Rosberg stops Hamilton’s victory run as Bianchi ends Marussia’s points drought

2014 Monaco Grand Prix review

26th May 2014, 1:5624th May 2016, 14:20 | Written by Keith Collantine

Nico Rosberg took full advantage of the benefit of starting from pole position to repeat his Monaco Grand Prix win of last year.

He held team mate Lewis Hamilton at arm’s length for much of the race, until Hamilton dropped back in the closing stages when his vision became impaired.

But while Rosberg claimed a badly needed victory in the ongoing battle of the Mercedes drivers, Marussia finally scored their long overdue first points score. Over four years since the team first entered F1 as Virgin, Jules Bianchi was classified ninth on the Monte-Carlo streets.

Rosberg holds off Hamilton

The 78-lap race only realistically offered Hamilton two opportunities to pass his team mate. The first passed him by within seconds of the lights changing, as Rosberg made one of his best starts of the season so far to hold onto the advantage he had won in controversial circumstances on Saturday.

The second came 25 laps into the race, when Adrian Sutil’s Sauber skewered the barrier on the approach to the chicane and skidded to a halt. Hamilton considered diving for the pits immediately, before the Safety Car was deployed, but decided not to – something he quickly came to regret.

The Safety Car was summoned on the very next lap, and Hamilton had to take his pit stop immediately after Rosberg. Any chance of getting a precious lap of clear air to try to under- or over-cut his team mate was lost.

“I can’t believe that we just had to pit,” said a dejected Hamilton on the radio. Then he added: “We should have pitted on that lap, I knew I should have.”

Hamilton may well spend the days between now and the Canadian Grand Prix reflecting that had he announced his intention to pit, Rosberg would have been faced with the dilemma of whether or not to respond. Whichever course of action Rosberg had taken, Hamilton would have had the opportunity to do the opposite, and earn himself at least one lap in clear air to try to make the difference.

Hamilton’s fate was sealed by that Safety Car period, and even when he closed on Rosberg later in the race when his team mate had to save fuel, the chance of him putting a pass on an identical car in Monaco of all places seemed remote.

Vettel’s race over early

Not for the first time this year an absorbing race had developed behind the duelling Mercedes drivers.

A poor start from third on the grid saw Daniel Ricciardo slip to fifth behind Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. But he soon took one of those places back, as Vettel lost his turbo boost just a few laps into the race.

It was the latest in a series of technical setbacks for the world champion this year, and all the more frustrating for occurring at a circuit where Red Bull expected to be closer to Mercedes. His unhappiness was made plain as he urged his team to find a solution, then headed to the pits and into retirement.

Vettel’s turbo problem manifested itself moments after the race resumed following a first-lap collision which eliminated Sergio Perez. The Force India driver had been knocked into the barrier by former McLaren team mate Jenson Button.

Ricciardo moved up to fourth courtesy of his team mate’s demise, and was destined to inherit third when misfortune struck Raikkonen. Misfortune in the shape of Max Chilton’s Marussia, who ran into him during the second Safety Car period, forcing Raikkonen to make an extra pit stop which ruined his race.

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Bianchi ascends

When the race got going again Raikkonen was 13th, chasing Kamui Kobayashi while Bianchi stalked the pair of them. Following an unsuccessful attempt to pass at the chicane, Raikkonen eventually demoted the Caterham at the run to Rascasse on 40.

Bianchi opportunistically sprung to take advantage, squeezing into a gap between Kobayashi and the inside of the corner which was only a few millimetres wider than a Marussia.

That move paid off doubly when Jean-Eric Vergne emerged from the pits just behind the Marussia, having served a drive-through penalty for being waved out in the path of Kevin Magnussen during the second Safety Car period.

Bianchi had also had a brush with the stewards, picking up a five-second penalty for starting out of his grid position, as did his team mate and Esteban Gutierrez. Marussia attempted to serve it during his first visit to the pits, but the new penalties cannot be served under the Safety Car, so he was issued another one which added five seconds to his final race time.

