Rosberg lucks into third Monaco win in a row

2015 Monaco Grand Prix summary

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Nico Rosberg took a surprise third consecutive Monaco Grand Prix victory in a race which his team mate was dominating until a late Safety Car period.

Lewis Hamilton was leading comfortably until a collision between Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean caused the Safety Car deployment which changed the outcome of the race.

Mercedes took the opportunity to give Hamilton a fresh set of tyres, but he was unable to rejoin the track before the chasing Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel arrived. After the Safety Car came in Hamilton was unable to pass the Ferrari driver for second place, leaving Rosberg to win as he pleased.

Hamilton briefly came under pressure from Daniel Ricciardo, who had adopted the same strategy, overtaken Kimi Raikkonen and been waved through by team mate Daniil Kvyat. Having failed to pass Hamilton, Ricciardo let Kvyat back into fourth on the final tour.

Raikkonen took sixth ahead of Sergio Perez while Jenson Button claimed McLaren’s first points of the season with eighth place. Team mate Fernando Alonso retired with a technical problem.

Felipe Nasr and Carlos Sainz Jnr completed the points scorers, the latter having started from the pit lane.

2015 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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93 comments on “Rosberg lucks into third Monaco win in a row”

  1. Toto: “Thanks god we’ve got Lewis’ sign under new contract before Monaco!”

    1. If HAM had let his lawyers write his contract he might have written in escape clause for situations like today.

    2. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
      24th May 2015, 15:56

      Maybe Lewis signed to become the Number 2 driver?

  2. This is absolutely unacceptable from Mercedes. This was Lewis’s race to win. Lewis handled the situation well.

    1. @ultimateuzair I really wish he had gotten out of the car when he stopped at Portier and just walked off.
      Instead he thanked his team and those useless strategists who couldn’t get the easier strategy of the year play out.

      1. Agree. Absolute no brainer. Why roll the dice when nothing to gain and everything to lose.

        1. you good sir, have just hit the nail on the head. just the worst call ever. even if it worked it would have been a totally stupid risk

      2. He would get DSQ so may as well get the 15 points rather than 0

      3. He thanked the team which has given him the most dominant F1 car ever built, the team which gave him last seasons WDC and will likely give him another title this year if he plays his cards right. I don’t think it required any vast amount of magnanimity for him to do this.

        1. given him? Merc need him too. Or did you forget they weren’t always this strong and needed drivers to take them that bit further on the grid.
          And really I’m tired of hearing him thank the team all the time… given so little air time I want to hear what he really thinks and not the same story.

      4. @ivan-vinitskyy To be fair to Lewis it now makes him look like the bigger man, and he won’t want a massive strain on the relationship within his team, as that would only make things worse.

        1. @strontium to be honest if I was Lewis’ mechanic I’d have issues with that strategist too.
          I don’t look at team vs Lewis. It’s just that 1 guy who’s made a mistake. That mistake has undone all the hard work the whole Mercedes F1 team did (design the car, build, operate, driver input). I see him being bad at his job…. and therefore should be replaced. Just saying we win as a team and lose as a team doesn’t get you better team. Maybe I want more transparency and in public view that’s just not appropriate.

          1. Sacked for one mistake? – get real. He could well be the guy that has made a 100 brilliant calls. Have some perspective.

  3. Utterly unbelievable!

    1. Lewis really deserved the win today.

      Having watched the live timing throughout the race, Lewis was 0.2-0.3 faster than Nico on pretty much every single lap, sometimes as much as 0.6s faster on the occasional lap. Even when Lewis was managing his brake problem and Nico was pushing hard, Lewis was still able to prevent Nico closing the gap. Hamilton was about 27s ahead of Nico before the safety car. He also had the fastest lap at that point, and having taken pole in qualifying he look set for a grand slam. Nico meanwhile could barely even pull a gap from Vettel for most of the race.

      Lewis was on a separate level today, this was the most dominant display I’ve seen at Monaco since Schumacher in 1994 or Senna in 1989.

