Lap 37 saw some drama as well as Hamilton missed a chicane but just about managed to legally get back in time to deny Ricciardo a win.
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Hamilton was 43 points behind Rosberg heading into the rain-soaked race, but Rosberg said the auto caused him more pain than his rival significantly cutting the gap. We had an issue at the pit-stop.
“It was clear that not reversing the situation between Nico and Lewis would definitely lose us the race”, admitted Toto Wolff.
With 25 points for a win, and 15 rounds remaining in this year’s championship, the Briton now heads to one of his favourite races in Canada with high hopes of reducing the deficit further.
The safety vehicle led the field for the first seven laps but it then became clear, with Ricciardo pulling away, that Rosberg was struggling to get his tyres up to temperature and Hamilton was faster.
“I’m disappointed with today”, he said.
Daniel Ricciardo’s woes during the 2016 Formula 1 Monaco GP was a mixture of miscommunication and lack of coordination. “Two races in a row, two races in a row”.
“I didn’t expect the points to shift in the way they have”, said Hamilton. “I feel really sorry [for Ricciardo]”.
This time, the struggling Rosberg impeccably moved aside to give Hamilton a chance to catch Ricciardo and clinch his 44th career win – the same number on Hamilton’s current vehicle and when racing karts in his younger days.
Hamilton stayed out until lap 31, when he pitted for a set of slick ultrasofts that lasted to the finish.
On lap 23, Ricciardo pitted for a set of intermediate tyres, but Mercedes made a decision to let Hamilton stay out for longer.
Speaking to reporters after the race, Horner said they were simply unable to be ready for the Australian before he arrived in the pits.
This was an exceptionally important outing for Hamilton after his fateful crash with teammate Nico Rosberg at the opening lap of the previous race.
“The pit-wall is upstairs, the garage is downstairs and unfortunately the set of tyres we called for were at the back of the garage so there was a scramble”.
Hamilton’s miserable season is in stark contrast to past year, when he largely cruised to a second straight title and third overall.
Behind them was Ferrari’s [NYSE:RACE] Sebastian Vettel in fourth and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in fifth.
Following the race, Ricciardo said, “From the outside, we put on a show but it shouldn’t have been as exciting as it was – two weekends in a row I have been screwed”.
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“But the next one is a good race for me, so hopefully in that great atmosphere of Montreal I am able to shine like I did the first time I won”.