But by now he was closing on the points places, and several key rivals were dropping out quickly. It began with Vergne on lap 52, who had nudged the Marussia at the Fairmont Hotel hairpin, then suffered another exhaust failure.

A power unit failure claimed Valtteri Bottas on the 57th lap, and four laps later Gutierrez clipped the barrier at Rascasse and spun out of the race with a damaged wheel.

Bianchi’s next gift began when Magnussen experienced a loss of power. Team mate Button passed him at Sainte Devote, then Raikkonen dived down the inside of the McLaren at the Fairmont Hotel hairpin – but couldn’t stop his Ferrari. The two stopped on the outside of the bend, and Bianchi motored by to pick up eighth place.

Rosberg claims second Monaco win

By now a late drama had ended Hamilton’s hopes of passing Rosberg and put his second place in jeopardy. A dozen laps from home he reported to his team: “I can’t see out of my left eye, I’ve got some kind of debris in my eye.”

Understandably Hamilton’s lap times began to suffer. He later said the grit cleared up but not before Ricciardo got on his tail – despite telling his team with eight laps to go he didn’t care how close the Red Bull driver was getting.

Ricciardo fell short at the flag, leaving Mercedes to claim their fifth one-two in a row. Alonso took fourth ahead of Hulkenberg, who had run a long stint on the super-soft tyres which began with an extraordinary pass on Magnussen at Portier.

Button took sixth ahead of Massa, who postponed his first pit stop until lap 46. Bianchi’s eighth on the road became ninth after his penalty was applied, promoting Romain Grosjean. Magnussen rounded off the points-scorers after his late problem.

Having been in the hunt for a podium finish early in the race Raikkonen finished out of the points, and a disappointing day was capped by a reprimand for his collision with Magnussen. Chilton, 14th, received the same for hitting Raikkonen.

For Marussia the scenes of joy were unbridled – their long-awaited first points score a fitting rewarded for F1’s smallest team at a time when the financial challenges facing them has never been more apparent.

And while Mercedes outwardly had no reason to be displeased after taking their fifth one-two finish in a row, Monaco was the clearest sign yet that the simmering tension between their drivers is threatening to boil over.

2014 Monaco Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine

Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
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62 comments on “Rosberg stops Hamilton’s victory run as Bianchi ends Marussia’s points drought”

