|
12:59: And they're off on the formation lap. It looks like Pastor Maldonado has stalled on the grid in P15 - everyone else gets away cleanly. Maldonado one of five drivers on soft tyres, along with Hulkenberg, Chilton, Bianchi and Ericsson. Everyone else starts on supersofts. Maldonado will start in the pit lane. The cars are lined up on the grid. We're moments away from lights out! --- 12:58: The tension is palpable in Monte Carlo. We're moments away from the formation lap. Everyone seems to be expecting something to happen out in front... ---
-- 12:55: With Hamilton in a bit of a grump, are we going to see the cool, collected Hamilton of the last four races, or are we going to see the banzai Hamilton of 2011? It will be a slight disaster for his image today if there is a coming together with Rosberg, especially after his comments about Senna yesterday... --- 12:52: Lotus clearly thinks its best chance of a good result is if that 20% chance of rain becomes a reality today....
--- 12:51: A plaque has been unveiled to the late Sir Jack Brabham, who passed away on Monday. A nice touch, what an incredible legacy he leaves behind. --- 12:50: Really impressive performances in qualifying yesterday from Jean-Eric Vergne, who qualified seventh. He even topped Q1 after a scintillating lap on the supersofts. His rookie team-mate Daniil Kvyat was arguably even more impressive, despite qualifying directly behind in ninth. Kvyat hadn't so much as visited Monaco until this week, and added to his reputation as one of the most promising young talents on the grid. --- 12:48 Fascinating comments from Niki Lauda on the grid. He said Hamilton was "slightly off" this morning and has not accepted Rosberg's apology.
12.45: Lots of talk today about Rosberg/Hamilton so it's easy to forget the race going on behind Mercedes. The Red Bulls are well-placed to pounce on any coming together in front but will be wary of the looming presence of Fernando Alonso, who looked absolutely on it around here in Q3, and Kimi Raikkonen. Once again Daniel Ricciardo outqualified Sebastian Vettel and looks so at ease behind his car here it's hard to believe he's only in his sixth race at Red Bull. Expect big things from him today, especially if he can do something spectacular into Ste Devote. --- 12:40: Roger Newman asks: "Got a weather forecast mate?" It is cloudy today, with highs of 23 degrees Celsius forecast. There's a slightly higher chance of rain today than yesterday - it's 20% chance so unlikely, but possible. --- 12.38: It's hard to know what to make of Rosberg's incident in Q3, it has certainly divided the paddock. Whatever the truth, his celebration in parc ferme seemed needlessly exuberant considering how he had gained pole - but perhaps offers a glimpse of just how much he needed a win over Hamilton psychologically. Rosberg has a new clutch in his car, ironically tested by Hamilton in the Barcelona test, and if ever he needs a start to go his way in 2014, it is here. Races are won and lost into Ste Devote. --- 12.30: Hello and welcome to our coverage of the Monaco Grand Prix, arguably the most famous race on the F1 calendar. What a day it was yesterday - in case you missed it Nico Rosberg took pole in controversial circumstances, with his late stoppage on track forcing Lewis Hamilton to bail out of his final timed run. An icy press conference followed and, as if it needed it, this title battle between the Mercedes drivers now has a whole new edge to it. Will the fireworks continue today? Stick around to find out. |
|
|
Lap 1 |
Great start Rosberg and keeps Hamilton behind him and somehow they all get through Ste Devote cleanly, Raikkonen takes Vettel for P4! Super start from the Finn. Magnussen has jumped both Toro Rossos.
