Mercedes puts on another parade in Monaco

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton parade around the streets of Monaco in 1-2 formation

Nico Rosberg won his 2nd straight Monaco GP Sunday leading from pole and never headed as his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton ran close behind until he got something in his eye and had to drive the rest of the way with one eye closed.

That allowed Daniel Ricciardo to close up on Hamilton as Hamilton fell back from Rosberg and he eventually fell back 9.2 seconds from Rosberg. While Ricciardo was all over Hamilton in the corners, he had no chance to pass the Mercedes because his inferior Renault power was no contest to the Mercedes engine.

It was the sixth consecutive Mercedes parade of the year in what has turned out to be a total F1 borefest season. The only thing missing are the floats, and marching bands.

The race was punctuated by two safety cars and a number of incidents.

Fans watch the parade from a high vantage point

Hamilton stayed within 1 second of Rosberg but With less than 20 laps to go, Hamilton suddenly dropped off the pace as he complained of dirt in his eye and Ricciardo reeled him in but was unable to find a way past the Mercedes.

Further down the field, the number of incidents and retirements saw Jules Bianchi finish eighth and take Marussia's first points, though a five-second penalty relegated him to ninth and two points.

Fernando Alonso was a lonely fourth for Ferrari, over 20 seconds behind Ricciardo and almost a minute clear of fifth-placed Nico Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg finished just 0.1s clear of Jenson Button, who passed Kevin Magnussen late on before his team-mate was caught up in an incident with Kimi Raikkonen at the hairpin.

The win puts Rosberg back in the championship lead by four points over Hamilton.

Sebastian Vettel's campaign suffered yet another blow in Monaco on Sunday when the German was forced to retire on lap five when his Red Bull lemon failed yet again.

Vettel, who was third after the first lap, ran into trouble at the restart when his RB10 lacked power.

Telling his team "still no power", he pulled into the pits before returning to the action a lap down.

This time Vettel informed Red Bull he was "stuck in first gear" after which he was told to retire the car.

It was yet another reliability blow for the reigning World Champion who has just one podium finish and only 45 points to his tally from six races.

"It's obviously disappointing – after a good start we lost too much pressure from the turbo and we had to retire." he explained.

"I feel quite helpless in the car because I don't know what the problem is. I hoped they'd have an answer but they didn't."

Asked whether he would watch the end of the race or try escape from Monaco, he told the BBC: "How do escape from this? I don't have a boat here, but I'll try to get home as quickly as I can."

More to follow……

QUOTES

Red Bull-Renault

DANIEL RICCIARDO, Finish Position: 3rd, Start Position: 3rd
"The race really came to life towards the end. It started off not so well and it’s a really short run to Turn 1, so that was frustrating. Then we got Seb due to his reliability and Kimi had a puncture and we sort of got back to where we were hoping to be. After the re-start we were just saving the tires to the point that we could get to the end and then, with 20 laps to go, I thought they would be okay so I pushed. It was the first time in the whole race that I felt like I was really driving the car and we caught Lewis. It was fun but I couldn’t get him, so I have to say the race finished better than it started."

SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Finish Position: DNF, Start Position: 4th"
It’s disappointing. I had a good start and then we lost boost pressure from the turbo, so I had no power and had to retire. The team did everything they could. I felt quite helpless in the car, so I was asking for an answer of what we could do, but there wasn’t anything at that stage. We fixed some problems yesterday with the ERS, but some more came today with the turbo, but we will move forwards and it will be good for us soon."

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal: “First of all we have to apologize to Sebastian for an issue with his power unit. It’s frustrating that, after making a good start, his race came to a very premature end. Thereafter, Daniel benefitted from a puncture from Kimi to get some free air and was able to run his own race. We closed down the gap to the Mercedes at the end and got very close to Lewis, but round the streets of Monte Carlo it’s always extremely difficult to overtake. It’s the closest we’ve been to Mercedes all year and it’s the first time we’ve been really racing them this season, so there are signs of progress and we’re certainly getting closer. Finally, congratulations to the Marussia team on getting their first points in Formula One. Scoring points in this business is never easy and for a new team that stuck at it and scored their first points today, they deserve a large amount of recognition for that."