Kingshark (@kingshark)
26th May 2014, 3:27
Easiest DotW poll ever?
1. Patrick (@paeschli)
  26th May 2014, 7:50
  I’m gonna pick Hamilton as DOTW out of compassion just because so many people are saying he is whining and complaining etc. :P He knew he lost the race on Saturday because of something which wasn’t his fault. He knew also that his only two opportunities to win the race were the start and the pit-stops. The start seemed quite unlikely because he failed to pass Rosberg last year despite that he started better. The only other option was to push really hard during the pit-stop-phase and that was taken away from him. I can understand he’s a bit angry given the fact that the two opportunities to win the race were taken away from him (qualification and pit-stops).
  Even worse, something came into his eye in the final laps and he had to drive with one eye (you need two eyes to gauge distances accurately). Despite all his problems, he secured 2nd place. I would be angry too at the end of such a week-end and his reactions were appropriate given the circumstances, IMO.
  Nico won and Hamilton lost, but the stakes were against Hamilton.
  In Bahrain, the stakes were against Hamilton too, but he managed to win that.
  In short, Hamilton suffered from a retirement in Australia and he won in Bahrein despite being on slower tyres while Rosberg hasn’t had any problems until now. And yet, Rosberg is leader of the championship by only 4 points.
  That’s why Lewis is still my favourite for the championship.
  1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
    26th May 2014, 8:51
    +1
  2. Robbie (@robbie)
    26th May 2014, 13:59
    I’d be more with you @paeschli if you had acknowledged that in fact NR had telemetry and radio issues that caused a clutch issue that buggered one of his starts. That in fact the ‘slower’ tires weren’t after all slower. That LH used boost when he shouldn’t have. And that LH had all day to pass NR and couldn’t while other passes were being made on the track without needing Saturday or the pits to do it for them.
    1. N
      26th May 2014, 15:01
      “That in fact the ‘slower’ tires weren’t after all slower.”
      They where.
      “That LH used boost when he shouldn’t have.”
      You mean the boosts that Rosberg used to try and snatch a win in Bahrain previously.
      Also, from Rosbergs own mouth regarding the matter :
      “Rosberg: “I don’t know what Niki is referring to but it’s completely normal that we switch modes together you know, we always do that in the races. It’s nothing unusual.”
      “And that LH had all day to pass NR and couldn’t while other passes were being made on the track without needing Saturday or the pits to do it for them.”
      Ermmm, maybe because theres a performance differential between the different cars, while Hamilton is in the same equiptment as Rosberg, the performance differential between the 2 is much reduced than if it were 2 different cars.
      1. Dean (@skiz)
        27th May 2014, 0:22
        HAM should have been penalised for his illegal defending moves.
  3. DeVante
    26th May 2014, 18:12
    +1000
  4. Hyoko
    26th May 2014, 20:40
    The only other option was to push really hard during the pit-stop-phase and that was taken away from him.
    Not really, he had his chance to pit before the SC was deployed but blew it. Has only himself to blame for that.
2. John H (@john-h)
  26th May 2014, 9:29
  Indeed. I’d like to see:
  1.Bianchi
  2.Vergne
  3.Hulk.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
26th May 2014, 3:35
Bianchi’s race was defined by being at the right place at the right time. Others retirements and problems are not relevant if you’re not there to pick them up. You make your own luck, and he faultlessly stayed on it all race long to finish an astonishing 8th on the road, classified 9th.
Massive kudos to him and the team. It was an incredible achievement, and very, very well deserved for a squad that was absolutely lost in 2010 with the all-CFD car, had to endure 2 years being beaten even by the HRTs, but then struck back and got on it.
Manohar shekhawat (@manohar)
26th May 2014, 6:54
Such a shame his genuinely won race wont be the same now, I’m afraid he might get the taste of his own medicine as setting these new limits will only invite more dirty moves.
hzh (@hzh00)
26th May 2014, 7:31
Congratulations for Nico’s win, but my objection is the way he celebrated his pole position on Saturday in front of Lewis and after knowing that he ruined his flying lap!!!! when I saw that I considered it unacceptable, as if he were saying “I know I ruined your lap and that you might have beatin me to the pole position, but anyway, in your face lewis”. I hope that that does not lead to a disastrous relationship in the future.
1. MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
  26th May 2014, 9:16
  Lewis Hamilton has always seemed pretty emotionally fragile, as evidenced by how he has reacted all weekend to what he saw as an unfair situation. If I was in Nico’s boots, and I wanted to find a way of breaking Hamilton to take the championship, this is exactly the sort of thing I would do. Hamilton has been making punchy statements all week about how there’ll be no excuses if he’s not on pole, and he will be champion because he’s hungrier for it than Rosberg, so I just see it all as a counterpunch in a head war which, frankly, Hamilton himself seems to have started.
  Let’s not lose sight of the fact that, error or no error, Rosberg did beat hamilton’s qualifying lap. Otherwise his mistake would have secured his second place on the grid. For all his moaning about deliberate mistakes and so on, Hamilton will be painfully aware that part of the reason he wasn’t on pole was because he failed to put in a faster lap than Rosberg in Q3. If he had done so on his first flying lap, then the outcome of the whole weekend would have been very different.
  1. Mr win or lose
    26th May 2014, 10:21
    Spot on! I can’t agree more.
  2. Patrick (@paeschli)
    26th May 2014, 13:46
    It’s funny Hamilton was making “punchy statements all week about how there’ll be no excuses if he’s not on pole” and in the end, he’s got a very good excuse :P
  3. JackJ
    26th May 2014, 16:10
    I want more jabs from Nico. I’m curious how Hamilton will handle it.
  4. DeVante
    26th May 2014, 18:28
    It’s funny when we chose things to highlight…cheating does make all difference and we cannot just say: “cheating or not”…
2. John H (@john-h)
  26th May 2014, 9:22
  Agree with this. Even if he made a genuine mistake, and then made the mistake to reverse during others’ flying laps, celebrating it in front of his ‘colleague’ like that was poor form.
  To be honest, I think both of them came out of the weekend with slightly less respect from the fans. Hamilton had the opportunity to take the high ground, but he couldn’t control his mouth unfortunately. At least he didn’t tweet any telemetry I suppose ;)
  1. MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
    26th May 2014, 10:08
    Reversing wasn’t a mistake – it was part of the procedure for recovering the car. The mistake was outbraking himself and running off, but once he had done that it didn’t matter whether he reversed or not – the laptimes of those behind him would have been hindred by the yellow flags regardless. He was still quicker than Hamilton, and I think that’s probably cause for celebration. If he didn’t much care for Hamilton’s hurt feelings, well that’s probably because Hamilton himself has been playing mind games with his public statements. Neither comes out looking good, but I don’t think I can blame Rosberg for it, and frankly when you make the kind of statements that Hamilton has been making recently, it’s hardly surprising when there’s a touch of schadenfraude when he ends up being beaten.
    1. Funkyf1 (@funkyf1)
      26th May 2014, 12:53
      +1
    2. N
      26th May 2014, 13:30
      “Reversing wasn’t a mistake – it was part of the procedure for recovering the car.”
      A procedure that he should have waited another 20 seconds until the session has finished. It wouldn’t have made any difference to the Yellow flags, but thats not the point, the point is that it shows Rosbergs had no respect for safety or his fellow competitors as he backed up into what was other cars fighting the limits on hotlaps.
      It’s basic common sense. What if someone else had the exact same mistake as Rosberg and had to bail into the escape road? They’ve have plouged right into him.
      Then again, Rosberg knew the chances of someone making the exact same mistake was extremely unlikely ;]
      1. Robbie (@robbie)
        26th May 2014, 14:20
        Totally agree @mazdachris and would only add that NR thought he had pooched it for himself, so I think he celebrated his pole the way he did because the yellow flag came out which he immediately, after overcooking it, didn’t expect. I think for NR it was the marshals that secured him the pole to his pleasant surprise, which is why he thought it was fair game to celebrate it.
