The Five Time Champion endures immense pressure after strategic stitch up forces Briton to produce a Monaco masterclass that would have made Lauda proud
Callum Alexander | Callum on Cars | Formula 1
Considered an encrusted jewel of circuits, the Monaco Grand Prix is a track of reckoning for many, and a feather in the cap for the few who conquer it.
Track position is king around the streets of the principality, as Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the face of seismic pressure proved.
It was Mercedes’ sixth straight win in 2019, Hamilton’s fourth from six races, but these simple statistics don’t disclose the full story.
“That was definitely probably the hardest race I’ve had,” Hamilton said after chalking up his third Monaco win. But then the Five Time Champion did have the greatest of catalysts fuelling his defiant drive.
Formula 1 had been flung into mourning after the sudden death of F1 legend, and Three Time Champion Niki Lauda on the Monday prior to the race. The Austrian had been Mercedes’ non-executive chairman since September 2012 and was instrumental in bringing the Briton to the Silver Arrows. News of his passing had hit Hamilton hard; he had been granted dispensation from Wednesday's media duties by his team.
In tribute to Lauda’s legacy, Formula 1 produced red caps for drivers to wear over the Monaco weekend – it was a familiar feature of Lauda’s apparel – with Niki embroidered on the front. This was capped off by a minute silence before the race start on Sunday.
Mercedes also donned their halos in red, commemorating Lauda’s own colour scheme during his racing career; in more personal tributes, Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel both revised their crash helmets, imitating the iconic livery that Lauda adopted.
“I really was fighting with the spirit of Niki,” Hamilton noted. “Niki has been such an influential person in our team, helping us get to where we are, so I know he will be looking down and I know he would take his hat off today. I was just trying to stay focused and trying to make him proud.”
The narrow circuit configuration that weaves through the streets of Monaco is notorious for limited overtaking opportunities – unless there is a significant delta difference in lap time. It puts increased emphasis on qualifying, so often the defining crucible to success through the streets of the principality.
And so, this premise proved pivotal, for one side of the Ferrari garage. During Q1 on Saturday, Charles Leclerc posted a time that his Scuderia thought would be fast enough to qualify for Q2.
But as the session progression, reality began to bite that the 21-year old was at risk of crashing out at the first hurdle. As a precaution, Ferrari did not even consider sending Leclerc out to defend his time in the closing minutes, yet Vettel was.
Instead, Leclerc resided in the pits, watching his time tumble down the order and his weekend with it. To add a layer of bitterness to Leclerc’s resentment, it was Vettel who tipped his time into elimination - by saving his own session, he ensured Leclerc would start 16th at his home race.
It became a closely fought contest for pole position in Q3, as Mercedes had the legs on the rest of the grid; Bottas taking initial honours on his first pole run to go fastest. Qualifying is Hamilton’s speciality who respond in dramatic fashion by narrowly edging out Bottas on his second run to take pole position.
Mercedes claimed a front row lockout, with Verstappen pipping Vettel at the post to third. But the chain of events for Sunday’s race had been set in motion with Leclerc’s mayhem in Q1.
As the lights went out, Hamilton leapt off the line and maintained the lead. Bottas had a tardy start that allowed the fast-starting Verstappen to have much of his car along side the Finn, but the Silver Arrow allowed for space and drove parallel to the Dutchman to stay in second.
Starting 16th, Leclerc’s race was about damage limitation, but it turned into a race of self-sabotage, and inflicting further damage. Having made up four places in the opening seven laps, the 21-year old attempted to thread his way past Renaults Nico Hulkenburg at Rascasse on lap 9.
But his right rear tyre tagged the Armco barrier, causing him to half pirouette with the back of his Ferrari gyrating onto the racing line. Unaware that his tyre was punctured, he continued racing until the tyre delaminated and starting smashing his rear floor to bits - the debris was strewn over the track.
This incident changed the narrative of the race, causing teams to react to the safety car deployed to clean up discarded fragments of carbon fibre and tyre from Leclerc’s SF90. It made what would have likely of been a textbook Monaco Grand Prix drive for Hamilton turn into a struggle and fight to hold onto the lead. Leclerc retired on lap 18 from the damage he sustained, in a race to forget.