Shades of last season, with Perez and Button coming together. |
|
Lap 2 |
Watching the replay again, it's a super start from Raikkonen, jumping both Alonso and Vettel. Boy does the Finn need a good result here today. |
|
Lap 3 |
Grosjean, Sutil and Maldonado all pitted in the aftermath of that Safety Car deployment. Grosjean switches to softs. Apologies, Raikkonen jumped Alonso and Ricciardo, who got an awful start off the line. |
|
Lap 4 |
Safety car comes in and Rosberg holds station, Raikkonen is up in to third! Vettel has a problem!!!! He's dropping rapidly down the field, disaster strikes again for the world champion. Ricciardo is closing in on Raikkonen in third. |
|
Lap 5 |
Rosberg sets a fastest lap and the Mercedes guys are both already nearly two seconds away from Raikkonen. Vettel pits and says "Come on guys!" over the radio. He sounds pissed. Hamilton comes into Nouvelle a bit hot but gets away with it. Behind the leaders, Magnussen looks so well placed in sixth - he had a wonderful start. |
|
Lap 6 |
Now Hamilton sets a fastest lap - a 1:21.053, and this means Vettel is being lapped as he exits the pits. He now complains he's stuck in first gear. Oh dear oh dear. Ricciardo just nine tenths off Raikkonen, but Alonso is a further two seconds down on the Red Bull. The stewards are investigating that collision between Button and Perez. Definitely Perez's fault there, he was wide coming down to the Hairpin, simple as that. |
|
Lap 7 |
Rosberg now sets a fastest lap, improving to 1:20.461. Hamilton is getting closer to Rosberg through that middle sector but seems to lose something in the final few corners every time. The gap currently around six tenths. Vettel is told to retire the car. Horrible day for the champ. |
|
Lap 8 |
Rosberg sets another fastest lap, extending the gap to 0.846s. Vettel being out now gives Ferrari a huge chance of a podium now, it's effectively two cars against one here and they can almost certainly cover Ricciardo off with one in the pit stops and beat him with the other. But which will it be? |
|
Lap 9 |
Hamilton cuts the gap back down to six tenths. Got to say, listening to Vettel's complaints on the radio again, it's poor form from the world champion. |
|
Lap 10 |
Raikkonen just two tenths off Hamilton on that lap, what a super job from the 2007 world champion. This is exactly the sort of performance he needs after the start to his season, because he's been blown away by Alonso so far in 2014. Sutil using all the kerbs to get past Grosjean through the Hairpin, nice move. |
|
Lap 11 |
Fahmi says "Why Vettel's car that always had the problems…..is that suspicious???" After so many years of having few problems, I'd say no! He has been out-qualified five times to one by Ricciardo, which to me would be more of a concern. Raikkonen the only man lapping consistently in the 1:20s along with the Mercedes at the moment. |
|
Lap 12 |
Rosberg sets another fastest lap, a 1:20.082. That gap to Hamilton is now 1.5s, so he's out of DRS range. Kvyat dives into the pits, where he will join the retirements column. Big moment for Caterham - Kobayashi moves up to 13th, that magic number in their constructors' battle. |
|
Lap 13 |
Sutil going up through the Hairpin again, this time on Ericsson. Sutil is really good at passing through there. |
|
Lap 14 |
The gap now 1.6s between the Mercs, with Ricciardo 6.6s behind Hamilton, and 3.7s ahead of Ricciardo. Alonso 2.5s off the solitary Red Bull. News from Lotus on Maldonado:
|
|
Lap 15 |
Phil says: "Looks like Webber left his bad luck to Vettel when he departed RBR" Cathy says: "Maybe being out qualified puts him off his game." Hamilton already complaining his rear tyres are already going off. Worrying signs for the world champion if he wants to make a one-stop strategy work. |
|
Lap 16 |
Tony Bertrand says: "I honestly cannot believe what you said about Vettel, poor form is a disgraceful thing to say, the lad has had problems all season, he doesn't need comments like that. I just cannot believe what you said, he was going to do well today." He's a four-time world champion being consistently out-qualified and out-shone by someone who hadn't even finished on the podium before this season. I can't see how you can call that anything other than poor form. |
|
Lap 17 |