        A few days ago I said LH would have celebrated the same way under the same circumstances, and someone called me on that saying it was an unfair assumption. But given his comments during this past week, and now knowing he used boost he shouldn’t have in Spain, I do think LH would have celebrated the same way NR did, even if just for the head-play. I now doubt LH’s sincerity when he seemed humbled by ‘winning even though NR was faster,’ or by having a different hunger to NR’s. LH has had way more top cars and chances than NR who is in his first year of having a capable WDC car. It’s been years now since Ron Dennis brought the poor sod up through the ranks, made him rich, and since he won a WDC. And his idol Senna grew up privileged too. Simply cheap head play and poor character to try to lessen NR for his upbringing or boost himself with the cry for pity that he grew up in his Dad’s apartment…from which they would leave to go karting enough that Ron Dennis discovered him. Poor guy.
      2. MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
        26th May 2014, 14:31
        When they wave yellow flags, the drivers who see the yellow flags have to slow down because there’s a hazard. If another driver “had the exact same mistake as Rosberg and had to bail into the escape road” then they would be at fault for ignoring yellow flags and continuing to push. I’ve seen a few comments to this effect and I’m stunned that people don’t understand what yellow flags mean. If you see a yellow flag, you’re no longer fighting for a hot lap, you’re avoiding a hazard and should slow down accordingly. What happens when a car stops on the track, do you believe that the other drivers should still be free to push as hard as they like? I can’t understand this argument at all.
      3. N
        26th May 2014, 14:33
        “Simply cheap head play and poor character to try to lessen NR for his upbringing or boost himself with the cry for pity that he grew up in his Dad’s apartment…from which they would leave to go karting enough that Ron Dennis discovered him. Poor guy.”
        What a load of utter nonsense. Hamilton did nothing of the sort.
        “”Nico, do you think it was fair what Lewis said about you not being hungry as him because you were growing with boats and jets and all that stuff?”
        Rosberg: “I didn’t hear Lewis say that and so I’m not going to comment because it’s easy for you to just invent something…”
        “Nico, you may give the same answer to this question then, because there were some comments from yourself in one of the German newspapers or certainly a few of the German newspapers and you can correct me if I’m wrong, if the English translation was not correct, but you remarked that when Lewis goes through a difficult period that he can crack.”
        Rosberg: “Again, that is definitely very very far from anything that I’ve ever said and ever would say.”
        “Lewis, to clean the situation, did you tell the BBC in this interview where you said these things with the boat or didn’t you say that?”
        Hamilton: “I was asked who was hungrier. I think if you ask every driver they will say that they’re the hungriest…” “… I used to travel around with Nico in his Dad’s plane, I used to go to his boat, I used to go to his house, I used to have those experiences and that gave me those experiences and that gave me the desire to want that one day, which gave me the hunger. It was his Dad obviously who inspired me to be where I am today.”
        “So you did say it.”
        Hamilton: “Yes, but – as Nico said – it was taken out of context a little bit.”
      4. N
        26th May 2014, 14:35
        “the drivers who see the yellow flags have to slow down because there’s a hazard.”
        Rosberg had absolutley no idea how close anyone was behind him, you dont backup into traffic using assumptions.
  2. Dean (@skiz)
    27th May 2014, 0:31
    Nico reacted very cool on the Bahrain podium, that’s how you don’t show your frustration. Ham could’ve gained some psycho advantage by handling this situation the proper way but he went for the Webber-way: acting like as if he was the victim who hadn’t provoked the whole thing. I have doubts regarding NR’s actrions on Saturday but after Bahrain I can’t say they weren’t unprovoked. And I am not even close to be a fan of NR or a hater of LH.
3. patriots_fan (@f1007)
  26th May 2014, 19:03
  well lewis pushed the bar little high by talking about upbringing n other non-sense, so don’t expect rosberg to keep calm. It goes both ways you see.
Mr win or lose
26th May 2014, 8:32
Although the race was action-packed, many overtakes came from do-or-die attacks that only paid off because the driver in front chickened out. Formula 1 has become a little bit too much of a street fight, in which the drivers who have nothing to lose prevail. I even like clean pitlane passes more.
1. John H (@john-h)
  26th May 2014, 9:24
  A “street fight” is exactly what Monaco should be.
  1. Mr win or lose
    26th May 2014, 10:33
    Yeah, LOL. But at least it should be fair. I don’t think Formula 1 cars should be used as a weapon to force the other guy out of the way – they are not built for that.
