Nico Rosberg led from pole position to win the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
It was Rosberg’s second win of the season to put him back on top of the Formula One standings by four points, ending a run of four straight wins by Hamilton and giving Mercedes a fifth straight one-two.
As expected on the city course with overtaking difficult, Rosberg’s controversial pole position in qualifying on Saturday proved decisive as the Mercedes driver won on the track for the second successive year.
The Monaco Grand Prix had been won from pole in nine of the last 10 years. The exception was when Hamilton claimed his first and only victory in Monaco in 2008.
Hamilton’s main hope of getting past Rosberg was at the race start, but the German got away cleanly from the front of the grid and could not be challenged by the Briton.
The safety car was out after just one lap after Force India’s Sergio Perez went out following a collision with Jenson Button in a McLaren.
And the race was soon over for reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel, who came in on lap four complaining of a power problem in his Red Bull.
After a long delay in the pits for a reset, the German then told the team via radio he was stuck in first gear. After two more laps he was called in, his race over.
Teammate Daniel Ricciardo had been surprised at the start by both Vettel and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who moved from sixth to fourth, also passing teammate Fernando Alonso.
The safety car was out again on lap 26 after Sauber’s Adrian Sutil lost control and went into a barrier.
Both Rosberg and Hamilton came in at the same time for soft tyres, meaning they would not have to pit again. The Briton complained over team radio he should have been called in straight away, seeing a lost opportunity for him to get past his teammate, and the advantage remained with Rosberg after a good restart.
Raikkonen, who needed an additional pitstop following a puncture, was out of the running, while Ricciardo, back up to third place, kept Alonso in check.
Hamilton was able to keep within a second of Rosberg without ever being able to get into a position to pass, before falling slightly back to 1.6 seconds behind by lap 51 of the 78 laps.
The gap increased to around 4 seconds with a dozen laps remaining after Hamilton complained of “dirt or something” in his left eye.
It was clear by that stage that Hamilton’s hopes of winning had disappeared barring a mistake by Rosberg or technical problem, with the Briton also having to be wary of Ricciardo, who had moved to less than half a second behind.
But unlike Saturday’s qualifying mishap, Rosberg was faultless and took the chequered flag comfortably ahead of his teammate for the fifth Grand Prix win of his career.
Ricciardo was some four-tenths of a second behind Hamilton for third place followed by Alonso, Nico Huelkenberg (Force India), Button, Felipe Massa (Williams), Jules Bianchi (Marussia), and Kevin Magnussen (McLaren).