Sutil dives down the inside of Chilton at Nouvelle, and the Brit doesn't exactly put up much resistance, moving wide and allowing the Sauber through. That puts Sutil up to 15th. |
|
Lap 18 |
Big lock up from Rosberg coming into Mirabeau. It would be beyond ironic if one of the Mercedes drivers had an incident there today. |
|
Lap 19 |
Chilton gets a five-second penalty for starting out of position on the grid grid position, possibly from the confusion after Maldonado stalled. Bianchi and Gutierrez also get the same penalty for the same offence. |
|
Lap 20 |
Hamilton is told he is in the pit-stop window, meaning they must be two-stopping. Hamilton is pushing like mad at the moment. |
|
Lap 21 |
Tony says: "You are a racing pundit you should know better, had his car been working well in qualifying he would not have been down, if you cannot see that, well heaven help us." I never suggested he would have been... I said he needed a good result today as he's been out of form this season compared to his usual standards. I said "poor form" about his radio messages to Red Bull, meaning I think he lacked class in how he spoke to them. |
|
Lap 22 |
Ignatius Scholtz says: "Vettel is a great driver. His car giving problems is bad luck. Nothing to do with form, It happens. He will bounce back. Nobody retires a car because the driver is not in form." That gap at the front now around the one second mark. Curious to see who will be pitted first by Mercedes. |
|
Lap 23 |
Visvanathan says: On Vettel's retirement due to car failure, now, how exactly this relates to "his team-mate out qualifying him" or "it's poor form from the world champion" ?? If you are going to be judgemental in your commentary, then you are not justifying an unbiased reporting. To clarify, I said "poor form" in relation to Vettel's complaints to Red Bull. It means a bad showing, or that he lacked class in doing so. Out in front the Mercs are exchanging fastest lap times. |
|
Lap 24 |
The Mercedes pair approaching traffic now. Ricciardo closing up on Raikkonen, the gap is down to five tenths. |
|
Lap 25 |
Raikkonen holds Ricciardo off into Ste Devote. |
|
Lap 26 |
Visvanathan says: "I never knew racing pundits from espnf1 consider form of a driver with the way they respond over radio too.. IMPRESSIVE!" It's a figure of speech. I think that's what's causing the confusion. What I should have said was it wasn't great of Vettel to complain like that on the radio. Big shunt from Sutil coming into Nouvelle, he does exactly what Kvyat did in free practice.
|
|
Lap 27 |
Ricciardo and Raikkonen pit at the same time but I don't think the Red Bull will have the jump on the Ferrari. Hamilton asking Mercedes why they didn't pit him the lap before. Naughty from JEV. Massively unsafe release as JEV nearly careers into the unsuspecting Magnussen, and nearly wipes out a Williams mechanic as well. He'll be back into the pits soon for a penalty, no question. |
|
Lap 28 |
Lapped cars can now overtake so I'd imagine the Safety Car will be back in soon... unless we have to wait for them to get back around to the back of the snake of cars. Hamilton really unhappy over his radio. |
|
Lap 29 |
|
|
Lap 30 |
Looks like Raikkonen had contact from a lapped car:
I can understand Hamilton's frustrations about the pit stop, it seems Mercedes were tardy about calling in its drivers. |
|
Lap 31 |
The safety car comes in and everyone holds station through Ste Devote, Hamilton did not look close enough to challenge Rosberg out in front. Massa stayed out and is fifth but this strategy surely only works if it does rain later....I suppose given where he qualified the team has nothing to lose. |
|
Lap 32 |
The cars file through for the start of lap 32. I'm curious to know which Marussia it was who clipped Raikkonen. What a move from Hulkenberg! He dives down the inside of Portier to jump into seventh past Magnussen. What a piece of driving from the Force India, he's on the supersofts and absolutely flying. |
|
Lap 33 |
It seems Magnussen had passed JEV coming into Rascasse when that safety car came in, but then had to give the place back. Hamilton told his team "I knew you wouldn't pit me". I wonder what sort of conspiracy theories are flying around his head right now but it can't be healthy. |
|
Lap 34 |
