The official 2015 ASN Driver Rankings have been updated to reflect the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix – which we are calling the Monocle Grand Prix [due to its old-school money and high affluence attraction factors]. Typically, the main draw to the Monocle Grand Prix is the number of off-track celebrities and gigantic mega-yachts that show up for the race as the course itself has a rather notorious reputation for being one of the – if not the most difficult – places to attempt passing maneuvers during the entire Formula One racing season.
The 2015 version of the race was no different than many of the previous versions in that regard as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton took off from his pole position and was well on his way to oblivion and never being seen again [as usually happens with the leader if you are watching the NBCSN official live coverage of the race] – although to create more interesting racing in the case of this particular track, it might have been a good idea to just blue flag the Manor/Marussia cars straightaway from Lap One [we know this would make Kimi Raikkonen happy]. Nevertheless, Hamilton took off and his somewhat less talented teammate Nico Rosberg claimed second and began pulling away from the third place Ferrari of four-time world champion, Sebastian Vettel – so everything was going according to the Mercedes World Domination Master Plan until…insert impending doom music here…feisty rookie Max Verstappen was getting extra feisty trying to pass the Lotus of Romain Grosjean and, like pretty much all teenagers, got too impatient and caused a crash with Grosjean with less than 15 laps remaining in the race.
With Hamilton holding a massive near-20 second lead, the overconfident Mercedes pit crew of Hamilton thought that was plenty of time to take a pit stop and still exit the pits ahead of both Rosberg and Vettel. Wrong! Not only were they wrong, wrong and wrong again, but it turned what had been a somewhat festive mood for Mercedes – on the verge of yet another 1-2 finish – into a funeral march [at least for Hamilton’s crew] as Rosberg took off after the restart and Vettel spent the remaining nine laps simultaneously blocking and frustrating Hamilton.
As for the standings, the clear winner for the 2015 Monocle Grand Prix was Vettel – who was already on his way to another podium finish for third place when Lady Luck placed him into second and he deftly – made it look rather easy, actually – blocked an irate Hamilton for the remainder of the race. Second place goes to Daniil Kvyat, who finished fourth on team orders but who held his own for much of the race. The final podium position is claimed by Jenson Button, who finally scored McLaren’s first points for them this season with his eighth-place finish in the underpowered Honda. Vettel now takes a commanding lead over Hamilton in the season standings.
For the awards, with an early brake issue taking out Pastor Maldonado, Verstappen seemingly had the coveted Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award all wrapped up with his teen angst crash late in the race – and probably would have won it had victory not been snatched away from him by Hamilton’s pit crew – who has to win it for their remedial math skills. Maldonado still holds the season lead.
Once again, while it appeared that Kimi Raikkonen was well on his way to winning his very own Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone, I Know What I’m Doing!” Award with his blue flag thoughts – that was until Hamilton’s pit crew added up two and two and came out with five, leaving Hamilton in no mood to banter when the crew tried to warn him about the onrushing Daniel Ricciardo in the last laps of the race, saying – “Please stop talking to me.” With that, Hamilton reclaims the season lead.
While there were no outbursts of protocol-defying behavior after the race from Hamilton, he did give a petulant display of disgust by running over the third place parking board at the end of the race – showing Mercedes that their $153 million was money well spent. Hamilton now owns a commanding lead in his signature award category.
The 2015 Formula One season continues with the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal at 11 a.m. [PDT] on NBCSN on June 7, 2015.
The 2015 ASN Formula One Driver Standings [after the Monocle Grand Prix]
1] Sebastian Vettel – 12 points
2] Lewis Hamilton – seven points
3] Kimi Raikkonen – Four points
4] Nico Rosberg/Valtteri Bottas – three points
6] Jenson Button/Daniil Kvyat/Max Verstappen – two points
9] Romain Grosjean – one point
The 2015 Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award Standings [after the Monocle Grand Prix]
1] Pastor Maldonado – two points
2] Marcus Ericsson/Grosjean/Kimi Raikkonen’s pit crew/Lewis Hamilton’s pit crew – one point
The 2015 Kimi Raikkonen Leave Me Alone I Know What I’m Doing Award Standings [after the Monocle Grand Prix]
1] Lewis Hamilton – three points
2] Nico Rosberg – two points
2] Daniel Ricciardo pit crew – one point
The 2015 Lewis Hamilton Doofus Moment Award [after the Monocle Grand Prix]
1] Lewis Hamilton – three points
2] Bernie Ecclestone/Christian Horner/Vettel – one point