8 Memorable Moments From The Monaco Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg broke his team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s run of consecutive race victories after taking his second win in Monaco. The battle between the two Silver Arrows was close early on, before Hamilton dropped back in the closing stages.

He just managed to hold off a charging Daniel Ricciardo to score second, with the Red Bull Racing driver having to settle for third. It was a disrupted race with two safety car periods and plenty of drama. Here are eight memorable moments:

1. I can't see

The gap between the two Mercedes drivers rarely moved over the two second mark for the majority of the race, but Hamilton dropped back considerably in the final laps after reporting that he was struggling with his vision. The Brit said he had dirt in his left eye, a rather odd excuse, but the issue cleared before the finish. He eventually crossed the line 9.2 seconds behind his team-mate.

2. Some close battles

Hamilton’s struggles gave us a thrilling fight for the runner-up spot after Ricciardo rapidly closed in on the 2008 world champion in the final part of the race. He couldn’t find a way through and missed out on second place by just four tenths of a second.

Further back, Hulkenberg was embroiled in a battle with Jenson Button for fifth. The Force India driver was struggling with his Pirelli tyres, but just managed to hold off the McLaren, with the gap down to one tenth by the finish.

3. First points

Ninth place may not be a result worth celebrating for most F1 teams, but it was for Marussia. The team, who joined the sport in 2010, registered the first points in its history after Jules Bianchi finished within the top 10 in Monaco.

The rather crazy nature of the Monaco Grand Prix helped the French driver to move up the order. He was actually eighth on the circuit at the end of the race, but a five second time penalty dropped him to ninth. It was fantastic to see the team’s hard work finally paying off.

4. Unsafe release

Jean-Eric Vergne narrowly avoided collecting members of the Williams pit crew after he was released into the path of Kevin Magnussen at his first pit stop. Fortunately the McLaren driver reacted quickly and slammed on the brakes. Vergne was given a drive-through penalty for the incident but later retired with an exhaust issue. The man in yellow’s reaction at the end of the above clip brilliantly sums up how close the pair came to crashing!

5. Brilliant overtakes

Who says you can’t overtake in Monaco? Several drivers proved that passing can take place around the Monte Carlo streets, including Hulkenberg’s stunning overtake on Magnussen at Portier, which is a very difficult place to find a way through.

Bianchi’s late lunge on Kamui Kobayashi at La Rascasse (above), which did result in brief contact, was also an inspired overtake, and Adrian Sutil pulled off some strong passes at the Fairmont hairpin.

6. Clumsy Kimi

However, some of the passes weren’t so impressive. Kimi Raikkonen’s chances of a top 10 result were wiped out when he made an over-ambitious lunge on Magnussen at the hairpin.

He couldn’t make the corner and stopped just prior to the wall, taking the McLaren driver with him. Both were able to continue, but the Iceman had to pit for a new front wing and was reprimanded after the race.

Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez could have scored Sauber’s first points of the season had they both not crashed out of the Monaco Grand Prix. The former lost control of his car under braking for the Nouvelle chicane and hit the inside wall, bringing out the safety car, while the latter clipped the barrier at La Rascasse and was forced to exit the race.

8. No Maldonado madness?

We didn’t see Pastor Maldonado at all during the 78-lap race. We missed him. The Lotus driver failed to get away from the grid on the formation lap due to a fuel pump problem and he was unable to compete. He would definitely have added even more excitement had he started the race.