John M Your opinionated comments about Vettel or any driver are unprofessional as a journalist, unless you're James Hunt-esque and have actually successfully been a F1 driver." Sorry, you're right. Vettel has been driver of the season for me in 2014. Is that the sort of fair journalism you would prefer? Rosberg has Hamilton all over his mirrors. Raikkonen's race is falling apart, he goes across Nouvelle Chicane and is clearly pushing like mad. |
|
Lap 35 |
JEV has Hulkenberg baring down on him but he knows he won't stick around long enough to keep him behind. He has been isued a drive-through penalty for that unsafe release earlier, that's his race ruined. |
|
Lap 36 |
Bianchi barges past Kobayashi into Rascasse for that crucial 13th position! Great move and so very nearly an accident, great aggression from the Marussia. Raikkonen must be going absolutely loopy over the radio at the moment as we see a replay of a Caterham getting all out of shape in front of him. |
|
Lap 37 |
Siddesh: "This is just Hamilton being a drama queen. Plain silly. He was on Rosberg's gearbox, so he knows very well that if Merc were gonna pit a lap earlier, they would have pitted Rosberg anyways, so the point is moot." I agree. I would say it is "poor form" from Hamilton over the radio, but apparently people don't understand what that means. Grosjean thinks about having a go down the inside of Kobayashi but he's not close enough. JEV comes in to serve his drive-through penalty. |
|
Lap 38 |
Bianchi passes JEV as he leaves the pit lane, into 12th place. What a result that would be for Marussia if he can hold it.... |
|
Lap 39 |
Rosberg does not look like putting a foot wrong in this race. Aside from his little lock-up earlier he's looked pretty on it. That gap is staying around eight tenths for the time being...ther |
|
Lap 40 |
Seeing a replay of Grosjean making a move on Kobayashi through Nouvelle. Patience is a virtue in Monte Carlo. |
|
Lap 41 |
Massa still yet to pit in P5. Rosberg warned that fuel could become critical if he does not start using longer gears. |
|
Lap 42 |
Hamilton is a lot closer to Rosberg now! This one is going to go on right until the final lap but I still can't see Hamilton finding a way through. |
|
Lap 43 |
Hamilton so close to Rosberg through the Hairpin, almost close enough to reach out and touch Rosberg's car. But again he loses some significant time through the final corners. |
|
Lap 44 |
If Rosberg has been told to use longer gears, and Hamilton hasn't, it suggests Hamilton has been better on his fuel so far than Rosberg. Monaco is one of the least fuel hungry circuits of all and that Safety Car period surely would have taken fuel out of the equation in this race, so I don't understand quite why Rosberg would need to save fuel... |
|
Lap 45 |
Worth noting that Alonso is 2.2s off Ricciardo in third. It looks like that lapped Marussia (I think it was Max Chilton) has handed the Australian a podium here. He won't be a popular man in the Raikkonen camp right now. Hulkenberg is closing in on Massa, who is yet to pit, in fifth. This could be a great afternoon for Hulkenberg. Massa pits and he will come out really far down the order. That gamble from Williams did not work. |
|
Lap 46 |
Hulkenberg is released into fifth, Massa rejoins in 11th ahead of Bianchi. Excellent work from Williams. He's now on fresher tyres than Raikkonen, the man in front. Hulkenberg a huge 16 seconds off Alonso but if he keeps his race together he's nailed on for fifth I would say. |
|
Lap 47 |
Hamilton is told Rosberg is lifting and costing into Turn 1. This gap is creeping down slowly. |
|
Lap 48 |
Rosberg has used 1kg more fuel than Hamilton, which means his team-mate will have something in reserve for a late challenge. Hamilton is told he does not need to save fuel now. This is a massive moment in the championship. |
|
Lap 49 |
JEV getting himself so close to Bianchi through the Hairpin, he was almost pushing the Marussia. Bianchi defending for his life. |
|
Lap 50 |
Rosberg crosses for Lap 50 and was three tenths faster than Hamilton in that lap... The gap is up to 1.4s so clearly Hamilton not able to take advantage of the fuel here. |
|
Lap 51 |
Rosberg still lapping faster than Hamilton and he's extending the gap out now. Good response from Rosberg. The gap between Ricciardo and Alonso is still 2.5s. |