On lap 11, the leading cars pilled into the pits, but there was a difference in tyre choice selected by the teams: Red Bull and Ferrari put Verstappen and Vettel on the ‘hard’ compound. The Dutchman was handed a five second penalty for an unsafe release that squeezed Bottas into the pit wall.
Mercedes opted for the ‘medium’ for Hamilton and Bottas; this tyre enables better performance but notably worse duration. At that point with 67 laps to go, Mercedes were confident that with careful driving, the tyre would go the distance.
Mercedes team principle Toto Wolff described the thought process: “We calculated that the medium would make it, if we changed on lap 15 or 16, with the right management. It seemed a straightforward strategy.”
“It didn’t seem like a huge stretch, but then we realised 20 laps into it that some graining was appearing on the front left – and he started to complain.”
“Under-steer resulted from the graining and it was clear it would be very, very difficult to make it to the end.”
Graining occurs when tyre temperatures are lower than the optimal working window, this causes the tyres to shred, with rubber strips sticking to tyres, reducing grip and performance.
“Everybody knew it would be a huge stretch and, probably 20 laps from the end, he had nought percent rubber left and with massive under-steer at slow speeds,” said Wolff.
Hamilton became increasingly agitated on team radio, almost using it as a pressure release valve, as the intensity mounted from a charging Red Bull behind, piloted by Verstappen.
Hamilton channelled his inner Niki Lauda fighting spirit to keep the lead: “When I was driving, I was like, ‘what would Niki do?’ so I just kept going.”
“A few years ago, I was leading this race by 20 seconds, the safety car came out, pitted, came out third, and your heart just sinks, so I was like: ‘I’m not coming in, whatever the case. I’m just going to drive around with no tyres until they blow up.’ With sheer will I just kept pushing.”
The daring duel reached its climax on lap 77 when hurtling out of the tunnel darkness and into the Mediterranean light, Verstappen made a last-gasp late lunge up the inside of Hamilton into turn ten, the Nouvelle Chicane.
The right front tyre of Verstappen’s RB15 car touch the scrapped the side of the left rear of Hamilton’s W10 car; Hamilton was forced to abort the chicane to avoid a collision. Verstappen continued to pursue, but Hamilton could not be broken.
“I really, really tried my best to stay focused and not crack under pressure, because Max was doing a great job behind on a much better tyre.”
“But ultimately, also this week has been such a hard week, emotionally, for us as a team and me personally, I just really, really wanted to do the job. I really wanted to deliver on the word of Niki, and imagining him taking the hat off in support.”
Mercedes had the fastest car in Monaco, but this rare lapse of judgement nearly cost them victory; Hamilton preserved the 100% winning streak in 2019 so far. Mercedes’ management mistake was shielded and protected by the unique confines of the Monaco track – their hopes of winning lynch pinned entirely on Hamilton.
The Five Time Champion soaked up the relentless pressure and was not forced into an error, with Wolff admitting that it was his star driver that won Mercedes the race.
“He saved us. His driving saved us. It is something that we really need to analyse now.”
“We need to keep both feet on the ground. What you can see is teams have stopped winning once they had a sense of entitlement and believed it was normal.”
Following the trend of the opening six races, Mercedes are demonstrable ahead of rivals Ferrari in terms of performance. This is due to technical regulation changes implemented for the 2019 season: the simplified front wing has altered aerodynamic flow across the car – something Mercedes have mastered – whereas Ferrari and Red Bull have not.
The other is tyres that use a thinner tread, meant to make racing less dependent on tyre usage so drivers can race on more durable rubber. This does make the 2019 spec Pirelli tyres more temperamental to temperature, yet this has also helped Mercedes, as an area of weaknesses in the last few seasons has been overheating tyres.
If Monaco has proven anything, even when Mercedes give their rivals a sniff of a chance of victory, they will still need to find a silver bullet to beat the Silver Arrows.
And as for stopping Hamilton: if pressure can't crack him - then nothing will.
Callum Alexander | Callum on Cars | Formula 1
Photos: RaceFans.net
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