Monaco F1 Grand Prix 2015 Results: Winner, Standings, Highlights and Reaction

Nico Rosberg won his third successive Monaco Grand Prix, as poor team strategy cost Lewis Hamilton a chance of victory.

The race result was confirmed by the Formula One Twitter feed:

Pos	Driver	Country	Team	Points
1	LEWIS HAMILTON	GBR	MERCEDES	126
2	NICO ROSBERG	GER	MERCEDES	116
3	SEBASTIAN VETTEL	GER	FERRARI	98
4	KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN	FIN	FERRARI	60
5	VALTTERI BOTTAS	FIN	WILLIAMS	42
6	FELIPE MASSA	BRA	WILLIAMS	39
7	DANIEL RICCIARDO	AUS	RED BULL	35
8	DANIIL KVYAT	RUS	RED BULL	17
9	FELIPE NASR	BRA	SAUBER	16
10	ROMAIN GROSJEAN	FRA	LOTUS	16
11	SERGIO PEREZ	MEX	FORCE INDIA	11
12	CARLOS SAINZ	ESP	TORO ROSSO	9
13	NICO HULKENBERG	GER	FORCE INDIA	6
14	MAX VERSTAPPEN	NED	TORO ROSSO	6
15	MARCUS ERICSSON	SWE	SAUBER	5
16	JENSON BUTTON	GBR	MCLAREN	4

The Brit had a 21-second lead over his team-mate at the front when a late safety car was deployed. Mercedes, somewhat peculiarly, decided to pit the leader straight after, and Hamilton came out behind Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel—who finished second—in what was a major faux pas from the team.

"It was not the easiest of races," said Lewis in the aftermath, per BBC Sport. "The team has done amazing all year long, we win and we lose together. I'm sure we will sit down afterwards and try to think of ways we can improve."

Here are the full race results, courtesy of BBC Sport:

Dan Istitene/Getty Images

As is protocol at Monaco, the pit lane was packed out with a huge amount of celebrity faces before the race.

But as we can see here, the glitziest guests were probably in-situ in the McLaren garage, with Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo and model Cara Delevingne paying a visit, as we can see courtesy of the team’s official Twitter account:

When the lights went out, focus quickly switched to the action on the track. Hamilton got away superbly and although Vettel did his best to sneak ahead of Rosberg into Sainte Devote, the Mercedes man was able to edge out his compatriot, preserving second spot.

Pos	Driver	Team	Race Time
1	ROS	Mercedes	1:49:18.420
2	VET	Ferrari	1:49:22.906
3	HAM	Mercedes	1:49:24.473
4	KVY	Red Bull	1:49:30.385
5	RIC	Red Bull	1:49:32.028
6	RAI	Ferrari	1:49:32.765
7	PER	Force India	1:49:33.433
8	BUT	McLaren	1:49:34.483
9	NAS	Sauber	1:49:42.046
10	SAI	Toro Rosso	1:49:43.476
11	HUL	Force India	1:49:44.652
12	GRO	Lotus	1:49:46.835
13	ERI	Sauber	1:49:49.579
14	BOT	Williams	1:50:04.209
15	MAS	Williams	Lapped
16	MER	Manor	Lapped
17	STE	Manor	Lapped
R	VPN	Toro Rosso	Crashed (62)
R	ALO	McLaren	Retired (41)
R	MAL	Lotus	Retired (5

The leader wasn’t able to race away from the field at the front, as Hamilton was encouraged by his engineer to try to address an imbalance in his front brakes. The Brit seemed a little flummoxed about what to do, especially with his team-mate closing in:

But as he so often does, Hamilton was able to up the ante. The reigning world champion rattled off fastest lap after fastest lap ahead of the first round of pit stops, establishing a substantial lead, with Rosberg failing to negotiate lapped cars quite as smoothly as the Brit.

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

With the stops looming, Ferrari looked poised to make a big move. Rosberg was able to avoid the undercut threat from Vettel, but further back, Kimi Raikkonen, who was battling with Daniel Ricciardo, took advantage of pitting after the Australian and jumped up into fifth place.

As Autosport Live noted, the Finn really got going with a clear track in front of him:

Fernando Alonso’s disappointing start to life with McLaren continued. The Spaniard looked on course for a finish in the points here, but an electrical failure saw him pull up the car at Turn 1, and he was subsequently withdrawn from the race.

Dan Istitene/Getty Images

It’s been a really tough time for the team in general, as noted here by F1 Racing on NBC:

The race settled down from that point onward, with very little overtaking around the compact Monaco circuit. It was merely the calm before the storm, though.

Max Verstappen, just 17 years old, gave another indication of his phenomenal potential with a gem of an overtake on Carlos Sainz to take 11th before battling with Romain Grosjean for a spot in the top 10 and a world championship point.

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

However, the teenager learned a valuable lesson after going too hot into Turn 1 in pursuit of the Frenchman, losing control of the car and crashing into the barriers.

It was a move that had major consequences at the front of the field, as Mercedes got their strategy badly wrong under the safety car, inexplicably bringing in Hamilton and handing Rosberg the lead.

Fake Charlie Whiting was bemused by the decision-making of the team:

Hamilton battled hard in the latter stages on a fresher set of tyres, but he was powerless to affect the front of the race behind Vettel, and Rosberg raced off into the distance to take the chequered flag.

Ker Robertson/Getty Images

The Brit's team were quick to apologise via director Toto Wolff, per their official Twitter feed:

Even Rosberg was quick to admit that Hamilton was unlucky on this occasion, per BBC Sport:

"

Very, very happy of course. I know it was just a lot of luck today. Lewis drove brilliantly and would have deserved the win for sure but that's the way it is in racing.

It's difficult in the car to judge what decisions are being made. It was hard to do the restart with the hard tyres which were very cold. I know I got lucky today, I will just enjoy the moment now. Lewis was a little bit stronger this weekend so I have to work hard.

"

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

This win represents a major bonus for Rosberg. Hamilton had this wrapped up, was the fastest driver over the weekend and was superb on race day. Unfortunately for the Brit, some baffling strategy from his team scuppered any chance of victory and the world champion’s misfortune in Monaco—he's won only once here in his distinguished career—continued.

For neutrals, it makes the championship race interesting, with the gap between the two Mercedes men now just 10 points. Next up is the Canadian Grand Prix—a race that Lewis has won three times—and you can bet the Brit will be desperate to respond after yet another weekend in the glamorous principality turned sour.