Vital talking point – Monaco – Mercedes Blunder

There was only one vital talking point following the Monaco Grand Prix and that was Mercedes pit-stop blunder.

Lewis Hamilton was cruising to victory around the streets of Monte Carlo on Sunday, after qualifying on pole ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg the Brit dominated the race.

Despite a few brake issues, the two-time Formula One World Champion was the class of the field and appeared to have at least half a second a lap in his pocket whenever he needed.

But following the first corner crash between Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and Lotus’s Romain Grosjean, the virtual safety car and then the actual safety car came into play.

What was to follow cost Hamilton the race victory and handed the win to team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Despite there clearly not being a big enough gap, Mercedes got their timings wrong. A team that makes its decisions by committee made the wrong decision without the usual data and aid of GPS available to them.

So they pitted Hamilton for the super quick and super-soft red striped tyres.

But on a track where position is key, the pit-stop dropped him down to third, not only behind Rosberg, but also behind the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.

Unsurprisingly Hamilton could not get past Vettel and Rosberg took his third consecutive Monaco Grand Prix victory in front of Damiler chairman Dr Dieter Zetsche, Mercedes parent company.

That fact was not missed by the Daily Mail who reported that ?One theory suggested maps, not maths, was at the root of it all: a German team pulling for a German driver in front of German board members, rather than for the Brit.’

Mercedes never seem to be too far away from a conspiracy theory over the past couple of years and this blunder will only fuel them further.

Mistakes happen in sport all the time, but the magnitude of this blunder appears to be so incompetent that some have questioned that Mercedes couldn’t actually make a decision that poor without it being deliberate.

All the more galling for Lewis Hamilton was that he had only just signed his long awaited new three-year-deal with the Mercedes team, it was suppose to be a weekend of celebration. But as Hamilton climbed out of his car he looked like a man just willing for ground to open up and swallow him.

His body language was clear to read, however the now often mature Hamilton simply said ‘We win together and we lose together’.

Team-mate Rosberg’s sympathy wasn’t overly evident on the podium after the race.

‘Lewis drove brilliantly and he would have also deserved the win for sure. But that’s the way it is in racing and definitely I’m extremely happy and going to make the most of it.’ he said.