With all the drama of Saturday afternoon, Nico Rosberg would have been pleased to get through Sunday without any incidents.
Rosberg controversially topped qualifying on Saturday afternoon, after he had locked up his tyres and brought out a yellow flag. As Rosberg then took his time to recover and reverse back onto the circuit, this impeded both team-mate Hamilton and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who both had to back-off their final fast laps.
The German driver may have taken pole position in fortunate circumstances, but the advantage of leading into the first corner ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton was enough for him to go on to win the race and regain the lead of the Formula One World Championship.
The Mercedes cars were evenly matched, but around the streets of Monaco there were little opportunities for Hamilton to challenge Rosberg’s dominance.
The pit-stop offered Hamilton one slim hope, but once the tyre stops came under the safety car Rosberg ultimately had the race won.
The only thing Rosberg had to do was a bit of fuel saving, but even that became irrelevant once Hamilton dropped back with impaired vision.
‘It was a tough race out there today but I am absolutely delighted to have won my second Monaco Grand Prix in succession. It’s an amazing feeling and I’m proud to have done it at home, in front of my family and friends who were all here this afternoon.’ Rosberg told formula1.com.
‘The race started well and I was comfortable but then we had to manage my fuel consumption and Lewis was pushing really hard behind me. We were able to be in control of the fuel with a few laps of lift and coast.
‘It was important for me to break Lewis’ momentum of winning the last four races this weekend. That worked out very well, but it was a really tough weekend. I’m so happy for the team that we had another one-two finish and look forward to the party tonight!’
Rosberg reigns in Monaco