      1. Preferential treatment, it’s just his car, etc etc etc.

      2. you can not compare this to schumacher in 94 (a v8 ford engine vs the better v10s), while hamilton has the most dominant engine by a mile in 2015. also most of hamiltons gaps were made in lapping traffic, where rosberg was absolutely dreadful today. Verstappen was a league ahead of Hamilton today to me (before crashing).

  4. Wow. Just wow………

  5. Hamilton deserved the victory, no doubt. But what Rosberg doesn’t deserve, besides the win, is the hate that will inevitably come for Rosberg despite the fact that he was 0% responsible for what happened. Won’t be surprised if he’s booed at the next few races.

    1. Yeah I agreed Rosberg doesn’t deserve the hate because like Keith said, he just lucked into the win. I don’t think people will boo him because of this though, people already choose to cheer Lewis name rather than boo Nico.

    2. He did have too much fun on the podium, considering it wasn’t his win…

      1. I don’t think so. He rightly acknowledged he lucked into it. It’s not the same as Monaco quali last year when he properly celebrated afterwards. Not a Rosberg fan, but he’s been classy today and don’t think he should receive any booing for it.

      2. Yeah but you would celebrate if you won the lottery and thats pure luck.

        1. You celebrate getting lucky with lottery. You celebrate your accomplishments in GP weekend when you win F1 race. Ros didn’t deserve GP celebrations because his accomplishments were poor.

          1. you celebrate winning, and rosberg won today

          2. @ivan-vinitskyy
            You strike me as one of those classless booing fans that followed FA around for a time. Rosberg has EVERY RIGHT to celebrate.

      3. As Lewis said himself : “We win as a team, we lose as a team.” The drivers are just part of their teams, including those who developed and built the cars, set it up for the race, and also the strategists.

        Lewis’ team mess up, and they lost the race. Rosberg’s win wasn’t deserved, but it was fair.

      4. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
        24th May 2015, 20:35

        A win is a win, he deserves it!

    3. I respect that Rosberg didn’t milk it to a huge extent, and acknowledged his luck.

    4. @mashiat Completely agree, well put.

    5. @mashiat

      what Rosberg doesn’t deserve, besides the win, is the hate

      Did you see him celebrating like it was a hard earned victory?

      1. @supremacy

        Did you see him celebrating like it was a hard earned victory?

        No. Did I miss something?

  6. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
    24th May 2015, 15:14

    The stewards should have been more careful in judging the VES-GRO and the RIC-RAI incidents, maybe giving a veredict later. I don’t know it it still possible to give penalties after race, or even after some days (as when Perez asked for a revision of his penalty for crashing with Massa in Canada last year).

    1. It’s still possible and if they choose to do that we will be noticed the incident will be investigated after the race. However the stewards feels they have all the things they need so they gave they verdict and I can’t say I disagree with it. The driver or team though can still try to appeal the decision if they want, but I doubt there will be any appeal for small case like this.

    2. @omarr-pepper It’s definitely possible, but I’m not sure what their stance on appealing is.

  7. And we thought McLaren were good at screwing Lewis over …

  8. Can someone please elaborate what happened? Did Mercedes unnecessarily pit Hamilton or something? I only caught the first 10 laps.

    1. yep, exactly that. they made a really BIG mistake

  9. I am so sad , and being a lewis fan , I cannot describe the way I feel right now.

    Seeing my champions head bowed down on the podium as he tried to hide his tears , is a moment I don’t think I can handle again.

    It was a stratergical error and its the second time the team have robbed Lewis of the win in the last 8 races (remember Brazil?) .

    But at the end of the day , I think this will make him even more motivated as a driver but surely after a long rejuvenating week .

  10. For Nico it sort of must feel like a “doesn’t matter had sex” situation.

    1. Indeed. He’s won at Monaco and got 25 points from it. I don’t think he’ll give a stuff what the fans are saying on social media.

      1. Not to mention got the 3-in-a-row Monaco win stat.

      2. money (@carlos-danger)
        24th May 2015, 17:17

        But he is human. It must hurt that your own country men/women don’t even support you. Rosberg doesn’t have any redeeming qualities relating to f1.

