The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Rosberg shine once again but the teammates seem to be in a serious conflict. PHOTO: AFP
Nico Rosberg turned his controversial pole position into a faultless victory for Mercedes on Sunday when he regained the lead in the drivers’ world championship by winning the Monaco Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old German came home 9.2 seconds clear of nearest rival and team-mate Lewis Hamilton who coped with loss of vision in one eye as he held off Australian Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull in the closing laps.
It was Rosberg’s second consecutive victory in his home event, his second win of the 2014 season and the fifth win of his career.
Fernando Alonso finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Force India and Jenson Button who finished sixth for McLaren.
Felipe Massa came home seventh for Williams, Jules Bianchi was eighth for Marussia ahead of fellow-Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus and Kevin Magnussen finished 10th in the second McLaren.
Rosberg’s win carried him to 122 points in the title race ahead of Hamilton, who was only half a second ahead of Ricciardo as they crossed the line, on 118.
“It’s another special day for me,” said Rosberg.
“Lewis drove well and pushed me massively hard. The pressure was on but I kept my cool and pulled a bit of a gap at the end because of the refreshed tyres.”
No congratulations exchanged
Following Saturday’s controversy, after Rosberg had gone down an escape road on his final lap, and Hamilton’s threat to ‘take a leaf out of Senna’s book’.
Hamilton did not in public at any rate congratulate Rosberg or make any contact with his teammate on the podium.
Given the drama of 24 hours earlier Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate delivered a damp squib when the lights went out, Hamilton following Rosberg down to Ste Devote.
As the two Mercedes streaked clear, separated by less than a car’s length on the opening lap, Raikkonen made the most of a fast start in his Ferrari to take fourth place behind Sebastian Vettel, who had jumped team-mate Ricciardo off the grid but retired at the eighth lap.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2014.
Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