|
Lap 52 |
JEV dives over the Nouvelle Chicane, he has some blue smoke coming out of his car. Relief for Bianchi and his car sounds like it's dying pretty quickly. Behind that Rosberg and Hamilton were about to hit some lapped traffic, which possibly could give Hamilton a chance. |
|
Lap 53 |
The gap is down to nine tenths again. These two Mercedes guys are really exchanging lap times here - looking at the fuel consumption I can't see how either driver will have a problem for the rest of this race. |
|
Lap 54 |
Rosberg is told the fuel situation has stabilised and to "keep doing what you are doing." Raikkonen has moved up into the pits and is now closing in on Gutierrez. Massa, on fresher tyres, is catching both of them. Big battle brewing for ninth. |
|
Lap 55 |
Alonso does his best lap of the afternoon, a 1:19.727, but that gap to Ricciardo currently stands at 2.7s so he needs something quite spectacular to get third here this afternoon. Bottas, ahead of Gutierrez, appears to be struggling in eighth. |
|
Lap 56 |
I can't see Hamilton catching Rosberg at this stage. Bottas must have something seriously wrong with his car or is struggling for grip as the three guys behind him are in a train and all over the back of each other. Appears Bottas was passed by Gutierrez through Nouvelle and then took it back. |
|
Lap 57 |
Bottas is out of the race and he's stopped out on track... is this enough for a safety car as he's beached right at the Hairpin. We saw a Safety Car for an incident here in GP2... but the Williams is not currently in a critical position. Looks like they are going to remove it straight away. |
|
Lap 58 |
Bottas' retirement has pushed Bianchi up to 11th! One more and Marussia could be in the points... |
|
Lap 59 |
Grosjean is closing that gap to Bianchi though, ever so slightly. Alonso now down to four seconds off the pace of Ricciardo - it seems the third podium spot is the Red Bull's to lose. |
|
Lap 60 |
The stewards are looking at Bianchi for serving his five-second penalty during the safety car period. This could be heartbreaking for Marussia.... |
|
Lap 61 |
It's now a two-second gap between Rosberg and Hamilton. Is Hamilton giving up the chase? He'll have to do something quite spectacular to catch his team-mate now, you feel. Ricciardo really flying now, he's the fastest man on the race track. He's 12 seconds down on Hamilton... does he have enough left to catch him? I'd say it's highly unlikely. Gutierrez is in the barriers coming out of Rascasse. |
|
Lap 62 |
It appears Gutierrez clipped the wall with his rear tyre. Tricky corner and that now promotes Bianchi to tenth - pending the investigation I mentioned earlier. Tough call about Safety Car here, the Sauber is in an awkward position. |
|
Lap 63 |
Hamilton has reduced the gap to seven tenths on Rosberg, traffic is clearly making life difficult for both these guys at different stages of the race. I think Gutierrez's stop probably played right into Hamilton's hands. |
|
Lap 64 |
Bianchi told he's doing "a very good job". I don't think Marussia will be telling him anything about that stewards investigation until after the race. As it stands, Marussia is on for its first points finish. |
|
Lap 65 |
Ricciardo sets a fastest lap - a 1:19.316. Those soft tyres really coming into their own for the Australian. |
|
Lap 66 |
Hulkenberg appears to be a bit of a sitting duck now, on his supersoft tyres. Magnussen has reeled him right in and Button is not too far behind that. Bianchi gets a five-second stop/go penalty but if he doesn't pit again that will be added at the end of the race. That gap to Grosjean is currently seven seconds. |
|
Lap 67 |
Astonishing, Hamilton is now four tenths behind Rosberg and he tells his team "I have something in my eye. It's impossible [to see]." Ricciardo only nine seconds down and he's lapping nearly a second faster. This could just set up a grandstand finish... |
|
Lap 68 |
Hamilton is now down to five seconds off Rosberg... Ricciardo is eight seconds behind. Both the McLarens are in striking distance of Hulkenberg but getting past him is a different thing entirely. Raikkonen is also well placed to join this party, too. |
|
Lap 69 |
Let's compare these laps times now: Hamilton posts a 1:20.242, Ricciardo a 1:19.611. Hamilton in real trouble if he wants to keep second place. |
