As always in the Monaco Grand Prix, qualifying is critical, and this was proven yet again with polesitter Nico Rosberg of Mercedes AMG winning the 2014 race in spectacular form. Once again the only real challenge came from Mercedes AMG’s other driver, in this case Lewis Hamilton, who challenged his teammate for much of the race but had to give up in the later stages due to dirt getting in his eye and affecting his vision. This saw Hamilton lose pace towards the end but the Briton still managed to cross the line second, just 0.4 of a second ahead of a hard-charging Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull Racing.

For Rosberg, this was his second consecutive Monaco Grand Prix win, making him the first driver to do so since the legendary Ayrton Senna. And thanks to Hamilton’s efforts also, Mercedes AMG scored its fifth consecutive one-two finish in a season, which is just the third time the feat has been achieved in F1 history.

Fourth place went to Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, while Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg crossed the finish line in fifth and Jenson Button of McLaren one spot after him. Felipe Massa was seventh for Williams, and Jules Bianchi crossed the line eighth for Marussia. He was demoted to ninth after a penalty was applied but Marussia were in jubilant mood regardless: it was their first points finish. That promoted Romain Grosjean to eighth for Lotus, with Mclaren’s other driver Kevin Magnussen taking the final point.

At the start, the two Mercedes AMGs led in grid order, while Ricciardo made a bad start and was passed by teammate Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen of Ferrari. Then, on the run down to the Loews hairpin, Sergio Perez was hit in his Force India by Button, which led to the safety car coming out. It stayed out until lap four, but on the resumption Vettel reported a loss of power. He continued around the lap, dropping back to last position and came into the pits. He rejoined a lap down but was unable to engage gears and had to retire.

On lap 25 the safety car would return, due to Adrian Sutil crashing his Sauber on the exit from the tunnel. This saw many drivers hit the pit stop. Unfortunately for Räikkönen, who was third at the time, he had to pit for a second time following contact with a trailing Marussia. That promoted Ricciardo to P3. Behind them in the pit stop frenzy, Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne nearly collided with Magnussen and was given a drive-through penalty for the unsafe release.

Despite losing several positions, Räikkönen fought on but would eventually collide with Magnussen and need to pit again for a new nose. With just 4 laps to go, Räikkönen rejoined the race in 12th. Clearly frustrated, the Finn put his foot down and set the race’s fastest lap on lap 75 of 78.

Thanks to his latest win, Nico Rosberg returns to the top of the ladder in the Drivers’ Championship with 122 points, followed by Lewis Hamilton in second with 118 points and Fernando Alonso in third with 61 points. In the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes AMG leads with 240 points followed by Red Bull Racing with 99 points and Ferrari with 78. The next stop on the calendar is the Canadian Grand Prix in two weeks.

Below are top ten results of the 2014 Formula One Monaco Grand Prix:

1) Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG
2) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG
3) Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing
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

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