Having not won F1’s blue-ribbon event since 2008, Lewis Hamilton was desperate to convert a Monaco pole into a Monaco Grand Prix victory in 2015.
Building a sizeable lead over teammate Nico Rosberg and seeming imperious, “Team LH” will have been poised to celebrate a dominant win at the Principality. However, a strategic blunder during a late safety car robbed the Briton of a second Monaco triumph and handed the honour to teammate Nico Rosberg
Heading into the event, Rosberg was favoured by many pundits. The German entered the weekend having taken his maiden win of 2015 at the previous round in Spain. Combine this turn in fortunes with the fact that Rosberg had won the previous two races in Monaco and the form-book painted a rather gloomy picture for Hamilton fans.
However, the challenge of Monaco can typically throw a double-six where the form guide is concerned. Qualifying was a key indicator of this, as Williams – who admittedly acknowledged that slow speed circuits failed to flatter the FW37 – finished the session 12th and 16th. Red Bull took the Williams baton in providing the closest challenge to Ferrari, managing to split Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen with both cars on the grid.
Meanwhile, Hamilton reigned supreme on Saturday and translated this to an excellent start on Sunday. Rosberg, who started alongside in second, had no answer to his teammate’s early pace. Hamilton metronomically extended the lead, leaving Rosberg to fend off Vettel behind. Ferrari were close to Mercedes on race pace and Vettel kept the threat on an undercut alive throughout the opening stint.
Ultimately, Rosberg could do enough to prevent Ferrari stealing second. With Monaco historically being a comfortable one stop race, Vettel’s opportunity to snatch the runner-up spot had disappeared. That was until Max Verstappen’s late charge was halted when he collided with Romain Grosjean’s Lotus at Sainte Devote on lap 62.
Hamilton, concerned by the potential that Rosberg and Vettel could pit and fit fresh Pirelli super-soft tyres to attack in the closing laps, suggested making an impromptu stop. This somewhat wrong footed the team on the pit wall, who had to react quickly. They were monitoring telemetry which suggested Hamilton had space to pit and retain his track position.
As Toto Wolff later admitted, the team was too wrapped up in timing screens and “forgot to look out of the window.” If they had, they would have seen that Hamilton had caught the safety car before Rasscasse, reducing his advantage over Rosberg and meaning his pit-stop saw him slot into third place, losing out to Vettel’s Ferrari as well as his teammate, who had now taken the lead.
Coming to terms with the situation, an evidently deflated Hamilton gave a radio message which became a montage favourite; “I’ve lost this race, haven’t I.” Sure enough, the Briton was unable to make the most of his fresh rubber, as he spent the remainder of the race trapped behind Vettel. Third place, the best Hamilton could manage on a day which had promised so much more.
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s anguish meant Rosberg was able to claim his third consecutive Monaco Grand Prix victory. He joined Graham Hill, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in winning at the Principality at least three times consecutively. Hamilton was left to consider another Monaco Grand Prix that got away.
