Rosberg wins the mental game in Monaco.

Nico Rosberg (photo: Mercedes AMG F1)

Not really much in the way of highlights on track in Monaco, the real battle was the mental one.

More than just staying in front, what Rosberg was able to do was turn Hamilton mind games against him.

For all his undoubted talent, Hamilton has a fatal flaw: he often misses the opportunity to keep quiet.   So, despite his advantage coming into the race in Monaco, he had felt the need to more or less knock Rosberg in the media: how he should dominate Nico.  How Nico was born privileged among yachts and hotels while he was born poor and had to sleep on couches  (never mind his having a motorsports career nurtured by Ron Dennis since age 12).

Rosberg made his jujitsu move Saturday and Hamilton began to unravel, culminating in that veiled threat  to pull "a Senna" on Rosberg.

In reality Rosberg had the measure of Hamilton all week end, Lewis was never faster and ended up losing his cool during the race, blaming the team for not bringing him in just before the second safety car.   Later in the race Lewis continued to exchange tense messages with his pit.   Finally that bizarre episode with something hitting him in the eye.   After the race, the two did not exchange any words or shake hands.

It's not inconceivable that soon we will hear accusations Mercedes is favoring Rosberg because he's German but curious Hamilton was the first to break ranks by using extra power to stay ahead of Nico in Spain.

Kimi Raikkonen (Photo: Ferrari)

If Monaco was a Rosberg track, Montreal has been a Hamilton track so it should be interesting there in two weeks, we'll see if Lewis will just shut up and drive or if he will feel the need to have at Rosberg in the press again.   But most of all let's hope the other teams catch up so will not have to hear these two complaining about each other all season.


As for the rest, a real shame Raikkonen's race got destroyed by Max Chilton who somehow managed to run into him during the second safety car, puncturing a tire on the Ferrari.

If Chilton was the pits, Jules Bianchi was the star managing to finish eighth and giving Marussia their first points.

Not a good race for Renault power with Vettel out early and trouble at Toro Rosso and Lotus... though one might suspect Lotus faked a failure on Maldonado's car as a preemptive cost saving measure.

Grand Prix de Monaco - La course de Raikkonen en caméra embarquée

#493743505 / gettyimages.com

Pos  Driver             Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1h49m27.661s
 2.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes                   +9.210s
 3.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault           +9.614s
 4.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                   +32.452s
 5.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes        -1 lap
 6.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes            -1 lap
 7.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes           -1 lap
 8.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault               -1 lap
 9.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari            -1 lap
10.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes            -1 lap
11.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault            -1 lap
12.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari                     -1 lap
13.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault           -3 laps
14.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari           -3 laps

Retirements:

     Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari             59 laps
     Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes          55 laps
     Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault         50 laps
     Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari             23 laps
     Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault         10 laps
     Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault            5 laps
     Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes        0 laps
     Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault               0 laps

Drivers' championship:

Pos  Driver            Points
 1.  Nico Rosberg      122
 2.  Lewis Hamilton    118
 3.  Fernando Alonso   61
 4.  Daniel Ricciardo  54
 5.  Nico Hulkenberg   47
 6.  Sebastian Vettel  45
 7.  Valtteri Bottas   34
 8.  Jenson Button     31
 9.  Kevin Magnussen   21
10.  Sergio Perez      20
11.  Felipe Massa      18
12.  Kimi Raikkonen    17
13.  Romain Grosjean   8
14.  Jean-Eric Vergne  4
15.  Daniil Kvyat      4
16.  Jules Bianchi     2

Constructors' championship:

Pos  Team                  Points
 1.  Mercedes              240
 2.  Red Bull-Renault      99
 3.  Ferrari               78
 4.  Force India-Mercedes  67
 5.  McLaren-Mercedes      52
 6.  Williams-Mercedes     52
 7.  Lotus-Renault         8
 8.  Toro Rosso-Renault    8
 9.  Marussia-Ferrari      2
10.  Sauber-Ferrari        0
11.  Caterham-Renault      0