2. Dr. Jekyll (@dr-jekyll)
  26th May 2014, 11:55
  Like sutil did last year at Monaco succesfully, and this year unsuccesfully… didn’t like any of his overtakes last year at Monaco, and he tried the exact same this year but the other driver didn’t chicken out
3. JackJ
  26th May 2014, 15:58
  This isn’t the 90s. You cause a collision, you get penalised. No driver wants that. We see it as chickening out, they see it as escaping a penalty. As Alonso said, ‘you must always leave a spave.’
Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
26th May 2014, 8:58
A brilliant race with plenty of battles, overtakes, breakdowns (an unusually high amount?) and the HAM-RIC battle made it a very enjoyable race.
The highlight for me was Bianchi and Marussia scoring their first points, it is something I didn’t expect to see this year. Those points are so valuable to them, it is easy to forget how smaller they are than other teams (even Caterham), not only is it a morale booster for the team it also brings them valueble FOM points.
I am a big Marussia fan so seeing them celebrate like they won the race was so special it almost brought a tear to the eye. It was not a points scoring occasion like in the past where a Jordan or perhaps a Minardi would only get in the points because of the high attrition rate that used to happen during races in the past. They did a better job on the weekend than the other teams, Marussia have built a reliable car, obviously got the strategy right on race day, Bianchi did everything he could dragging that car into the points, a brilliant overtake on Kobayashi all culminated in a fantastic weekend for them.
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
26th May 2014, 10:00
I was really surprised that none of the front-runners pitted immediately after the Sutil crash. Mercedes, I can still kind of understand. But Ricciardo would have had a great chance to get ahead of Mercedes. And if the safety car does not get deployed, it wouldn’t have been particularly bad as this would have been a good time for a stop anyway.
1. Mr win or lose
  26th May 2014, 10:28
  I believe Button was one of the first drivers to stop. Probably he didn’t gain too much because of these delta times, so I wonder if Räikkönen and Ricciardo could jump the Mercedes’ anyway (last year Hamilton got overtaken by the Red Bulls because he left too much of a gap to Rosberg, ortherwise he would still have been 2nd.)
  1. Rigi (@rigi)
    26th May 2014, 15:51
    button was very quick to pit during the safety car in melbourne, too. he gained 4 places there, but only one in monaco i believe.
  2. Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
    26th May 2014, 16:48
    The gain is clearly not as much as it used to be due to the delta times but it definitely still exists. Sure, there was a gap between Hamilton and Ricciardo, but Hamilton was slowed by a double-stacked pit-stop, so it would have been worth a shot.
Alex McFarlane
26th May 2014, 10:48
I think Lewis needs to tread carefully after this weekend. Both Merc drivers have been petulant in defeat at times this year, undoubtedly fuelled by the knowledge that their car is well ahead of their rivals and that the drivers’ championship will come down to results between them.
It’s one thing to be frosty against your teammate, but I felt his demeanor during the race was highly disrespectful to the team, being critical of strategy that has worked in his favour in the last few races and acting petulant towards the engineer over the info given to him on race progress, when it seems that he had gone into a silent sulk (“come back to us Lewis, what’s up?”)
Mercedes have been widely praised for their culture of sharing data, allowing the drivers to race each other competitively and showing equal support to both Lewis and Nico. Both drivers would be wise to keep this in mind as alienating the team could cost them the WDC and not just this year.
Garns (@)
26th May 2014, 13:02
@Alex McFarlane
Agreed, this was the Lewis that very few like, only his die hard fans will tolerate. His inability to control his thoughts to his reaction does not help him, that doesn’t mean he cant think it, but at least disguise it at least a bit to the F1 world. Appear a bit angry, but not sulky like a few years back.
The ’emulate Senna’ comment was just dumb (Someone said Lewis is a bigger Senna fan than any of us, well I would take issue with that, I just didn’t go on to be a WDC :), he can say it was a joke, or he wanted to dominate Prost like Senna did at stages, but it was an obvious “today, it has to me be my way” comment. Not too smart, and yes Niki needs to get to him again.
