Rosberg and Hamilton At Odds After 1-2 Win at Monaco

MONTE CARLO, MONACO – For the second Monaco GP in a row, Nico Rosberg claimed the top spot on the podium a full 9.2 seconds ahead of teammate and rival Lewis Hamilton.  The German driver drove his Mercedes to the win from the pole position, won in a rather controversial manner.  In the final laps, Daniel Ricciardo made a very heated attempt to claim the number two position from Hamilton but could only manage third for Red Bull by a 0.4 second margin.  "It was a tough race out there today,” said Rosberg, “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. “

Mercedes has definitely been the ones to beat in 2014 winning every pole position.  But the competition does not stop at the doorstep of the silver arrows team.  The rivalry between Rosberg and Hamilton has been compared with that of Aryton Senna and Alain Prost when each drove for McLaren in the late 1980s.  Rosberg said after the race, “It was important for me to break Lewis' momentum of winning the last four races this weekend.” 

Though cleared by FIA of any wrongdoing, some are claiming that a “mistake” caused by Rosberg during qualifying causing a yellow to come out and dashing Hamilton’s chance for a pole was intentional.  Hamilton was so put-off by the incident, that he refused to congratulate Rosberg for his win.  Mercedes Chief, Niki Lauda, no stranger to inter-team rivalry, is said to not be happy with the situation. “The tension is building up, no question,” Lauda commented, “but we have to make sure that the team doesn’t get out of hand. So if they don’t say hello in the morning, it’s out of hand.”

But, lucky for the fans, Dieter Zetsche, the chairman of Mercedes parent Daimler, agreed that Hamilton and Rosberg should be free to wage their battles, even though imposing ‘team orders’ would mean less ‘grey hairs’ for the management.  “This is exactly what the viewers want to see,” he said. “The worst thing would be nice team orders with one behind the other.