    2. Trenthamfolk (@)
      24th May 2015, 15:21

      He know’s he’s 2nd best though… a bit like knocking the fit bird’s ugly friend…

  11. If you consider it “impossible” to overtake, you have given up the race. Hamilton had eight laps to make something work, he had much fresher tyres than either Vettel or Rosberg. Nico did a great job getting away as soon as the opening was there, so yeah…

    1. @klon WHAT? 60 laps in the race ROS didn’t even see the back of HAM’s car and all you have to say is Nico did a great job and HAM didn’t because he didn’t overtake?

      1. I didn’t say he did a great job all race. I said he did a great job when he was gifted the opportunity. You can’t deny that. Was he lucky to get into the situation? Yes. Did he do a good job with it? Yes.

        1. @klon oookay Merhi managed climb on a toilet…. great job! That’s just as irrelevant to race as what Ros did. He got in front through help… and stayed in front through help too actually (Vet was busy with Ham) so what great job? just go away…. it’s just not constructive comments.

          1. I can’t help but think a great driver would have said no in that situation. A schumacher (after knowing all the facts hamilton also knew, like rosberg wouldn’t pit) would have just said no track position is key im staying out.
            Hamilton gave into his team, of course it’s their fault for making a bad call but it’s not like he had no way out. He made a mistake and lost the race because he was incapable of processing all the information. Often enough this season he was saying stuff like “these tires won’t work we have to pit early” and the team followed up, but just in this case it was all the team? I still think this is a 70/30 mistake wise to the team but come on hamilton didn’t do a great job at it either.

          2. Hamilton asked the team before he pitted whether he’d beat them out and he also asked them to clarify if he even needed to pit/whether Vettel or Rosberg had pitted.

            I get the feeling he was assured everything would be good. Heck, given the advantage of skipping St. Devote, he only lost out by all of 10-20 yards…

            It was just a fundamentally bad strategy decision made by the team.

    2. Fact is, it wasn’t Lewis’s fault it was the team’s fault so stop making excuses for Nico.

    3. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
      24th May 2015, 15:34

      @klon Hamilton had Vettel in front, not an inexperienced rookie, and Ferrari is not a Manor or a McLaren this year.

      1. Okay, that is indeed true. If my comment was taken to be dismissive of Vettel, I apologise for that.

  12. When the virtual safety car came out, i noticed that hamilton was going faster then rosberg on the virtual safety car lap, and had a 24 second lead, at that point the tv coverage went and showed a mercedes crew preparing for a pit stop, i immediatly thought they might pit hamilton as he seemed to have made an advantage that would mean he could still come out in front of the field (as the rest of the field would be driving slow in 3rd sector), and i thought mercedes might do that pitstop it anticipation of Ferrari pitting Vettel for super soft. but they did not pit hamilton (maybe because no ferrari mechanics were out), and instead pit hamilton the next lap, when the real safety car was out the next lap, so hamiltons advantage was cut i believe (or was it?). i wonder why hamilton was going so fast, or why rosberg was going so slow when the virtual safety car was called out, because that is the moment the mercedes team decided to pit lewis – because his advantage suddenly grew so big, i believe it was to cover a late onslaught from a potential super soft shod ferrari, but why? every one know you cant pass on this track, even if on different tyres. bad mistake by mercedes.

  13. @Klon this is Monaco not Silverstone, what you are saying holds almost no water here. If he had tried to brute force his way past Vettel it wouldn’t have worked out so well. He knew immediately that he had to settle for the points.

  14. i feel cynical about 2 points in the race.
    1- ricciardo no getting penalised, because he was chasing hamilton for 3rd place, so the FIA wanted to keep the action going.
    2- hamilton slowing and stopping after the race, he just didnt want to see Rosberg celebrating, and perhaps did not want to be part of the podium at all.

    1. 1- ricciardo no getting penalised, because he was chasing hamilton for 3rd place, so the FIA wanted to keep the action going

      A 5 seconds penalty would have been appropriate since it was similar to Alonso/Hulk

  15. It was comical to see the mood of dejection from Brundle. Could the various British F1 talking heads, pundits, and reporters at least go through the motions of being impartial?

    1. he was not biased, everybody not blind saw what happened. He did ask the right question fans want to know. What kind of mood did you want? fake?

      1. I’d like to see the person conducting the podium interviews be a little less blatantly biased in favor of one driver.

        1. Mmm…….I think in any sporting event, when the clear victor on merit has been robbed, there is sadness and sympathy for he or she who has been the victim.

        2. @rm I think he would have said the same to any driver that pulled out 20+ second lead, being the class of the field and had the victory (at Monaco of all places) taken away from them and handed to their main championship rival

        3. @rm Why is every comment you make some sort of criticism or negative comment about Lewis? It’s never nice to see a driver lose a result they deserved through no fault of their own (unless you have an irrational hate for that driver).
          Brundle sounded disappointed when Verstappen had that really long pit stop, does that make him biased towards Verstappen? Can you let your irrational hate of Hamilton rest for long enough to think logically?

          1. Do you honestly think Hamilton was faultless? A great driver with a great understanding of the race (like a schumacher, a senna or a prost) would have said no i’m not gonna pit there is no reason. After all he is the only person to decide what he is gonna with his race. All the team does is suggest what to do next. It happened often enough hamilton was negative on the teamradio saying they couldn’t pull certain strategies. This is more of a 70/30 mistake wise for the team than hamilton being robbed.

  16. billbranch (@)
    24th May 2015, 15:25

    Last year when it was announced that Maxxy Boy would be racing as a seventeen year old pimple-faced youth, my friends and I all agreed it would be a big mistake. Today was absolute incontrovertible proof of that.
    It is certain he has talent and some experience. Does he have perspective, maturity, good judgement? 100% no. He not only nearly killed himself and risked the life of M. Grosjean, he also affected the outcome of the race.
    I respect all of the top drivers. I do not respect Verstappen. He should be at home with his parents studying his lessons, birddogging high school girls, and hanging out with his friends.

    1. @billbranch ‘absolute incontrovertible proof’ wouldn’t go that far. He was to blame but every driver got off days. Let him fail again and then I’ll agree with you.

      1. @ivan-vinitskyy, as you say, this same race also saw Alonso being penalised for his driving after pushing Hulkenberg into a barrier (effectively destroying Hulkenberg’s race), so even more experienced drivers were making mistakes too.

    2. Joe (@retrograderenegade)
      24th May 2015, 15:35

      Australia: Should’ve finished about 7th
      Malaysia: Finished 7th
      China: Had 8th locked down until his car died
      Bahrain: Toro Rosso was crap all weekend
      Spain: Finished 11th.
      Monaco: Ran 7th until a very slow stop put him back to only fighting for 10th, then makes his first real mistake of the year.

      Yes, Verstappen made a cruicial error there. He deserves a penalty, even. But to completely throw out 4-and-a-half good races because of one misjudgement? That’s just silly. He’s proven he deserves a spot on the grid already, and this is coming from somebody who seriously doubted he would amount to much pre-season.

    3. This sort of comment annoys me the most. People complain F1 doesn’t have any more good overtakes. In this era of hyper calculations and tactics, I like to see someone try and find a gap to pass on track. Nobody complained when Max was passing people in the other races, now that he’s done his first mistake he gets crucified. He’s an oldschool racer, the kind who likes to dive up the inside, and I appreciate that, along with the blunders made while trying to hone his skills.

      1. Skysports commentry said that Grosjean had braked earlier than usual, so this was just a racing incident although a dangerous one.

    4. @billbranch pretty much every driver on the grid has made a similar mistake, especially in their rookie years (remember Vettel on Webber at Fuji 2007ish), mistakes like this happen, it’s part of learning at the top level, regardless of the age. Was it much different to button on Maldonado in Malaysia? Is button not twice Max’s age?

