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Nico Rosberg has
taken his first win for Mercedes this year, ahead of Red Bull’s Sebastian
Vettel, who extends his championship lead. Rosberg was in front from start
to finish, starting on the P Zero Red supersoft tyre and then switching to
the P Zero Yellow soft during a safety car period. An accident on lap 45
brought out the red flag and under the current rules the drivers were
allowed to change tyres during the stoppage. Rosberg completed the race on
the supersoft tyre, following yet another safety car period with 15 laps to
go.
After the original start Red Bull’s Mark Webber was the first of the
frontrunners to make his scheduled stop, coming in on lap 25 to change from
supersoft to soft. But the complexion of the race was altered when the
safety car came out for the first time this year on lap 29 – provoking a
round of pit stops. Both the Mercedes pitted consecutively for soft tyres
two laps later, with Lewis Hamilton dropping from second to fourth as a
result of the safety car intervention.
Following the red flag, the teams could chose whichever tyres they wished at
the re-start, 25 minutes after the accident that caused it. The majority of
the drivers chose to go with a used set of supersofts, with Lotus driver
Kimi Raikkonen the highest-placed driver to re-start on the soft tyre, from
fifth place. The Finn was forced into a final pit stop for the supersoft
following a collision, passing six cars in the final five laps to score a
point.
Force India’s Paul di Resta, who started from 17th, planned a two-stop
strategy. He changed from the supersoft to the soft tyre on lap nine,
climbing to 11th place by the red flag. This effectively allowed him a
‘free’ pit stop and he eventually ended the race in a points-scoring ninth.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “Once again, we saw
a Monaco Grand Prix where safety cars and a red flag played a prominent
role. This had a defining effect on strategy, effectively meaning that all
the careful pre-race planning went out of the window. Nonetheless, we
experienced the expected low levels of tyre wear and degradation: in fact
the race leader went one lap longer this year during his first stint on the
supersoft compared to last year, even though the compounds are generally
softer. After the race was stopped, most drivers chose to re-start on used
supersofts, having to make them last for 32 laps for the finish – although
they were certainly helped by a second safety car period. Congratulations to
Nico Rosberg and Mercedes, who dominated every session and led an
action-packed grand prix from start to finish. We also saw some great
performances lower down the field from drivers who used their tyres and
strategy to very good effect, despite the extremely unpredictable race
circumstances.”
Truth-O-Meter:
We predicted a one-stopper, changing from the supersoft to the soft at
about lap 36. The safety cars and the red flag got in the way, although most
of the frontrunners were on course to reach that target anyway, while some
were keeping their options open for a two-stopper. Officially, the tyres put
on the cars during the re-start do not count as a pit stop, so most of the
field still one stopped – just as was the case last year. |
