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| Nico Rosberg |
Lewis Hamilton lost the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday in circumstances so
extraordinary they will enter the legend of sport.
It was Nico Rosberg who was cast as Foinavon, the unexpected winner of a
race that was simply thrown away by the world champion’s team.
The drama erupted towards the end of a soporific race when the
17-year-old Dutchman Max Verstappen crashed hard into the red and white
barriers at Sainte Devote, the first corner.
The safety car was called out. Hamilton, then in a 25-second lead, came
into the pits. It was inexplicable. Why do that when leading the race? He had
no need to stop.
Hamilton came out in third place, behind Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian
Vettel, having dominated the afternoon from the moment he got a clean getaway
from pole position.
Foinavan, the unfancied Irish horse, won the 1967 Grand National when
all the leaders fell. It is a repeat played every year, Aintree’s most famous
moment. What we witnessed here was self-inflicted. There was no runaway horse
to impede Hamilton, who had been peerless all afternoon.
His team did the damage to their own man.
‘I’ve lost this race, haven’t I?’ said Hamilton,
crestfallen.
1. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:49:18.420
2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari +00:04.486
3. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 00:06.053
4. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) RedBull - Renault 00:11.965
5. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) RedBull - Renault 00:13.608
6. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 00:14.345
7. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India - Mercedes 00:15.013
8. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 00:16.063
9. Felipe Nasr (Brazil) Sauber - Ferrari 00:23.626
10. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso - Renault 00:25.056
11. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India - Mercedes 00:26.232
12. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus - Mercedes 00:28.415
13. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber - Ferrari 00:31.159
14. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams-Mercedes 00:45.789
15. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes 1 lap
16. Roberto Merhi (Spain) Marussia - Ferrari 2 laps
17. Will Stevens (Britain) Marussia - Ferrari 2 laps
r. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Toro Rosso - Renault 15 laps
r. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 36 laps
r. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Lotus - Mercedes 70 laps
(rank: r = retired, nc = not classified)
Fastest Lap: Daniel Ricciardo,1:18.063, lap 74.
He harried hard for the final eight laps once the safety car peeled away
but there was no way through.
This was the stupidest act of sporting suicide I have witnessed on four
continents.
Rosberg has now won three Monaco Grands Prix on the trot, only the
fourth driver ever to do so. Graham Hill, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost are the
others.
Hamilton finished third, his lead in the drivers’ championship being
halved to 10 points. Vettel was second.
The inquests at Mercedes will go long into the evening. Questions will
be asked about technical director Paddy Lowe. Is he as smart a strategist as
Ross Brawn, the man dispensed with to make way for him? Nobody is as good as
Brawn in this respect.
‘It was all our mistake today Lewis,’ said team bossToto Wolff. ‘It was
a split-second decision and it didn’t work. We take this one on our shoulders.’
Rosberg shouted his delight down the radio. The team apologised to
Hamilton, as he returned to the pits slower than a taxi in High Holburn at rush
hour. He then drove into the third place board.
He can be jolly bad loser, but he was understandably aggrieved. As he
got out of the car, he moved like a motion-replay on a frame-by-frame setting.
He walked, helmet on, towards the podium just as deliberately.
The man in the smart white uniform and ostrich-feathered hat guarding
Prince Albert of Monaco moved faster than the champion, who wore a mask of
gloom.
Hamilton generously, using two hands, congratulated Rosberg. That was
exemplary in the turmoil of the moment.
The German national anthem played. Rosberg smirked the winner’s smirk.
The trophy was at his feet. Hamilton played with his cap, his eyes cast down.
Further back and earlier on, the action was limited throughout the
field. On the first lap Fernando Alonso caught Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India.
He received a five-second stop-go penalty, but worse was to follow when his
McLaren gave up on him, 42 laps into the 78-lap race.
It was a mixed day for McLaren, who collected their first points of the
season through Jenson Button eight-place finish.
They have had more success at Monaco than any team in history, so this
result was nothing like satisfactory. But it was an important step in the right
direction
Source:dailymailsport.co.uk
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