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Even in defeat, on the most famous Formula One circuit of them all, Lewis Hamilton revived memories of his great hero and serial Monaco winner Ayrton Senna, writes Alan Baldwin.
On his slowing-down lap, after a certain victory had been cruelly snatched from his grasp by a pit stop blunder, the Briton stopped his Mercedes at the Portier corner before the tunnel entry.
It might have been simply to collect his thoughts before plunging into the media maelstrom further down the road, taking a moment’s reflection with the shimmering Mediterranean stretching ahead of him.
But the corner was also the one closest to his Monaco apartment.
Those of a different generation, and in the know, will have recalled the 1988 Monaco race where Senna crashed his McLaren after early domination from pole.
So angry was the great Brazilian, whose team mate Alain Prost won that day, with the mistake that he stormed straight home.
Few would have blamed Hamilton, even though he still finished on the podium, had he done the same after coming in for a needless change of tyres while leading behind the safety car after a dominant 64 laps.
When he re-emerged, his lead had gone and there was no way back even on fresher tyres. Hamilton was third with team mate Nico Rosberg becoming the first driver since Senna to win three Monaco Grands Prix in a row. The hurt was evident afterwards, once Hamilton had finally parked up at the finish, and he kept his answers short.
“I can’t really express the way I feel at the moment. So I won’t even attempt to,” he said.
“You rely on the team. I saw a screen, it looked like the team was out and I thought that Nico had pitted. Obviously I couldn’t see the guys behind so I thought the guys behind were pitting.
“The team said to stay out. I said ‘these tyres are going to drop in temperature’, and what I was assuming was that these guys (Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel) would be on options and I was on the harder tyre. So, they said to pit.
“Without thinking I came in with full confidence that the others had done the same.”
“This is a race that has been very special... close to my heart for many years and so it was very important,” he said. “Today, I didn’t really have to push too much, I could have doubled the lead if I needed it.”
RESULTS
1. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:49:18.420, 2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari +00:04.486, 3. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 00:06.053, 4. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) RedBull - Renault 00:11.965, 5. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) RedBull - Renault 00:13.608, 6. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 00:14.345, 7. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India - Mercedes 00:15.013, 8. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 00:16.063, 9. Felipe Nasr (Brazil) Sauber - Ferrari 00:23.626, 10. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso - Renault 00:25.056, 11. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India - Mercedes 00:26.232, 12. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus - Mercedes 00:28.415, 13. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber - Ferrari 00:31.159, 14. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams-Mercedes 00:45.789, 15. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes 1 lap, 16. Roberto Merhi (Spain) Marussia - Ferrari 2 laps, 17. Will Stevens (Britain) Marussia - Ferrari 2 laps, r. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Toro Rosso - Renault 16 laps, r. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 37 laps, r. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Lotus - Mercedes 73 laps. (rank: r = retired, nc = not classified).
Fastest Lap: Daniel Ricciardo,1:18.063, lap 74.
STANDINGS
Drivers: 1. Hamilton 126 points, 2. Rosberg 116, 3. Vettel 98, 4. Raikkonen 60, 5. Bottas 42, 6. Massa 39, 7. Ricciardo 35, 8. Kvyat 17, 9. Nasr 16, 10. Grosjean 16, 11. Perez 11, 12. Sainz Jr 9, 13. Huelkenberg 6, 14. Verstappen 6, 15. Ericsson 5, 16. Button 4, 17. Alonso 0, 18. Merhi 0, 19. Stevens 0, 20. Maldonado 0.
Constructors: 1. Mercedes 242 points, 2. Ferrari 158, 3. Williams-Mercedes 81, 4. RedBull - Renault 52, 5. Sauber - Ferrari 21, 6. Force India - Mercedes 17, 7. Lotus - Mercedes 16, 8. Toro Rosso - Renault 15, 9. McLaren 4, 10. Marussia - Ferrari 0.
