Nico Rosberg has been cleared to start the Monaco GP from pole position after stewards found no evidence that he deliberately steered off course at the conclusion of qualifying in order to beat Lewis Hamilton. Fractionally faster than his Mercedes team-mate after their first runs in Q3, Rosberg brought out the yellow flags in the final seconds of the top-ten shootout when he missed his braking point into Mirabeau and slithered down the escape road before reversing back on track. Hamilton, on a faster final run after being the last driver to cross the line before the chequered flag fell, then had to abort his effort, leaving Rosberg secure in pole. The controversial circumstances of Rosbergs last-lap incident were then placed under official investigation by the Monaco stewards but, after three hours of deliberation, it was deemed that the German should be permitted to start the race from the front of the field. The stewards examined video and telemetry data from the team and FIA and could find no evidence of any offence related to the Turn 5 incident, a statement declared. It is understood that Rosbergs decision to reverse his W05 on to the track wasnt discussed in the hearing as the sports regulations only forbid a car from reversing in the pitlane. Now the question waiting to be asked - most immediately, at the first corner of Sundays race - is whether the incident will put Rosberg and Hamiltons friendship into sharp reverse as well. Few in the paddock believe it will survive the stress of fighting for the title and Hamiltons anger at being blocked in such controversial circumstances was ominously palpable on Saturday night. The stage is slowly but steadily setting for the most compelling intra-team fight in decades. While Rosberg celebrated wildly on his return to parc ferme, a stern-faced Hamilton appeared to blank his team-mate and the Englishman pointedly refused to answer when asked by Sky F1 if he suspected Rosberg of cynicism. Who knows? he replied. Im not saying anything. Asked later if he would hold clear-the-air talks with Rosberg, Hamilton told the BBC: I dont know if Senna and Prost sat down. I quite like the way Senna dealt with it, so Im going to take a page out of his book. With Hamilton setting the tone for the weekend by comparing his own upbringing to Rosbergs privileged background, the cheery back-slapping which marked Mercedes early-season breakthrough has now been replaced by a simmering rivalry inside the Silver Arrows camp. The evolving and escalating Rosberg-Hamilton storyline is threatening to dominate the season in much the same way the W05 has tyrannized the rest of the field since the onset of the sports turbo era. Rosberg himself insisted that he wasnt guilty of a move reminiscent of Michael Schumachers deliberate mistake at the end of qualifying in Monaco in 2006 when he parked his Ferrari in the penultimate corner in order to block Fernando Alonso from taking pole position. The German was subsequently sent to the back of the grid by the stewards. It will be clear in the data, said Rosberg. I just braked a little later and locked up. Its not the way I wanted it go and I honestly thought it was over when I went off the road. So that definitely takes some of the pleasure away from it, but in the end first is first so Im still very, very happy about it. Due to the tracks tight layout, qualifying at Monaco is widely recognised as the most important Saturday session of the season. In the last ten years, only once has a driver - Hamilton, in 2008 - won the race after starting anywhere other than pole. Sundays race, exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, starts at 1pm UK Time. Andy
Posted on: Sat, 24 May 2014 20:47:13 +0000
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