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 thoughts.
“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 Lewis
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.