I don’t mind it really as I want Nico to win this year and this stuff seems to get to Lewis more than others such as VET or ALO, making me think they are more complete drivers (Yes I know they both have a spit, like all of them do, but like Seb to his team last night he started, thought it bad and somewhat pulled it back, it didn’t make him look good, but he saved face to do so- I don’t think Lewis does that as well).
1. Alex McFarlane
  26th May 2014, 15:23
  Indeed, he talked about responsding like Senna but ended up sounding distinctly Prost-like!
  Lewis is my favourite driver, and I have been rooting for him but he needs to do his talking on the track. If Nico wins the title though, I’ll be pleased for him as well as he’s done a good job himself and has no doubt helped Mercedes get where they are now.
  1. Aled Davies (@aledinho)
    27th May 2014, 13:52
    +1 As a fellow Ham fan it was a bit disappointing to see how he reacted this weekend after he had seemed so calm the last few races.
    He needs to do his talking on the track because arguably over 1 lap there isn’t anyone better in F1. But, and as Rosberg is finding out, There isn’t much difference between them in terms of race craft and setting the car up. Rosberg tends to find more time over a weekend than Hamilton but Hamilton is generally 2 tenths quicker out of the blocks so it makes for a fascinating season.
    I do think that if Red Bull were closer it would actually benefit Hamilton as his superior qualifying speed could prove the difference as Rosberg would I imagine fluff his lines a few times and end up 3rd, 4th or 5th and cost himself points.
    Every margin is so tight between them and they know that, that’s why the tension is there. It is easy for us to say Lewis is petulant or Rosberg committed a foul but how do we know how we would react in that environment??
    My personal feeling on saturdays incident is this:
    Rosberg did break later for the corner but there are few points before his breaking that don’t seem to have been explained on Sky Sports or anywhere i have read (bar Mark Hughes race report on Motorsport):
    – Why was Rosberg wriggling back and forth the wheel as if he was trying to control the rear of the car when the front on camera view (i have only seen this replay used once) didn’t appear to show any loss of rear end grip? After that he goes in deep locks the front brakes runs wide and then thinks better of trying to make the corner.
    My instant reaction was nothing when i saw it on tv but when i look at it over and over and then i think of the front on view of the car i can;t help but think there was a degree of deliberate intentions in going off from Nico. The fact that several figures in the paddock have said the same speaks Volumes.
    That said, Lewis should have handled himself better, he had every right to be aggrieved i think after Saturday (and Nico’s fist pumping in his face lacked class considering the circumstances) but come Sunday he should have drove his heart out, kept quiet and moved on. As many have commented, if he got the job done on the first run in Q3 this would never have happened.
    My final thing to say is how a lot of people who think Rosberg didn’t do it deliberately have commented that he “isn’t that sort of guy”: well when has Rosberg in his career since 06 been in the position of knowing he could win the world championship? he has never been close due to the cars he has had at his disposal and he has had to wait a long time. Nico knows this could be his best and maybe his only shot and across the Garage his team mate has come in and beaten him in the last 4 races including 2 when Nico was actually faster all weekend and Nicos only win came when Hamilton retired early on. So looking at it in that light he would have been desperate this weekend.
    Just a thought..
N
26th May 2014, 13:34
By the way, can people stop using the word ‘Petulant’, i know its the in-word at the moment, but its becoming almost as annoying as ‘for sure’
1. Alex McFarlane
  26th May 2014, 15:25
  For sure, I’ll try and stop mentioning driver’s petulances when they’ve been petulant. For sure.
  ;-)
  1. N
    26th May 2014, 15:29
    :D
  2. JackJ
    26th May 2014, 16:00
    Nice one.
xjr15jaaag (@xjr15jaaag)
26th May 2014, 13:44
Sebastian Vettel cannot be a happy bunny right now.
These Renault issues affecting (in the Red Bull team) only him cannot be going down well.
1. JackJ
  26th May 2014, 16:01
  Well, tough luck.
  1. 72defender (@72defender)
    26th May 2014, 21:44
    :D
Luca Nuvolari (@nuvolari71)
26th May 2014, 14:47
