Marussia score in Monaco

Behind the civil war that looks like breaking out at Mercedes, Monaco was significant for many reasons not least that after over four years of competing at the highest echelon of motor sport Marussia took their first points.

Ok, so there were several retirements in this race. Sergio Perez failed to give Jenson Button enough room on the opening lap and spun into the barrier causing the first safety car. Both Toro Rosso’s had qualified brilliantly in the top 10 but mechanical problems robbed them both of a decent finish as did an engine failure for Williams’ Valtteri Bottas. Esteban Gutierrez joined the already mentioned Sutil in the barriers for Sauber while running a very strong eighth, while Kimi Raikkonen took himself and Kevin Magnussen out at the Loews Hairpin, sliding up the inside in a brave move that took them wide and stuck at the side of the road.

That though is to take nothing away from an excellent drive by Bianchi who despite being penalised five seconds for taking an initial stop go penalty for lining up in the wrong grid position under the safety car which is against the rules still came home in ninth place. What’s more is that it was done with genuine good pace. Officially he is classified behind Romain Grosjean’s Lotus, but on the road he held him off by over a second.

Couple that pace with an excellent barge against Kamui Kobayashi’s Caterham and you have to offer nothing but praise for a driver and team who are now in their fifth year. These two points take them to ninth in the constructors championship ahead of Sauber which is extremely impressive. This year Marussia have looked far more competitive but for various reasons haven’t been able to show their potential. They are still a long way off the ultimate pace but at least now they don’t have that pressure of when are they going to score their first points.

Vettel and Raikkonen can’t catch a break

To my mind Sebastian Vettel looked every bit as quick if not quicker than his team mate Daniel Ricciardo this weekend. But problems with his Energy Recovery System (ERS) in qualifying and then a Turbo failure in the race put paid to any kind of decent result this weekend. Once these reliability problems go, then we’ll see if he can do anything about Ricciardo.

Meanwhile Kimi was outqualified by Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso by over eight tenths of a second, which is huge. It only account for one place on the grid though. Off the start he was fantastic, Alonso got boxed in behind the Red Bull’s allowing Kimi to rip past both Alonso and Vettel into the first corner. At the first restart he got by Ricciardo too and ran a strong third for the opening third of the race.

However, during the second safety car period his race came apart, he was hit by Max Chilton’s Marussia and had to pit for a second time after maintaining his position through the first pit stops during the Sutil safety car. This dropped his right down the field, but he’d managed to climb back up into the points to join the battle for fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth. However a perhaps overly optimistic move on Magnussen sent them towards the barriers. With a turning circle which is not a lot they had to reverse out of the situation leaving them both down the field.

It was such a shame, it looked like he could have been on for a podium before the Marussia incident, and he had a healthy lead over Alonso. Perhaps in Canada Kimi might get a smooth weekend for the first time this year.

The battles through the field

Ricciardo continued his great form by qualifying and finishing third and moving ahead on points of his four time champion team mate. His attack on Hamilton at the end of the race was fantastic racing. He’d saved his tyres well and used that pace to really give Mercedes their first race of the year albeit with safety car intervention.

After Vettel retired in the early laps and Kimi dropped back Fernando Alonso ran a rather lonely race to finish fourth. As usual he’ll have run to the maximum for lap after lap, but the Ferrari race pace is no match for either Mercedes or Red Bull, it’s just another nail in the coffin for the Ferrari-Alonso relationship. Although the question of where he would go and who would take him is an interesting one, as at the moment there doesn’t seem any seat available that would be any better than Ferrari. 

Red Bull have their chosen two, both Mercedes drivers are signed up until at least the end of next year, with Rosberg a year on top of that. McLaren are unlikely to have him back and would need to settle in with Honda during 2015 anyway. The reputation he gained at McLaren for unsettling the team and his current frosty relationship with Ferrari have made him seem like someone who is difficult to work with, despite his other reputation as being the best around. Is the best enough though if it can hold the team back?  For now Alonso and Ferrari are stuck with each other.

Nico Hulkenberg launched a great move on Magnussen into Portier and then held off a train of cars for many laps. Eventually he finished less than a second ahead of Jenson Button who also put a good move on Magnussen down the start finish curve to finish fifth and sixth respectively.

It was a significant result for Hulkenberg. His Force India team mate Perez has taken the only podium of their campaign so far, out raced him in Spain and out qualified him in Monaco. He needed a strong result because after Perez was dumped by McLaren, for Hulkenberg to be out performed by him would be significant damage to his reputation and hopes of ever getting into a top car. He drove well avoided trouble and held off faster cars on degrading tyres, it was a fine showing indeed.

Felipe Massa didn’t stop under the safety car but managed to get his Williams into the points for seventh after starting seventh. Grosjean inherited eighth for Lotus ahead of the delighted Bianachi, while Magnussen managed to sneak back into the points for tenth.

It ended up being a rather eventful Monaco race with plenty of action down the field, and lots to look forward to with the many intra-team battles down the field. But what it has really done is ratchet up the title tension between the Mercedes drivers. Can Rosberg use this momentum to win again in Canada and pile the pressure on Hamilton, all will Lewis manage to respond in the best way he can, by just driving faster. With the drivers seemingly no longer talking, this is proving to be a battle than cannot be missed.

Final Result:

1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes

2. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

3. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull

4. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari

5. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India

6. Jenson Button - McLaren

7. Felipe Massa - Williams

8. Romain Grosjean - Lotus

9. Jules Bianchi - Marussia

10. Kevin Magnussen - McLaren

11. Marcus Ericsson - Caterham

12. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari

13. Kamui Kobayashi - Caterham

14. Max Chilton - Marussia

R. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber - Accident

R. Valtteri Bottas - Williams - Power Unit

R. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso - Exhaust

R. Adrian Sutil - Sauber - Accident

R. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso - Exhaust

R. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - Turbo

R. Sergio Perez - Force India - Accident

R. Pastor Maldonado - Lotus - Fuel pump

all photo's taken from autosport.com