THIERRY SALVI, Renault: “Today was a very up and down day. Daniel fought throughout the race and was able to come close to Hamilton towards the end. It is a great result for him and showed yet again today that he’s strong enough to perform on such a difficult city track. For Seb he had a disaster today as he suffered a reliability failure from the power unit. We tried different settings to fix the problem but ultimately we had to retire. We’ll look into the causes tonight and in the coming days to fully understand what happened."

Mercedes GP

Nico Rosberg (1st): "It was a tough race out there today but I am absolutely delighted to have won my second Monaco Grand Prix in succession. It's an amazing feeling and I'm proud to have done it at home, in front of my family and friends who were all here this afternoon. The race started well and I was comfortable but then we had to manage my fuel consumption and Lewis was pushing really hard behind me. We were able to be in control of the fuel with a few laps of lift and coast. It was important for me to break Lewis' momentum of winning the last four races this weekend. That worked out very well, but it was a really tough weekend. I'm so happy for the team that we had another one-two finish and look forward to the party tonight!"

Lewis Hamilton (2nd): "I felt very strong out there today and I really drove with all my heart, giving everything that I could to improve my position. This just hasn't been my weekend but I can leave today feeling happy that we have achieved another one-two finish for the team. We have such a great car and everyone who has worked on it deserves the incredible results that we are getting at the moment. Back to this afternoon, this is such a difficult circuit to overtake. I was following Nico as close as I could and had great pace but I just couldn't get past. Towards the end, I got some dirt in my eye through the visor which made it very tough for a few laps but thankfully it cleared up and I was able to hold off Daniel and keep second place. This hasn't been the greatest of weekends but I'll go into the next race with even more energy and determination. The team are working so hard and we're determined to keep the momentum going."

Paddy Lowe: "To take our fifth consecutive one-two finish is an incredible achievement for our team. It doesn't matter how good a car you've got: to achieve that kind of run, you need amazing drivers and a great team performing faultlessly. We have all of those elements and this afternoon again reinforced just how well both Nico and Lewis are driving right now. I also must say a special thank you to the team: to take a one-two at Monaco, you need a great chassis and a drivable engine, and this result shows our car is an all-round performer. In terms of the race itself, it wasn't without its challenges: Nico had to manage his fuel consumption quite carefully and we were working with the settings of Lewis' Power Unit to optimize the energy recovery and deployment in the first half of the race. In the final stages, we had some concerns with the tires as we were running out of rubber, which in turn made it hard to maintain the tire temperatures. We saw that when Lewis recovered from the problem with his eye, and couldn't get the tires back working properly, which allowed Ricciardo to close in. But he was able to bring the car home and secure this fantastic team result."

Toto Wolff, Mercedes Motorsport Director: "A fantastic result for the team after a weekend where we had the pressure to deliver on the car's potential here in Monaco. Six wins from six races, and five one-two finishes in a row, is a very special achievement at the start of this 2014 season. Congratulations to Nico for a faultless race and to Lewis for following him home in spite of some unexpected challenges this afternoon. We were driving a controlled race when the Safety Car forced us to pit earlier than had been planned for our only stop of the afternoon. After that, both drivers pushed hard and that had the consequence that they started to run out of rear tires in the closing laps. When Lewis had the problem with his eye, that was when Daniel Ricciardo came close. It just goes to show that we must never give up pushing because our rivals are right behind us – and working hard to run us down. We have absolutely no margin for error because if we make one little slip, our rivals are right there. We will enjoy this moment – but the hard work continues tomorrow at the factory."

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso (4th):

Kimi Raikkonen (12th):

Stefano Domenicali, Team Principal:

Pat Fry:

Luca di Montezemolo:

Lotus-Renault

Romain Grosjean (8th): "It's good to finish the race here for the first time in my career and it's good to get some points too. It started as a pretty bad Sunday for us with a puncture for me on the first lap after Adrian [Sutil] drove into me. We swapped to the soft tires but it was impossible to overtake on these so we came back in for the super softs. The safety car timing didn't help us as we'd just gone out on the new tires, but that's Monaco. You can have thousands of misfortunes in the race, but still be in the points at the end!"

Pastor Maldonado (DNF, Fuel Pump): "We don't know yet precisely what happened. The engine switched off after 30 seconds. When we did out laps to the grid the car and the power unit were working well. We need to work to find out what the problem was. It is disappointing and I was expecting a solid race, we had a good strategy in place, I love this circuit where I have been competitive in the past. We have already worked hard on performance and reliability but today it was not to be. This afternoon we're not happy but we are keeping focused on improving."