    5. He’s only pulled off good overtakes in the races before this. But that doesn’t matter considering his last race, according to you.

    6. I’m glad you and your friends can now enjoy your echo chamber even more, but his mistake had very little to do with ‘being a 17 year old’ and more with ‘not having a lot of experience’. People like to throw the two under the bus together, but ‘not seeing a break test coming’ is generally not age-related.

      Do you have any lifestyle advice for the rest of the field as well? I’m sure they’re dying to hear it.

    7. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      24th May 2015, 20:50

      A BS comment. He was very impressive, and then made an error. Max is developing into the best driver out there. With more experience he will be the fastest and most gifted out there.

  17. Hamilton wanted this one, he wanted it so bad. Spain or Canada it would’ve been bad but no where near like this. For once Hamilton, be as moody as you bloody want, I will be.

  18. Worst …… Call …… Ever !

  19. That was a horrible call from his pitwall, definitely shows that they’re getting complacent with being out front the whole time. The only explanation why you would pit your driver with 10 to go is just that. Especially when noone else is pitting. However, i wouldn’t call Lewis’ reaction “a good reaction”, especially with him trying to cut in front of Vettel after going up Beau Rivage, going into Massanet during the first SC lap, and telling his team that he beat Vettel out when it was blatently obvious that he diddn’t. Then sulking back to the viewing stand, and hitting the number sign at the end. He has every excuse to be mad, and i would be furious, but being the leader in the WDC, and being the defending champion, not to mention the face of F1, he should have a little more control. I think if it was Alonso or Vettel in that situation, they wouldn’t have done the above things….now i haven’t seen the podium yet, so if he kept his cool there, then props to him as this whole situation is a trainwreck.

    And for the Hamilton fans that will undoubtedly criticize me, i would say the same thing of any driver, Kimi included (my favorite)

    1. You are putting words into his mouth. He said that he was beside Vettel…. he didn’t claim to be in front. Hitting the sign was poor form. However he pulled it together and spoke very well in the end.

    2. I have the utmost respect for Hamilton as a driver. He’s the best driver in F1 right now, in my opinion. But I absolutely despise his attitude of wearing his heart on his sleeve. I hate how he sulks when things don’t go his way.

      1. @strifeforce @Michael Brown

        Complete nonsense.

        Lewis VERY classy……..Shook Nico’s hand on the podium. Said ‘we win and lose as a team’.

        You would have been grinning, eh?

      2. I thought he conducted himself well in the interviews. Hitting the number board? I didn’t see it but I’d have at least done that. He’s a bigger man than I am.

      3. Wow! Please get off your high horses, will you? Absolute drivel.

    3. Man, Lewis just gets no respect from some people. With how he got completely screwed, some of you still find threads of nothing to hang on to and criticize him about. Amazing!

  20. Shirbit Reats
    24th May 2015, 15:40

    Absolutely fantastic win from Nico! Great race, great tactical driving and well-deserved win through forcing Lewis into a mistake. One doesn’t win 3 times in Monaco on fluke.
    Great driving and points from Button also, he proved his class today.

    1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      24th May 2015, 20:52

      Agreed on all points, especially re Jenson

  21. Is this the first hattrick by a driver on a track after Sebastian at the Indian and Japanese GPs from 2011-2013?

    1. Vettel did not win Japan 2011. He did win Korea, India, and Singapore for 3 years in a row between 2011-2013.

  22. Rosberg is a born loser, thats why hes always happy taking these odd results.

    A winner in his situation would have been less excited and more thoughtful as to why upto 12 laps to go in the race he was 20+ seconds behind a person in the same equiptment.

  23. He lost the race I get it but he is such a sore looser…

  24. Kind of wanted Lewis to get out of the car and hop onto a super yacht just like Kimi did all those years ago. What a highlight that was.
    In all seriousness though, bad luck to Hamilton, have to feel for him, but im sure he will be fine and bounce back. His speed at the moment is way superior to Rosberg.
    Rosberg’s Celebration after was ok, not sure but im pretty sure he wasn’t to know the situation at the time so he was there to take it.

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