Victory in Barcelona made Verstappen the youngest ever race victor and he expected to see more Dutch fans on Sunday. I can’t tell you how it would have gone.
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Monaco has also been a minefield, with the last two races in the Mediterranean principality ending in controversy involving the Mercedes pair. But hopefully because it’s so close, whoever is first, second and third will be close and it will come down to that one pit stop.
Hamilton was happy to say that he and Rosberg had spoken: “We arrived very cool and chilled”.
The British driver had a frustrating race last year when late team orders to pit, after a safety vehicle was deployed following a crash, saw him slip from first to third behind Vettel and Rosberg – who won for the third straight year. He won the title with three races to spare, but has not won since.
Both Hamilton, Rosberg, and their Mercedes team for that matter are publicly keen to draw a line under the opening-lap crash in Barcelona.
Back home in the Netherlands, where football is by far the main sport, the combination of his youth and his success in becoming the first Dutch driver to win a race gave F1 some rare headlines.
Button, a staunch advocate for the introduction of improved driver head protection in Formula One, added: “It is not something you expect to happen and we can’t have it happen again”.
This time, efforts from both drivers has prevented any recurrence of that heated bickering. It’s very close, so we shall see how it goes tomorrow [sic]. Just, ‘We have still have all the respect for you, ‘ and he said the same.
Rosberg was a further 0.293secs adrift while the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who became the youngest ever race victor in F1 history in Spain last time out, was fourth.
“What I can say is that between the two of us it’s a thing of the past”, the German driver said. “It was a tricky start to the weekend for us, though”.
Pole position is crucial in Monaco, nearly as much as it is Spain and Hungary, with overtaking extremely hard on the tight and twisting street track that weaves around millionaires reclining on their yachts and climbs up past the famed casino. “I’m still getting used to the auto”.
That first lap crash handed victory to the 18-year-old Verstappen and Red Bull and dented Mercedes’ supremacy ahead of the classic Monaco event where a repeat defeat, in front of key partners and sponsors, could have more serious consequences. Ferrari’s drought stretches way back to Michael Schumacher’s victory in 2001.
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“It’s been wonderful to win there for the past three years – but I know it will be tough to repeat that with Lewis, the Ferraris and the Red Bulls all so strong now”.
