Qualifying: Rosberg, Hamilton, Ricciardo. Race: Rosberg, Hamilton, Ricciardo.
It was a processional Monaco Grand Prix at the pointy end of the Formula 1 field, but you could have predicted that would be the case after the result of Saturday qualifying.
It usually is, and this year didn't (or should that be did?) disappoint. However, it was an interesting weekend not least for the off-track action.
Rosberg's lock-up here less controversial!
A little bit of history repeating
A quick re-cap for those who didn't see it - in the final stages of qualifying, Rosberg locked up going into Mirabeau and took to the escape road knowing that, according to him, he wouldn't have made the corner. He then reversed back onto the track as Hamilton approached turn five.
With the German sitting on provisional pole and the yellow flags scuppering any chance Lewis had of improving his time (he was on his quickest lap of the session up to that point) it all but secured Rosberg the Monaco win.
Hamilton was displeased, let's say, not claiming the German had done it on purpose, but refraining from saying anything, very conscious of making any accusatory statements and keeping his powder dry for Sunday.
Prost v Senna '89; to be repeated 25 years on?
Rosberg was investigated by the stewards and cleared. He made the same mistake in the race, locking up his fronts, and managed to make the corner. Like Lewis however, we're not saying anything...
The most interesting thing to take from last weekend was that the incident ramped up the intra-team tension this season, with more than a few similarities between Senna and Prost at McLaren back in 1988. The MP4/4 was the dominant force back then, winning 15 out of 16 races. The Mercedes W05 has won every race so far this year and could very possibly go on to make a clean sweep this season.
Man management
With the team effectively running two lead drivers, one not wanting to submit to the other, there could be another clash before the end of the year. So how to manage the potential spat between the two?
Processional at the pointy end again
Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff said the relationship has been intense
since Spain
, but that the team will still let them race. However, if the championship continues the way it has, with Rosberg and Hamilton swapping wins and the championship lead, is it going to take a Suzuka chicane showdown like the Senna-Prost rivalry to determine a victor?
Lewis even made reference to it himself, stating "I don't know if Senna and Prost talked about it, but I quite liked the way Senna dealt with that so I'll take a page out of his book." 2014 has got all the hallmarks of a big, bubbling season crescendo already.
If that's to be the case, it's going to have to be instigated on the German's side of the garage, we think. Not that we'd ever accuse or even begin to imagine Rosberg would do something like that to a friend he's grown up alongside and progressed through the ranks of junior formulae with, but with the car's build potentially biased more towards Hamilton for this season - shown by the Brit extracting more speed, more of the time - you can't help but feel it's going to take a serious situation to break Hamilton's resolve, given his recent comments on his hunger. More than a spec of dust in his eye and a second place finish to his teammate, anyway.
WEC 2014 shows sportscar racing at its best
If the Formula One rules are starting to show their merits, similar regulations in sportscar racing are proving even more popular. So popular in fact that Nissan last week announced its return to Le Mans for 2015 with a full factory LMP1 prototype, called the
GT-R LM NISMO
Although Nissan somehow managed to forget to take the covers off its car at the launch event, the buzz around endurance racing at the minute is properly palpable and the competition seriously close.
Audi, Porsche and Toyota are already duking it out, which will next year be supported by the Japanese team, too. Four confirmed manufacturer-backed entries in top-flight endurance racing means we're almost back to the halcyon days of the late 1990s. But it could get even better.
Finally, we have rules that create competition
With two big Japanese firm's in LMP1 and Honda entering into Formula 1 next year with a turbocharged V6 hybrid, it's not beyond the realms of possibility for Honda to make a few mods, bore out the block, lower the rev limit and stick it in the back of a carbonfibre coupe in a quest for Japanese supremacy at La Sarthe.
It's no secret Ferrari, too, has been considering a reappearance at Le Mans, with top man Luca di Montezemolo making a lot of noise about a return to the big time. An F1-derived V6 turbo hybrid has to be a strong candidate there, too.
Can you imagine a Porsche vs Ferrari sports prototype battle - something we've not seen since the 1970s. I think those in the PH office would explode...
The fact that the World Endurance Championship is attracting so much manufacturer involvement is proof that, in sportscars at least, the fuel flow regulations work, properly equalising the different powertrains to give crowds diversity to watch and interesting racing - unlike the ill-adjusted petrol vs diesel balance of performance from recent years.
[Prost/Senna and Rosberg lock-up pics: LAT]