More of the same:
Oliver Harden wrote:">
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes Both to Blame for 2015 Monaco Grand Prix DefeatOn Lap 64 of 78 in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was just beginning to enter the danger zone.
Having dominated two-thirds of the race after securing a comfortable pole position on Saturday, a fourth win of 2015 felt like a formality.
Within 15 laps of the chequered flag, and with a 21-second lead over second-placed Nico Rosberg, Hamilton would have switched to management mode, focusing on just bringing the car home, ensuring nothing could snatch victory from his grasp.
He would have negotiated the tight, twisty turns with increasing wariness, leaving a little more space between his wheels and those cold, hard, smothering crash barriers.
He would have applied the throttle with more caution than at any stage over the grand prix weekend. And he would have caressed the brakes, which he was forced to manage in the early stages, with greater responsibility than ever before.
It is in the danger zone, when victory seems so close yet remains so far away, where drivers are struck down by paranoia, causing their minds to play cruel tricks on them.
They hear an unusual noise emerging from the engine and are certain that a failure is imminent, or they feel a slight change in the car's handling and become convinced they've suffered a puncture, thinking up a host of worst-case scenarios and applying them to their individual situation.
Although it is common to see leading drivers and teams conserve their positions toward the end of the race, such an approach risks being counterproductive at Monaco, which favours those who attack its turns with an unrelenting intensity.
Particularly at Monaco, the moment you think the race is won is quite often the first step toward defeat as competitors find themselves torn between offence and defence.
Ayrton Senna, who crashed out of the lead of the 1988 event soon after easing his pace, and Nigel Mansell, who lost the '92 race to the Brazilian after a late pit stop (due to a "puncture" which was, in fact, nothing more than a loose wheel nut according to Tom Rubython's book, The Life of Senna), have both been caught out by the danger zone in years gone by.
And Hamilton became the latest on Sunday, when he had only a third-place finish to show for his 64 laps in front.
The race, of course, was turned on its head when Max Verstappen crashed at Sainte Devote after a collision with Romain Grosjean, which resulted in the deployment of the safety car.
Previously content with just controlling the race en route to the chequered flag—the FIA Race Lap Analysis shows the British driver was still pushing hard prior to the safety car—Hamilton and Mercedes suddenly had a decision to make and made what proved to be the wrong call, opting to pit for super-soft tyres while Rosberg and third-placed Sebastian Vettel continued to circulate.
With track position all-important at Monaco, Hamilton rejoined third and, despite the advantage of fresher and faster tyres, was unable to pass Vettel for second—never mind Rosberg, who took his second win in succession.
Although Mercedes have claimed the blame for costing the British driver victory, with executive director Toto Wolff telling Autosport's Ian Parkes how the team miscalculated the gap between Hamilton and Rosberg at the time of the safety car, it seems Hamilton was behind the decision to pit.
In the post-race FIA press conference, the reigning world champion admitted that the team initially instructed him to "stay out," but Hamilton's concerns over the temperature of his soft tyres, which were fitted during his first stop on Lap 38, led to a rethink.
Wolff confirmed this to Sky Sports' James Galloway, reporting how Hamilton had complained there was "no grip any more," encouraging the team to undertake a precautionary pit stop when, in reality, there was nothing to guard against.
For all the improvements Hamilton has made in terms of performance since his second title triumph in 2014, as we alluded to after qualifying, perhaps his ability to read a race and make smart, confident, correct decisions from the cockpit is one of the very few areas where he continues to fall short.
After all, could you imagine the likes of Rosberg, Vettel and Fernando Alonso, among others, making the same call to even risk losing the lead had they been in the same position?
Not only were Mercedes guilty of underestimating the distance between Hamilton and Rosberg, the team were also at fault for failing to provide the former with a steady, guiding hand when the curve ball that was the safety car was thrown.
The calm on Rosberg's side of the garage—the German told the FIA press conference that he "didn't discuss pitting" despite his "stone cold" rubber—was in stark contrast to the no-yes chaos of Hamilton's team as their driver faced a no-win situation, the final hurdle to a second Monte Carlo triumph.
It was a hurdle they failed to negotiate successfully, as what Mercedes and Hamilton thought was a free pit stop soon became one of the costliest they'll ever make.
The Silver Arrows are developing a habit of making strategic errors, with the only race they have failed to win this season, the Malaysian GP, seeing Mercedes pit both Hamilton and Rosberg behind an early safety car and later fit the former with the harder, slower tyres at a time when he had aspirations of challenging Vettel for victory.
After the Sepang race, Wolff declared that it was "the wake-up call that we needed," according to Sky Sports' James Galloway, but Mercedes have failed to learn their lessons from that afternoon.
And although the team will, quite rightly, receive much criticism for their latest clanger, Hamilton, having succumbed to the danger zone, may not be entirely blameless.
As Lewis himself, admirably gracious in defeat, told the FIA press conference, "We win and we lose together."