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: "We scored some lucky points today but our overall weekend has been disappointing. It's been very frustrating that Pastor couldn't start the race and we have to identify the cause of this. Romain stayed focused and did a very good job to score the team some valuable points. We know that we still have work to do and Monaco certainly hasn't played to our strengths."

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: "It has been a disappointing weekend for us. Pastor's car didn't make it to the start of the race because of what looks like a fuel pump problem. Romain was hit from behind the first lap and got a puncture so we had to pit him early unfortunately. From then on, it was a long afternoon at the back of the field and in the end we were lucky with retirements and managed to score four points for an eighth place finish. We now look ahead to the next race and will work hard to correct issues we have seen here this weekend to get back up to an acceptable level of performance."

Simon Rebreyend, Renault: "Scoring points after a puncture on the first lap that dropped him to 19this a fantastic result for Romain; he kept focused and cautious with all the accidents and safety cars to come home eighth. For Pastor it was the opposite as he could not take the start. On the grid the team saw the fuel pressure dropping and on further investigation discovered an issue with the fuel pump. We are still unclear what happened but will look at everything in detail before Canada."

McLaren-Mercedes

Jenson Button (6th): For the entirety of my final stint, I looked after my tires and dropped back into the clear air behind Kevin. Then it was just about pacing myself to the end. I couldn't quite get past Nico [Hulkenberg] at the end ‚ he was struggling with his tires, but whenever I pushed, I struggled as well, so I couldn't make it stick. In the closing laps, we had a good little battle, but it's so tough when you're shoved up behind another car. It's difficult enough as it is, but when you can't really see anything because there's a car in front, it's even more difficult. This wasn't a bad result for us ‚ I just wish I could have picked off Nico at the end. It's just a pity that Kevin's late-race problem meant we couldn't get more points for both cars at the finish."

Kevin Magnussen (10th): That's a real positive: it might be hard to see from the outside, but things are moving forward within the team. There were lots of little issues ‚ Jean-Eric's team probably didn't calculate his release properly ‚ it's never the driver's fault ‚ it's just one of those things that happens. And it was a pity I didn't get to finish the battle with Nico [Hulkenberg]; I'd been saving my tires in the expectation that Nico would struggle, but then I had a problem with my power-unit, which dropped me back. I'm still not really sure what happened with my car at the end of the race. And I didn't see what happened with Kimi ‚ I went to the inside to block his entry into the hairpin, but he chose to make a move anyway. It's hard to overtake here, but he tried and it didn't work. That's racing."

Eric Boullier, Racing Director: Finishing 10th will be tough for Kevin to accept ‚ he looked set for at least sixth place until the closing laps, when a problem with his power-unit dropped him down the order in quick succession. Fortunately, we were able to rectify the problem so he could proceed, but the incident with Kimi obviously didn't help. As usual, Jenson showed all his customary flair and experience to relentlessly move up the order from 12th on the grid. He was always well positioned to benefit from the incidents and action ahead of him, and judged the second Safety Car [to recover Adrian Sutil's damaged car] to perfection, choosing to dive into the pits at exactly the right time. Finally, I just want to pass on my congratulations to Jules Bianchi, John Booth, Graeme Lowdon and everybody at the Marussia team for scoring their very first world championship points today. Jules drove fantastically all weekend, and ninth place was a fantastic reward ‚ not only for Jules' charging drive, but also for the team's efforts all season to improve and develop their car. They're a fantastic bunch of guys, and they really deserve this today."

Force India-Mercedes

Nico Hulkenberg (5th): "Ten points today is a great reward after such a difficult race. The last twenty laps were really tricky because my supersoft tires were at the end of their life and it was hard to hold off the cars behind me and stay away from the barriers. There were a few close moments when I kissed the wall, but I survived and managed to hold on to fifth place. Fortunately my car was quick in the right places ‚ going into the tunnel and also through the final corner. There were some enjoyable moments in the race, especially my move on Magnussen. He had to let the Toro Rosso back through and he lost a bit of momentum so I saw my opportunity to stick my nose down the inside of turn eight. On a track like Monaco it gives you a big smile to make the move stick."

Sergio Perez (DNF, Accident): "I was in a battle with Nico, who was ahead, and I went to take the apex normally. I was on the racing line and ahead of Jenson [Button] when he clipped my rear wheel and spun me around into the barriers. I did not expect him to be there as there wasn't really any space for another car there. It was very unlucky. As a racing driver you have good and bad Sundays but this is definitely one I want to forget as soon as possible. It is disappointing that we lost a big chance to score a good amount of points, but the car felt much better here than in Spain, as shown by Nico's result. This is a very positive signal looking ahead to Montreal."

Dr. Vijay Mallya, Team Principal: "Today's race equals our best ever result in Monaco, so I am obviously very pleased about Nico's performance. He drove a very clean and strong race, and was able to withstand incredible pressure in the last 20 laps to finish fifth despite being on very old tires. He also pulled off one of the best overtaking moves of this season, so I think he will remember this day for a long time. Unfortunately, today also saw some disappointment as Checo was punted into the barrier on lap one. I am confident he would have been firmly in the fight to score big points as well, but I'm also sure he will bounce back immediately. Our pace looked really strong which is a good sign as we prepare for the next race in Canada."

Sauber-Ferrari

Esteban Gutierrez (DNF, Spin): "Unfortunately, I could not finish the race. It was probably the most painful mistake in my career. I touched the guardrail in Rascasse on the entry to the corner and spun, that was the end of the race. Today we had a great chance to earn some points. The start was great, as I was able to gain some positions during the first few laps which gave me a good basis for our race strategy. During the race I needed to take care of the tires, but we also had to push because we had quick cars coming from behind. It is very disappointing. I really want to say sorry to everyone in the team because they all did a great job today."

Adrian Sutil (DNF, Accident): "It is a pitty that my race ended so early. I had quite a good start. In turn 5 one of the other drivers spun, and as I came around the corner many cars were suddenly stopping in front of me. I had front wing damage which forced me to make a pitstop. I went back onto track almost at the backend of the field, but I was able to gain some positions lap by lap. Unfortunately, coming out of the tunnel I made a mistake when braking, lost the rear and crashed into the guardrail. Certainly, I am very disappointed and I also feel sorry for the whole team."

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "This was a very unlucky way not to finish this race. We definitely had the chance to score points, but we are leaving Monaco empty handed. Adrian and Esteban were setting good lap times and were able to keep up with competition. This shows that the car was absolutely competitive today, and is important for the whole team to know. Of course, it's very regrettable to miss such good opportunities in this way."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Head of Track Engineering: "It was an eventful race, which is quite normal for Monaco. Obviously for our team it was a big disappointment, because we were competitive. We were more or less able to keep with the pace of a number of competitors, which was really positive. Today we were in a position to play a role in this race, but then the incidents happened, and we are left without points. Adrian damaged his front wing on lap one as a result of the Sergio Perez crash. We then changed his strategy, which worked well. Rather than doing a long stint on the soft tires, we put him on the super soft. But then he lost the car under braking. Esteban had an issue with his starting position, but, apart from that, everything went according to plan before he hit the barrier and had to stop. We had the chance to score points today, so the end was really disappointing. The positive thing was that we were competitive. That's what we have to build on."

Toro Rosso-Renault

Jean-Eric Vergne (DNF, Exhaust): "The race was going well, the pace was really encouraging, I was saving the tires and the strategy looked like being the right one. Then, my engineer informed me about the drive-through penalty for "unsafe release" and finally we had the exhaust problem which definitely put an end to my race. It's such a shame! We had done a great job over the whole weekend, the team was able to give me a good car and I also performed well so I think a fifth place was possible today. Let's turn the page now and focus on the next race in Montreal, where I will again do everything I can to perform at my maximum, have another great qualifying session and score the so longed points."

Daniil Kvyat (DNF, Exhaust): "It's disappointing that I had to retire today, especially because we looked competitive all weekend and had a good chance of finishing in the points here. I was able to hold my position at the start of the race and even move up to eighth before I had to retire. Unfortunately these things happen and I will now switch my focus to the next race where I hope we can carry over this momentum."

Franz Tost, Team Principal: "Starting today's race from seventh and ninth place and retiring both cars is definitely not the result we had expected. Both cars suffered an exhaust failure. Jean-Eric and Daniil both showed a strong performance today and all weekend, but unfortunately we could not provide them with a car capable of finishing where they would have deserved. We will now investigate the reasons for this failure and hopefully come back stronger at the next race in Canada."

