The 2014 Monaco Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2014) was a Formula One motor race held on 25 May at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo. It was the sixth race of the 2014 Formula One World Championship and the 61st Monaco Grand Prix as part of the series. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won the 78-lap race from pole position. His teammate Lewis Hamilton finished second and Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo was third. It was Rosberg's second victory of the season and the fifth of his career.
Before the race, Hamilton led the World Drivers' Championship and Mercedes led the World Constructors' Championship. Rosberg won the pole position by posting the fastest lap in qualifying under controversial circumstances and maintained the lead at the start. The race was neutralised on the first lap with the safety car following an accident between Force India's Sergio Pérez and McLaren's Jenson Button, and when it was restarted Rosberg kept the lead. Adrian Sutil further caused disruption when he crashed his Sauber car on lap 24 and Rosberg kept the lead after the field made pit stops. He maintained a varying advantage over Hamilton as the two pulled away from other drivers. Rosberg was instructed to conserve fuel while Hamilton was told he did not need to do so. Hamilton later got dirt in his eye in the final laps, allowing Rosberg to pull away and win the race.
The result saw Rosberg regain the lead of the World Drivers' Championship by four championship points over Hamilton. Fernando Alonso remained in third while Ricciardo's third-place finish moved him past teammate Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes further increased their lead in the World Constructors' Championship to 141 championship points ahead of Red Bull while Ferrari maintained third position. Force India kept fourth and McLaren overtook Williams for fifth with 13 races left in the season.
Background
The 2014 Monaco Grand Prix was the sixth of the 19 rounds in the 2014 Formula One World Championship, and the 61st running of the race as part of the series. It was held on 25 May 2014 at the 19-turn Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo. It was officially called the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2014. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the red-banded super soft and yellow-banded soft dry compound tyres to the race. The drag reduction system (DRS) had one activation zone for the race which was on the straight linking the final and first turns. For the Grand Prix, a total of 11 teams (each representing a different constructor) entered two race drivers each.
Before the race Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton led the World Drivers' Championship with 100 championship points, ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg in second and Fernando Alonso in third. Sebastian Vettel was fourth on 45 championship points, seven ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo in fifth. Mercedes led the World Constructors' Championship with 197 championship points, and Red Bull were second on 84 championship points. Ferrari (66 championship points) and Force India (57) were third and fourth and Williams were fifth on 46 championship points.
The tension between the two Mercedes teammates was high before the weekend when Hamilton was found to have altered his car settings in the final laps of the , using a forbidden higher-powered engine setting to keep Rosberg behind. Rosberg was found to have done the same while battling Hamilton at the end of the . Despite losing the lead of the Drivers' Championship to teammate Hamilton in Spain, Rosberg stated he would not be changing his approach and was not heavily focused on the title but expected it to remain tight. Hamilton reckoned his increased comfort with the F1 W05 Hybrid car would put Rosberg under pressure in Monaco, saying it was a track where he performed well and wanted Ferrari and Red Bull to battle him for the victory.
The circuit was altered following the 2013 race. The track was resurfaced from the exit of Casino corner until the entry to the tunnel with small areas before the Novelle chicane and Tabac undergoing a similar change. The pit lane barrier and the debris fencing was renewed and the turn 12 TecPro energy absorbing barrier was made more efficiently constrained. Work on the track was carried out at night to minimise roadside traffic disruption. Jenson Button for McLaren predicted the changes would create a situation similar to the 2012 United States Grand Prix where grip was low and felt the soft compound tyres would be difficult to get working properly. Pérez said the experience around Monaco would be "difficult" but that "It will be a new Monaco – very, very interesting". Alonso stated the event would be "a question mark for everybody" and that Formula One needed to see the team that would adapt their car better for Monaco.
Practice There were three practice sessions held before the race on Sunday, two 90-minute practice sessions on Thursday and a third one-hour session on Saturday. Hamilton was fastest in the first practice session, which took place in dry weather, with a lap of 1:18.271, 0.032 seconds faster than teammate Rosberg in second. The two Red Bull cars were third and fifth with Ricciardo ahead of Vettel; they were separated by Alonso's Ferrari. Ricciardo was set to go faster but slower traffic delayed him. Kimi Räikkönen, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Pérez, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg rounded out the session's top-ten drivers. Max Chilton stranded his Marussia after spinning at Mirabeau corner early in the session, ending his session early. Esteban Gutiérrez went straight on at Sainte Dévote corner. Alonso locked his left front tyre at Mirabeau corner but avoided damaging his car. His teammate Räikkönen spun at Sainte Dévote corner but continued.