|
Lap 70 |
Hamilton tells his pit wall "I don't care about the gap to Ricciardo, I care about the gap to Nico". I think he's about to care a lot more about that gap to Ricciardo. |
|
Lap 71 |
Ricciardo sets another fastest lap, a 1:19.252. He could be on for a career-best finish here as Hamilton is all over the shop, both on the radio and on the track. His last lap was 1.3s slower than the Red Bull. |
|
Lap 72 |
Frankly this is an extraordinary turn of events. The gap now 3.4s between Hamilton and Ricciardo. Hamilton is lapping at the same pace as Rosberg, in fairness to him, it's just that Ricciardo is absolutely flying. Hamilton approaching that lapped traffic, it's the battle behind Hulkenberg in fifth. Hamilton will suddenly have become very aware of that Red Bull behind him. |
|
Lap 73 |
The gap now 1.9s as Ricciardo nearly halves the gap. Super stuff from the Australian, he's been on it all weekend. There's an almighty train of cars in front of Hamilton now. Raikkonen tries it on the inside of Magnussen at the Hairpin and they both end up parking it in the wall!! Will this be a Safety Car? That moves Bianchi right up the field! Ricciardo is all over the back of Hamilton's gearbox and is in DRS range. |
|
Lap 74 |
This could be a decisive moment in the championship. Ricciardo has waited patiently with these tyres and is ready to pounce. We know Hamilton isn't feeling great in his car but these are a huge four laps for the championship. Raikkonen pits for a new nose. Bianchi in the Marussia is up to eighth, but will have five seconds added to his time, so is effectively ninth. Button is all over the back of Hulkenberg too. |
|
Lap 75 |
The gap is still six tenths between Hamilton and Ricciardo. The incident between Raikkonen and Magnussen will be investigated after the race. Seeing it again, it looked like a fair attempt from Raikkonen down the inside, he just couldn't slow it down in time. At the moment the Mercedes' engine power keeping the Red Bull just out of range of Hamilton. |
|
Lap 76 |
Two laps for Ricciardo to make something happen now. The gap now three tenths and Hamilton knows this is the difference between losing seven or ten points to Rosberg. Even more backmarkers to come. Hulkenberg has kept Button at bay for now - a fifth would be a superb result for the Force India but his rear tyres are absolutely shot. Hamilton holding firm through Nouvelle. I don't know where Ricciardo is going to get past Hamilton here. Raikkonen, down in 12th, sets the fastest lap of the race. |
|
Lap 77 |
This is it - one lap for Ricciardo! What a thrilling end. Rosberg is cruising home to victory. Hamilton surely has too much power... |
|
Lap 78 |
Ricciardo keeps it neat through Portier but Hamilton powers away through down the tunnel.... he may just have done enough. Rosberg wins the Monaco Grand Prix for the second year in a row Behind him Hamilton finishes second by just four tenths from Ricciardo, what a thrilling finish that was! Alonso crosses fourth but what of Hulkenberg? Button was just one tenth down but couldn't get past the Force India. Massa 7th, Bianchi eighth (which is a net ninth after his penalty), Grosjean will inherit eighth and Magnussen tenth. I tell you what, the post-race media stuff here is going to be absolutely golden. Hamilton might just explode when he takes his helmet off. Marussia are in celebratory mode in the pit lane and too right, it's their first points finish ever, as far as I can work out Bianchi will be relegated to ninth after that penalty. -- |
|
Rosberg is in parc ferme and celebrating like mad. Let's see how Hamilton behaves. I'm no expert but I imagine it will be a marked difference from previous weekends.... Still no handshake between Rosberg and Hamilton that I've seen. Rosberg recieves the Monaco winners' trophy for the second time in his career, which is enough to give him the championship lead. Hamilton and Ricciardo collect their trophies - one more lap and those two might have swapped positions but it wasn't to be. The body language between the Mercedes guys is fairly awkward, to say the least. |
|
We have yellow flags out, there's been a crash at Mirabeau. That will be a safety car! It's Sergio Perez, it looks like he got caught by Jenson Button through there.