Ricardo Penteado, Renault: "Today was a real shame as we had the pace on both cars to finish in the top ten. JEV especially looked in good shape until the drive-through penalty put him down the field. Unfortunately both then suffered exhaust failures and STR will push hard to find out what the cause of the problems was and how to put in place fixes for Montreal. There is a chance that some debris could have affected some of the parts of the PU, but we will investigate tonight and see what repairs, if any, we need to do."

Williams-Mercedes

Felipe Massa (7th):

Valtteri Bottas (DNF, Engine):

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director:

Laurent Debout, Renault:

Caterham-Renault

Marcus Ericsson (11th): "For me that was good, even though the whole team is obviously disappointed about the way it ended. It was an amazing experience finishing my first Monaco Grand Prix and the fact we've equaled the team's best ever finish today is great, it's just a shame it didn't mean more after the fantastic job everyone did today. After starting from the pitlane I was pretty quickly up with the second Marussia when the safety car came out. The balance was ok and I was in a good rhythm, ahead of Sutil and Grosjean for a few laps but couldn't do anything to hold back Sutil when he passed me in turn six. When the safety car came out again we stopped for the first time for a new set of supersofts and I could really push. The whole second stint was good, as was the final one on the second set of supersofts, giving me the chance to push to the flag. I held off Raikkonen for the last couple of laps and finished 11th which, for me, is a pretty cool way to end Monaco."

Kamui Kobayashi (13th): "Even though we finished in 13th I'm really not happy as I'm sure I'd have finished in the points if Bianchi hadn't hit me when he forced his way past. The car was basically undriveable after that so just finishing is a good result, and the team did everything they could to help us finish as high as possible today ‚ good strategy and great stops, but when you're overtaken by being hit out of the way it's obviously not good. I had a clean start, staying ahead of Bianchi and passing Chilton into turn one. Heading down towards the hairpin I avoided the debris from the Force India and was up to 15th under the safety car. With the retirements that was soon 13th and then 12th and the car felt pretty good at that stage. We stopped for the first time on lap 25 under the second safety car and went onto softs and rejoined in 12th with Raikkonen and Bianchi behind me. Then, as we went into the chicane after the tunnel, Bianchi hit me on the side and I had to cut through the chicane to avoid more contact. I don't really know why nothing was done about that as he basically just forced me out of the way by hitting me which meant both the Marussia and my teammate could pass and after that the car felt really bad. The impact had caused a lot of damage to the sidepod and the floor and I lost a lot of rear downforce so from that point I was losing time without being able to do anything about it. I managed to get the car home ahead of Chilton but with the way the race ended I think the whole team feel like we lost out through no fault of our own. We need to keep our spirits up and use this experience to make us even more determined to get ahead of our nearest rivals and we'll just keep pushing."

Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "Everyone knows Monaco can be a crazy race, and today it was so. It's a funny feeling because even though this equals our best ever finish it still feels like we had the chance to score our first point, as Marussia did today, but it was taken away from us despite the very good job both drivers and the whole team did today. We had the right strategy, we timed the stops perfectly and the pit crew performed well in a tense race. I'm proud of the fact that we had both cars there at the end of the race, even with the damage to Kamui's car, and we have to take positives from this to help us fight back with improved performance from the car."

Cedrik Staudohar, Renault: "On our side we had a pretty good race and are pleased to help the team to its best result of the season so far. We had a couple of issues with the ERS but nothing that really affected the lap time or overall performance so both drivers were able to attack and fight for position. This was very rewarding, particularly on a track such as Monaco where overtaking is almost impossible. Ultimately it's a bit bittersweet as our closest rivals scored points, but there will be more opportunities this year and we'll keep pushing to make the most of those that come our way."

Marussia-Ferrari

Jules Bianchi (9th):

Max Chilton (14th):

John Booth, Team Principal:

Results

Pos	Driver	Team/Car	Behind
1.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+0.000s
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
DNF	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	59 laps
DNF	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	55 laps
DNF	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Renault	50 laps
DNF	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	23 laps
DNF	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Renault	10 laps
DNF	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	5 laps
DNF	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	0 laps
DNF	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	0 laps