Clouds moved into Monaco in the first session and a heavy hailstorm fell but ended before the second session began. The track was saturated with water and teams opted to keep their drivers in their garages for 45 minutes. Drivers first drove on the intermediate tyres although the surface dried quickly. They used dry slick tyres in the final ten minutes which saw Alonso lap fastest with at 1:18.482, keeping Hamilton fastest overall for Thursday. Alonso was four-tenths of a second quicker than Hamilton in second. Vettel, Jean-Éric Vergne. Bottas, Pérez, Hülkenberg, Button, Ricciardo and Felipe Massa followed in the top ten. Marcus Ericsson hit the barriers leaving Portier corner but reversed away from the area and drove his damaged car to the pit lane.
After taking Friday off—a feature unique to the Monaco Grand Prix— the drivers returned to action on Saturday in clear weather. All of the leading drivers had trouble getting clear air as they fought for clear space around the narrow circuit which had been made worse by them taking longer than usual to get optimum tyre temperature. Despite Hamilton having difficulties with his car's handling and narrowly avoiding an accident at Tabac corner, he set the fastest lap of the weekend so far of 1:16.758, a tenth of a second quicker than Ricciardo in second. Rosberg, Vettel, Alonso, Räikkönen, Pérez, Hülkenberg, Vergne and Daniil Kvyat were third through tenth. Vergne ran off the track at Sainte Dévote and Mirabeau corners. Ericsson went onto the Dévote run-off area and reversed to rejoin the track.
Qualifying
Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part ran for 18 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 17th or below. The 107% rule was in effect, requiring drivers to reach a time within 107 per cent of the quickest lap to qualify. The second session lasted 15 minutes, eliminating cars that finished 11th to 16th. The final part lasted 12 minutes and determined pole position to tenth. Cars who progressed to the final session were not allowed to change tyres for the race's start, using the tyres with which they set their quickest lap times in the second session. After the final session's first runs, Rosberg had provisional pole position with a lap of 1:15.989, 0.039 seconds faster than Hamilton. During his second and final quick lap, Rosberg locked his tyres, ran deep at Mirabeau corner and had to abort his lap, before reversing back onto the track. The resulting yellow flags forced Hamilton to slow, ruining his final qualifying lap (after he had set a personal best first sector), and stopped him from challenging Rosberg's earlier time. After qualifying, the stewards investigated Rosberg under suspicion of deliberately spoiling Hamilton's lap. The stewards examined video evidence and telemetry data from Mercedes, and racing governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), concluded there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Rosberg. It was Rosberg's second pole position of 2014 and the sixth of his career.
Ricciardo qualified third; he could not improve his fastest time after sliding on his final timed lap. His teammate Vettel lost the use of his energy recovery system in the first session; he ran in a different mode and the yellow flags left him fourth. The Ferrari duo of Alonso and Räikkönen were fifth and sixth; both had tyre warming problems. Although the yellow flags affected Vergne's final lap, he took seventh and his teammate Kvyat ninth after struggling with rear control and hit a barrier. He drove to the pit lane for a replacement nose cone. They were separated by Magnussen in eighth and Pérez was tenth after locking his tyres into the Novelle chicane. Hülkenberg in 11th was the fastest driver not to qualify for the final session. A Toro Rosso car delayed Button in 12th on his final lap at the Swimming Pool complex. Front tyre heating problems put Bottas 13th. Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado in the two Lotus cars took 14th and 15th with Massa unable to record a lap time. Ericsson locked his rear tyres going into Mirabeau corner and glanced Massa's car heading into the turn, causing both drivers to hit the barriers. The stewards investigated the incident and Ericsson incurred two penalty points on his super licence and was required to start from the pit lane. Gutiérrez failed to progress beyond the first session, and was followed by Sauber teammate Adrian Sutil. Jules Bianchi, 19th, lost a second in slower traffic and yellow flags. He received a five-place grid penalty, because his team changed a problematic gearbox overnight. Hence, his Marussia teammate Chilton began 19th. Kamui Kobayashi in 20th used super soft compound tyres on his first two timed laps and adjusted his front wing but could not improve.
Qualifying classification The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold .