The sun was shining in a clear blue sky when it was time for Formula 1 action in Monte Carlo. The top five remained the same at the start: Rosberg held his lead, Hamilton followed closely his team-mate, Vettel in P3, his team-mate Webber in P4 and Kimi in P5. For the first 20 laps this year´s Monaco grand prix seemed a bit dull: no overtaking, just driving "as a train". Until...
On lap 30 Massa in his Ferrari crashed heavily to the barrier in turn 1. That happened exactly in the same place where he had crashed also in the qualifying. That was a heavy impact and a bad-looking accident but luckily Massa got out of the car on his own. The shunt caused the first safety car episode. Rosberg pitted a lap earlier than his team-mate which was a crucial turning point in the race. Rosberg was able to maintain his lead after the first pit stop but Vettel and Webber were able to jump ahead of Hamilton who was dropped down to 4th place.
On lap 44 Alonso was driving in 6th place and the Mexican McLaren driver Perez was right behind the Spaniard. They had thrilling wheel-to-wheel battle and at a chicane Perez tried to overtake Alonso. Alonso cut the chicane trying to avoid the collision with Perez. Some laps later Alonso was told to give the position back to Perez as the stewards had decided that Alonso had got advantage of cutting the chicane.
On lap 45 the safety car was deployed again. This time it was because of the collision involving Williams´s Maldonado and Marussia´s Chilton. Maldonado´s car flew in the air and thanks to good luck nothing serious happened this time! But the impact made the barrier almost block the track so the race was red-flagged. After a while it was time for the re-start behind the safety car.
On lap 53 Kimi in P5 was fighting closely with Perez who was desperately seeking for a place to overtake the Iceman. After the tunnel they both cut the chicane as Kimi was trying to avoid a collision with the Mexican. Kimi called Perez an idiot on the team radio and there´s more to come... At the same time Sutil at the wheel of his Force India was making fantastic overtaking manoeuvres. He had found a perfect place for overtaking: the hair pin. The German got past both Alonso and Button!
On lap 62 another collision took place: Grosjean in his Lotus crashed to the rear of Ricciardo´s Toro Rosso! Unbelievable, incomprehensible indeed that there hasn´t been ONE SINGLE DAY during the Monaco GP weekend that Grosjean wouldn´t have crashed to something or somebody! I keep wondering how long Lotus´s team principal Boullier will tolerate Grosjean´s crashes and stupid mistakes. The Frenchman didn´t only ruin Ricciardo´s race but he also destroyed his own race as he had to retire a couple of laps later. There comes a point when you can´t simply forgive the mistakes if you don´t seem to learn from them! And as far as Grosjean is concerned, that point might come sooner rather than later. Grosjean´s collision with Ricciardo lead to the second safety car episode in today´s race.
When there were only 7 laps to go Kimi was still battling hard with Perez. This time Kimi didn´t manage to avoid the collision but Perez crashed to the rear of the Finn´s Lotus! At this point my blood pressure went through the roof indeed! Some parts flew off from Perez´s car and Kimi suffered a puncture which forced him to pit. Kimi dropped from 5th place down to 16th due to this extra pit stop! But with a set of fresh option tyres Kimi started to rage on on the track. What Kimi did on the closing laps was truly amazing: the Iceman managed to make his way through the pack up to 10th and scored one championship point! It really didn´t comfort Kimi much as there were many more points to be achieved today. Kimi is an exceptional talent, there´s no denying that!
So Rosberg crossed the finish line as the winner of the Monaco GP. The Red Bull duo Vettel and Webber completed the podium so excellent constructors´ points for Red Bull! Hamilton finished 4th and Sutil 5th, which was very well done from the German Force India driver. The Rosberg´s success is, however, slightly bedimmed by the fuss about Mercedes´s tyre test which took place after the Spanish GP. According to the sources of Autosport Mercedes had been granted a 1000-kilometre tyre test by Pirelli. Red Bull and Ferrari have already launched a protest against Mercedes due to this test. They do have a point: today it seemed that Mercedes´s weakness with tyre management had mysteriously disappeared! Rosberg could easily win the race with a one-stop strategy whilst the Red Bull drivers suffered from much bigger tyre degradation. Of course Monte Carlo is a unique and exceptional circuit but still... I can´t help thinking about the possibility that Mercedes have gained some advantage thanks to the tyre test. So I guess the fuss about this is only about to start... On what ground Mercedes was specifically chosen to run this test for Pirelli and not any other team? How this is justified by Pirelli and so on! So all these questions take a fraction off from the glory of Mercedes´s win today.
Sebastian is now leading the championship with a 21-point gap over his closest rival Kimi. Let´s see what will happen in Canada in a fortnight... Hopefully less crashing and more racing!
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