SURPRISE VICTORY: Rosberg wins Monaco GP after crash hampers Hamilton

Mercedes Formula One driver Rosberg of Germany celebrates on the podium after winning the Monaco F1 Grand Prix in Monaco

Nico Rosberg won the Monaco Grand Prix for the third straight year after a late crash involving teenager Max Verstappen undid Lewis Hamilton’s bid for a fourth win of the season.

Hamilton looked set to take his 37th career win after leading from the start, until the 17-year-old Verstappen rammed his Toro Rosso into the back of Romain Grosjean as he tried to overtake the Lotus driver yesterday.

That meant a safety car had to come out at the start of the 64th lap, and when Hamilton was then called in for a pit stop, he suddenly found himself behind both Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

When the safety car finally went off track, Hamilton had only a few laps to try and get past Vettel and Rosberg on the most difficult track to overtake on F1.

second victory

It was Rosberg’s second win of the season following his victory two weeks ago at the Spanish GP, and he became the first driver since Ayrton Senna to win the Monaco race three straight times. The others to do it were Frenchman Alain Prost and Briton Graham Hill.

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He is now right back in championship contention, but the circumstances of his win will likely infuriate Hamilton, who was leading Rosberg by 15 seconds when Verstappen — who had never driven on Monaco’s sinewy street circuit before — tried to pass Grosjean but found no room and went spinning off. He was unharmed.

The team’s decision to call Hamilton in for a pit stop clearly backfired, and the Briton angrily snapped over the radio: “Please stop talking to me, please.”

Rosberg was 4.4 seconds ahead of four-time F1 champion Vettel, and 6 clear of Hamilton.

As Rosberg (pictured) and Vettel celebrated warmly with each other, Hamilton took a long while to get out of his car, taking his helmet off slowly and walking to join the other two on the podium with his head down.

—Reuters

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