Monaco Grand Prix: Nico Rosberg makes it THREE wins in a row

Nico Rosberg has won the Monaco Grand Prix after Mercedes mistakenly brought Lewis Hamilton in for a late pit stop under the safety car. Sebastian Vettel was second.

Lewis Hamilton was in pole position for the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix, and controlled the race almost from start to finish. But a huge mistake by Mercedes – bringing Hamilton in from the lead under the safety car for a late pit stop – saw him return to the track in third place – which is where he finished.

That mistake – which defied all logic on a circuit where overtaking is almost impossible – means Nico Rosberg took an undeserved win, in the process becoming one of a select group – including Ayrton Senna and Graham Hill – to win three Monaco Grands Prix in a row.

The safety car came after Max Verstappen tried to pass Romain Grosjean for 10th, ran in to the back of him and ended up in the barriers at Sainte Devote. That meant a safety car and Mercedes ill-judged decision to bring Hamilton in for the late pit stop which ended his certain win.

The closing laps of the race saw Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo barge his way past Kimi Raikkonen, to then be gifted fourth place – under team orders – by Daniil Kvyat, in the hope his fresher tyres would allow him to challenge third place Hamilton. It wasn’t to be, and Hamilton kept his third place behind Vettel’s Ferrari in second, and Ricciardo deferred to Kvyat in the closing moments to end up in fifth behind his team mate.

Raikkonen ended up taking sixth place, with Force India’s Sergio Perez in seventh, and although it was a miserable day for Hamilton, it was a better day for the other Brit on the track – Jenson Button – who opened his points account – and McLaren’s – for 2015 with an eighth place finish and four points.

Button’s team mate, Fernando Alonso, looked set to get in the points too but ended up retiring on lap 42 when his gearbox gave up the ghost.

The final points places were taken by Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr.