adminHOW quickly the switch can flick in the career of Lewis Hamilton. At the last race, he was on top of the world, celebrating his return to the summit of Formula One for the first time in two years. Here, at the Monaco Grand Prix, the visually-impaired Hamilton showed suspicion towards his Mercedes team and his victorious team-mate as he struggled to keep hold of second place.
In the end, after all the controversy of qualifying, it was a comfortable win for Nico Rosberg, who retakes the championship lead. How big a bearing those yellow flags on Saturday could have on this year’s battle.
Daniel Ricciardo impressed once more than take third, finishing less than a second behind Hamilton. Earlier in the week the Briton said he has a different kind of hunger to Rosberg, but now he just had a different kind of vision. Some dirt in his left eye rendered him incapable of challenging for the victory in the closing stages.
Tensions between Hamilton, Rosberg and Mercedes were obviously left unresolved before the race began in cloudy skies, and it was an altogether grey day for the Briton. The afternoon was peppered with a series of fraught radio messages between Hamilton and his engineer, as he struggled to find a way to beat the pole sitter.
Elsewhere, Fernando Alonso finished fourth, both McLarens returned to the top ten, while Marussia won their first point after more than four years of trying.
Before the race had even begun, Niki Lauda, Mercedes F1 chairman, had issued a stern warning: “If they hit each other at the first corner then they have a problem with me.”
The words of the Austrian carry immense weight, inside and outside the team. And on this occasion, they did the job. After a short, sharp handshake, Rosberg had the better start, leaving Hamilton without a hope of getting by. The qualifying controversy was left to simmer underneath the Briton’s visor.
Lauda had even admitted on the glittering grid: “This thing we have with Lewis accusing the other of doing something stupid; I tried to fix it this morning with Lewis but I couldn’t.” The frustration was only to build from there.
Kimi Raikkonen made the best start, carving his way past both his team-mate and the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo. After a good getaway, there was yet more frustration for Sebastian Vettel. For four years everything seems to have gone his way. Not in 2014.
Reliability gremlins resurfaced, leaving the German totally powerless, both literally and figuratively. He sounded exasperated over the radio: “Come on guys… I’m sure you tried everything”. The four-time champion is a team player, after all.
The predictable safety car was called for within just seconds of the start. Out of Mirabeau towards the Lowes hairpin, Sergio Perez crossed paths with his old team-mate Jenson Button as they had done in 2013. Perez’s right rear collided with Button’s left front, sending him spinning with debris strewn across the track.
However, it did not present the opportunity Hamilton was looking for. That is the nature of Monaco: getting to turn one first is not a fait accompli, but it is not far off.
With 20 laps gap, Raikkonen was comfortable in third with Ricciardo just behind, before Adrian Sutil brought out the safety car for the second time in the afternoon.
This was when the air of suspicion between Hamilton and Mercedes really began to come to the fore. The Briton felt he could have made a rapid dive into the pits a lap earlier, giving him an advantage over Rosberg.
After he stayed out, he was not shy in letting the team know what he thought. “We should have pitted on that lap (before) – but I knew you wouldn’t call me in guys,” he said. How quickly things can change in the world of Hamilton.
The safety car also ruined Raikkonen’s hopes, as a bizarrely timed pit stop sent him from third right down to 13th.
But then, a glimmer of hope for Hamilton. Despite his engineering background, touted by many as an advantage, Rosberg was struggling to be frugal with his limited supply of fuel. It is an oddity of this season that Hamilton has been the arch conservationist.
In a bid to keep Hamilton behind, Rosberg was using the lower gears to power away on the straights. The Briton closed up once more, but Rosberg stabilised the situation.
Most of the scraps were down the field, between Marussias, Caterhams and Lotuses. But engine failures for Vatteri Bottas and Jean-Eric Vergne brought Marussia their best ever chance of a world championship point.
After more than four years of trying, Jules Bianchi captured that invaluable, almost priceless point, finishing ninth. The boys from Banbury will party long into the night.
At the front, Hamilton’s pursuit took a bizarre turn of events. Some dirt in his left eye rendered him incapable of keeping up the chase, and he fell back five seconds with 10 laps to go. More fraught radio exchanges followed.
After his engineer told him the gap to Ricciardo behind – five seconds with seven remaining – Hamilton hit back: “I don’t care about the gap to Ricciardo, I want to know about Nico.”
But it was not long before the Australian was eating great chunks into Hamilton’s lead. With a few to go, Rosberg was comfortably on his way. Hamilton held Ricciardo at bay, just. The inquest into what went wrong here for Hamilton will ensue.
On the podium, there was no eye contact or warm embrace between Hamilton and Rosberg. It is a sign of things to come. — The Telegraph
Online Reporter