I never liked Lewis, but I respect him as a great driver, second only to Fernando. From my point of view he’s better than Sebastian, Rosberg, Kimi. He races with his heart and he loves his job dearly. Talented and sensitive, fast and furious. When he wears his helmet, he’s a force of nature. He never gives us and he’s matured a bit recently, in terms of racing intelligence. I cannot stand his gay-macho look but that’s personal. On the other hand, i think it’s a shame he does not understand that he’s so close to become one of the most loved sportsman in the world. He had a chance this weekend to show some maturity but here few examples on how childish he still is: 1) press conference:”were you complaining about pitting late?” LH “I dont remember” 2) Asked if he’s friend with Nico he says, he’s not (stupid answer, even if true, considering he had a chance of showing some bigger picture maturity, while Nico said “Yes”) 3) The team hires a sport psychologist. He says he doesn’t need it. It doesn’t matter, kid! you are not stronger than Tiger Woods mentally! Get humble, say “good idea”, then when it’s your turn to enter the room, just disappear… 4) Openly complaining about Nico’s quali. Is Lewis thinking he’s more intelligent than a team of scrutinizers? Claiming that Nico did it on purpose makes him look way too arrogant in front of scientific facts
The problem is that he’s talking the wrong time and way too much. People are not stupid and, despite of admiring a great racer, they start looking at him as a child who just wants his toys all the times.
Just my opinion
1. Alex McFarlane
  26th May 2014, 15:42
  Macho-gay look? :-D
  Agree with your comment though. What surprised me most about Lewis thia weekend is that it seemed so contrary to how he had been in the previous races, where he conceded that Nico had been faster and that he would have to work harder to stay in front. He seemed to take a backwards step.
  1. JackJ
    26th May 2014, 16:05
    Lewis makes me miss Schumacher’s always politically correct response to questions. That’s saying something.
2. socksolid (@socksolid)
  26th May 2014, 16:02
  To me it look Hamilton’s own mind games only seem to have an effect on himself lol!
  1. Luca Nuvolari (@nuvolari71)
    26th May 2014, 19:00
    Agree 100%. In my humble amateur racing career, I once met a Ferrari manager, who worked in the Team during the times on Alesi and Berger. He told me that at that time and even recently, he always used a formula to judge a driver, based on 3 strengths: PURE SPEED, FITNESS, INTELLIGENCE and I applied the same to Nico and Lewis. I judged them equal on fitness and I gave 1 extra point of speed on Hamilton but I gave 2 extra points of intelligence to Nico. I am not saying Nico is better, but I find him more suitable to cope with a 19 races championship, the stress, the media hammering because I can see a more calm and objective approach to racing. Again, only my opinion.
    Out of curiosity, here what he said of Berger and Alesi: Alesi: Speed=10, fitness=9, intelligence=4 :) Berger: Speed=9, fitness=5, intelligence 10. Do your maths:) Then I asked him of Senna….
dam00r (@dam00r)
26th May 2014, 14:48
Rosberg could’ve made the corner if he really wanted.
I think Hamilton is just mad because Rosberg did not play fair
1. Garns (@)
  26th May 2014, 15:14
  It was fair play. Nico was P1, come in too fast as he dropped a few tenths (and LH seemed slower in it the back anyway) but gave it a go- he missed!
  People seem to miss if it were Jules Bianchi having a ago, but got a yellow Lewis would not act the same………… would he??
  1. JackJ
    26th May 2014, 16:07
    Ooh, can you imagine if Vettel got ahead of Lewis in Q3 and then parked at Mirabeau? Oh the uproar.
    1. Mayank (@mjf1fan)
      26th May 2014, 21:36
      That would have been a nightmare :P
  2. trublu (@trublu)
    27th May 2014, 22:10
    Hamilton was not slower and he was better in sector 2 all week.
Eddie (@wackyracer)
26th May 2014, 16:07
This is interesting
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=290898841086875&set=a.156519011191526.1073741830.144804135696347&type=1&theater
the skwirrell
26th May 2014, 17:18
Time for Hamilton to sit the next race out in the naughty corner. Merc don’t need their run of success soured by his child-like antics.
Additionally, I hope (probably in vain) that Hamilton’s engineer gets a higher rate of pay than Rosberg’s; having to put up with Hamilton’s radio complaints during races [not just those related to Nico] should be worth a good quid. I don’t care how good a driver is behind the wheel, if it comes at the price of petulant (for sure!) nonsense.
Kimi4WDC
27th May 2014, 2:03
#%$@ing Chilton.
evered7 (@evered7)
27th May 2014, 7:02
For all the talk of Rosberg breaking down, it seems Hamilton had his first break down in Monaco this week.
If it happens that he loses the title by way of double points, he might lose his mind. I am hoping the title gets decided before the last race.