MONACO GRAND PRIX - RACE
Rain in the morning and at the start of the race forced a safety car start, taking away any advantage or disadvantage Ricciardo may have had after qualifying on harder compound tyres.
It did come to the advantage of Max Verstappen and Felipe Nasr, though, who started from the pit lane after a collision (Verstappen) and engine failure (Nasr) took them out of qualifying.
Seven laps in and the safety car returned to the pits, only for Jolyon Palmer to bring out the virtual safety car later that lap after flying into the barriers.
Green flags signalled for Ricciardo to pull away whilst Nico Rosberg behind him struggled to keep his team mate behind him.
Further back, there was another retirement in the making as Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen hit the wall and pulled his front wing underneath him. The Finn tried to continue, after managing to disrupt both Felipe Massa and Romain Grosjean, but was forced to retire.
The call came through to Rosberg to let his team mate past as the gap to Ricciardo grew to over ten seconds. Hamilton was allowed past and the Brit immediately set the fastest lap of the race, catching the pole sitter.
After winning the Spanish grand prix, last wasn’t where Verstappen wanted to be. The teenager was slicing his way up through the field, already in the top ten twenty four laps in.
The lap before, race leader Ricciardo made the switch from wet to intermediate tyres. Mercedes, after already pitting Rosberg, looked like they were going to follow Ricciardo’s lead with Hamilton, but the champion stayed out, inheriting the race lead.
Ricciardo was flying on the new tyres, though, quickly catching up with Hamilton and his overheating tyres. The track was drying and, just seven laps after Ricciardo pitted for intermediates, the first driver – Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson – pitted for slick tyres.
Hamilton skipped the intermediates, pitting for ultra-soft tyres thirty two laps into the race. Ricciardo followed him in but miscommunication between the pit wall and the mechanics meant there was no tyres ready for the Australian.
Ricciardo returned to the track just behind Hamilton on super soft tyres and immediately set about taking back the race lead.
The battle was paused briefly when Verstappen found himself in the barriers for the second time in as many days but the battle was back on as soon as the green flags returned.
Ricciardo was desperate to get past Hamilton, pulling up to the side of him only for Hamilton to close the door and almost push the Red Bull into the wall. Whilst the Australian was clearly unhappy on the radio, there was no further action for the incident.
Riccardo continued to keep Hamilton under pressure whilst, behind them, Fernando Alonso was under pressure from the championship leader. After starting on the front row of the grid, Rosberg was down in sixth, struggling to get past a slow Alonso whilst Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz caught up with them.
At the back of the field, there was more drama. Sauber were running in the last but one and last but two positions, Ericsson behind Felipe Nasr after struggling to switch his tyres on. Nasr was given the call to allow his team mate past, but chose to ignore it given that he felt he could fight the cars ahead.
Ericsson took matters into his own hands and attempted a risky move on Nasr that ended with the two of them colliding. The damage to the race was only a brief virtual safety car to clear up debris but both Sauber cars pitted to retire soon after.
Fifty nine laps into the race, Rosberg finally managed to get past the McLaren, only to run across the chicane and have to give the place back. A lock up from the German allowed Hülkenberg to creep closer but he stayed behind the Mercedes.
Up at the front, the gap between Hamilton and Ricciardo shortened and grew every lap, with Ricciardo locking up every time he was just close enough to Hamilton.
As the rain began to speckle the streets of Monte Carlo once again, Ricciardo had to let go, Hamilton taking the race win. An almost anonymous drive for Perez put him on the third step of the podium whilst Vettel just missed out on the Champagne in fourth.
The race was still on behind them. Alonso crossed the line in fifth whilst Hülkenberg tried a last minute attack, snatching sixth place from Rosberg on the finish line.
Sainz, Jenson Button, and Felipe Massa completed the top ten.
RESULTS:
1. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / + 25 Points
2. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER / Australia / + 18 Points
3. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico / + 15 Points
4. Sebastian Vettel / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany / + 12 Points
5. Fernando Alonso / McLaren-Honda / Spain / + 10 Points
6. Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany / + 8 Points
7. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany / + 6 Points
8. Carlos Sainz / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / Spain / + 4 Points
9. Jenson Button / McLaren-Honda / Great Britain / + 2 Points
10. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil / + 1 Point
11. Esteban Gutierrez / Haas-Ferrari / Mexico
12. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland*
13. Romain Grosjean / Haas-Ferrari / France
14. Pascal Wehrlein / Manor-Mercedes / Germany**
15. Rio Haryanto / Manor-Mercedes / Indonesia
RETIRED - Marcus Ericsson / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden / Collision Damage
RETIRED – Felipe Nasr / Sauber-Ferrari / Brazil / Collision Damage
RETIRED - Max Verstappen / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER / Netherlands / Crash
RETIRED - Kevin Magnussen / Renault-Renault / Denmark / Collision Damage
RETIRED - Daniil Kvyat / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / Russia / Collision Damage
RETIRED - Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / Crash
RETIRED - Jolyon Palmer / Renault-Renault / Great Britain / Crash
* - Bottas originally finished 11th but received a 10-Second-Time-Penalty after causing a collision with Gutierrez
** - Wehrlein received two separate 10-Second-Time-Penalties after ignoring blue flags during the race and also failing to stay above the minimum speed under the safety car.
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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
Edited By: Amy Hawk
No copyright infringement intended
Follow us on Twitter @F1Insider78 & @Bethonie_Boost
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