pushing the Force India round the race track.
Back at the front, we had another interesting development in the ongoing saga between Rosberg and Hamilton - Lewis suddenly lost four seconds to his team-mate. Another irate message from Hamilton pointed out that there was something in his left eye and he couldn't see out of it - in essence Lewis Hamilton had become the worlds first gangster pirate. But Capt'n Hamilton's new piratical status caused an interesting problem because it allowed Ricciardo to erase the 15s gap he had over the Australian. This eventuality once more lead to another less than pleased Hamilton being less than complimentary over the radio - Lewis asked about his lap times and the gaps, to which the team informed him how close Ricciardo was. Hamilton then told the team that he didn't care about Ricciardo... which I'm sure hurt Daniel's feelings... and was far more concerned about the time he was losing to Rosberg.
Yet there was an even more impressive story developing, after Gutierrez bounced off the wall, Jules Bianchi moved into 10th place... the Marussia was in the points. But Bianchi had that 5 second penalty he incurred for incorrectly parking at the start, a penalty that was to be added post race as pitting under the safety car didn't count. Grosjean was 7 seconds behind the Frenchman and closing, as soon as the Lotus came within the five second margin it would mean Romain would take tenth from Jules due to the penalty. However there was a storm brewing further up the road - Raikkonen had now caught Button, Magnussen and Hulkenberg. This was the one remaining really close battle and if anything was to go wrong, Bianchi would be safe for the first ever points. A battle that got infinitely more complex as Rosberg, Hamilton and Ricciardo had to try and lap the group while having their own issue.
Once the leaders had carved their way through, it appeared that Magnussen missed a gear or something out of the final corner allowing Button to sweep round the outside down the main straight - so Jenson was now the lead McLaren trying to pass Hulkenberg. As soon as the group bunched up once more it was Raikkonen's turn to have a lunge at the Dane - Kimi attempted to replicate Adrian Sutil's unique skill, overtaking at the Loews Hairpin. Raikkonen was not blessed with the same level of precision at this particular corner and pushed himself and Magnussen out to the wall. Two more cars dropped down the field. Bianchi was now in 8th position, absolutely outstanding.
For the final few laps of the race Hamilton the gangster pirate had regained his vision and was more equipped to defend from Ricciardo, while Rosberg was clean gone up the road to score his second win in Monaco. Lewis begrudgingly took second and refused to talk to Nico - apparently he is not friends anymore. Which is starting to sound like Hamilton is being quite the sore loser over the whole weekend. Ricciardo scores another podium as one of the few people not wanting to lynch everyone at Renault. Despite have the ultimate anonymous race Alonso did finish in 4th place and the last car on the lead lap. Hulkenberg resisted the late charge by Jenson Button to hold 5th postion. Felipe Massa brought the sole remaining Williams home in 7th, and in 8th place on the road was Jules Bianchi for Marussia, scoring his and the teams first points ever. The five second penalty did drop him behind Grosjean in the final results, but 9th still is two points. After having his run-in with Raikkonen Magnussen recovered for the final point in 10th.
The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
After an eventful race like that there are definitely opportunities to score some bonus points and score big, so the winners from today are as follows:
- 25pts - Jules Bianchi - Scores points for Marussia, which in itself is amazing but they are now ahead of Sauber in the championship which is outstanding
- 18pts - Nico Rosberg - In the face of a very oppressive atmosphere Nico overcame major pressure to take another Monaco victory
- 15pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Another brilliant race, and an exceptional pass on Kevin Magnussen into Portier
- 12pts - Daniel Ricciardo - The first time this season when another car has been in sight of the Mercedes team at the end of the race
- 10pts - Adrian Sutil - Has to have some points for the string of passes he pulled out in the Loews hairpin before ending his race in the wall
- 8pts - Capt'n Hamilton - Driving around Monaco with no vision in one eye without putting it in the wall deserves some points
- 6pts - Kimi Raikkonen - An epic start and was on for a podium had it not been for Chilton causing a puncture under the safety car
- 4pts - Kamui Kobayshi - Performed the mother of all saves when under pressure from Kimi Raikkonen before the Nouvelle Chicane
- 2pts - Max Chilton - Scores points for keeping the car out of the wall after a mega powerslide through the entrance to the swimming pool section, so close to ending the run of finishes
- 1pt - Ryan Hunter Reay - For winning the Indy 500 this evening
The Penalty points championship
There is not too much officiating that needs to be done following this weekend considering most people were well behaved and those who weren't generally put themselves in the wall,
- Lewis Hamilton - Stop whining dammit, you've got the fastest car and have won two thirds of everything this season, Rosberg is allowed to do a better job now and again
- Jenson Button - Has to have a point for punting Perez into the fence no-one else has got on that one
Looking ahead to Canada
From one great race to another, the Canadian GP is another favourite with the drivers and fans alike, where the steel barriers are replaced by concrete walls with only a fraction more room to spare before you collide with them. However it is a track which should favour Mercedes a lot more than Monaco did, and potentially promote Williams and McLaren a lot further forward due to the straight line speed advantage they have. I wonder how quickly Hamilton's demeanour will change if he finds himself as the fastest of the two cars, I suspect it will be very quick indeed. However if we turn up to Montreal - a track that favours Hamilton - and Rosberg wins again all hell may break loose. There is a part of me which hopes that amount of insanity takes place, and who knows more points for Marussia and maybe for Caterham it is going to be awesome.
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