F1 2014: More to come from Mercedes pair

MERCEDES boss Niki Lauda moved to heal a growing rift between his two drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg following a tetchy Monaco Grand Prix.

Rosberg won in Monte Carlo for the second year in a row to overtake Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship - but the weekend was punctuated by several events which frustrated the Briton.

First, in qualifying, Hamilton was prevented from a run on pole after Rosberg caused yellow flags to be waved by parking at Mirabeau.

It didn't look intentional - replays showed Rosberg locking up and struggling with the steering wheel - but it was understandable why Hamilton took a dim view of the incident and remained tight-lipped in a seriously awkward interview afterwards.

After all, pole position is everything at Monaco.

Since 2004, only one driver has won having failed to take pole - and that driver was Hamilton in 2008 in his only victory at F1's most glamorous venue.

Could he do it again? Well, ultimately, no he couldn't - but he felt he was even denied a fair chance in the race after Mercedes failed to bring him into pit when it was obvious a safety car was going to be needed to clear up Adrian Sutil's accident.

Hamilton said: "An opportunity occurred where I could have come in. When I was at McLaren, l would have been pulled in on that lap and that may have given me the smallest advantage to get the jump over the safety car."

It may be a moot point anyway. Having trailed his team-mate for most of the race by less than a second, Hamilton ultimately finished a distant in a second place after suffering a problem with his vision when a piece of debris became lodged in his eye.

Nevertheless, the wounds from the weekend will take longer to clear up.

Hamilton even went as far as to say he and Rosberg were "not friends" despite him having shared a close competitive relationship with the German since they were both teenagers.

Yes, it is not quite on the level of a Prost-Senna dispute just yet - but it is providing fascinating viewing in a season which has already effectively become all about Mercedes.

The F1 W05 is so superior to all of the rest of the cars on the grid that it has taken every pole and won every race.

Indeed, the Mercedes team is currently enjoying a streak of five successive 1-2s, which is something that was not even achieved by either the dominant McLaren MP4/4 in 1988 or Williams FW14B in 1992.

In the standings, Rosberg (122) leads Hamilton by four points despite two fewer race wins after the Briton had to retire from the season opener in Australia due to engine trouble.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso cuts a frustrated figure again in third on 61 points which is as many points as he is adrift from the lead.

Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo, in fourth on 54 points, is comfortably outperforming his Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

The four-time defending champion sits sixth on 45 points, two behind Force India's Nico Hülkenberg - while Valtteri Bottas is an impressive seventh for Williams ahead of the two McLarens of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen.

Further down the grid, the big news in Monaco came from Marussia who finally scored their first points in a Grand Prix at the 83rd attempt thanks to Jules Bianchi's ninth place.

"Yes!!!!!!!!!!" was the reaction on the official Marussia feed on Twitter - and few would begrudge them their success after an agonising four-year wait.

F1 2014 now moves on to Montreal in Canada on 8 June before a first Austrian Grand Prix in 11 years on 22 June.

Then, in July, Hamilton and Rosberg will enjoy home advantage in successive races at Silverstone and Hockenheim.

Only time will tell if they are genuinely friends or just colleagues in a battle which already looks like going all of the way.

Date	TV		Pole position	Fastest lap	Winner
16 March	Sky	Australian Grand Prix	Hamilton	Rosberg	Rosberg
30 March	BBC	Malaysian Grand Prix	Hamilton	Hamilton	Hamilton
6 April	Sky	Bahrain Grand Prix	Rosberg	Rosberg	Hamilton
20 April	Sky	Chinese Grand Prix	Hamilton	Rosberg	Hamilton
11 May	BBC	Spanish Grand Prix	Hamilton	Vettel	Hamilton
25 May	Sky	Monaco Grand Prix	Rosberg	Räikkönen	Rosberg
8 June	BBC	Canadian Grand Prix
22 June	Sky	Austrian Grand Prix
6 July	BBC	British Grand Prix
20 July	Sky	German Grand Prix
27 July	Sky	Hungarian Grand Prix
24 August	BBC	Belgian Grand Prix
7 September	BBC	Italian Grand Prix
21 September	Sky	Singapore Grand Prix
5 October	BBC	Japanese Grand Prix
12 October	BBC	Russian Grand Prix
2 November	Sky	United States Grand Prix
9 November	Sky	Brazilian Grand Prix
23 November	BBC	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship

P	Driver	Team	Points
01	Nico Rosberg (Ger)	Mercedes	122 (2 wins)
02	Lewis Hamilton (Gbr)	Mercedes	118 (4 wins)
03	Fernando Alonso (Spa)	Ferrari	61
04	Daniel Ricciardo (Aus)	Red Bull-Renault	54
05	Nico Hülkenberg (Ger)	Force India-Mercedes	47
06	Sebastian Vettel (Ger)	Red Bull-Renault	45
07	Valtteri Bottas (Fin)	Williams-Mercedes	34
08	Jenson Button (Gbr)	McLaren-Mercedes	31
09	*Kevin Magnussen (Den)	McLaren-Mercedes	21
10	Sergio Perez (Mex)	Force India-Mercedes	20
11	Felipe Massa (Brz)	Williams-Mercedes	18
12	Kimi Räikkönen (Fin)	Ferrari	17
13	Romain Grosjean (Fra)	Lotus-Renault	8
14	Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra)	Toro-Rosso-Renault	4
15	*Daniil Kyvat (Rus)	Toro-Rosso-Renault	4
16	Jules Bianchi (Fra)	Marussia-Ferrari	2
17	*Marcus Ericsson (Swe)	Caterham-Renault	0
18	Adrian Sutil (Ger)	Sauber-Ferrari	0
19	Esteban Gutiérrez (Mex)	Sauber-Ferrari	0
20	Max Chilton (Gbr)	Marussia-Ferrari	0
21	Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn)	Caterham-Renault	0
22	Pastor Maldonado (Ven)	Lotus-Renault	0

*= Debut season in F1

Constructors' Championship

P	Team	Points
01	Mercedes	240 (6 wins)
02	Red Bull-Renault	99
03	Ferrari	78
04	Force India-Mercedes	67
05	McLaren-Mercedes	52
06	Williams-Mercedes	52
07	Lotus-Renault	8
08	Toro Rosso-Renault	8
09	Marussia-Ferrari	2
10	Sauber-Ferrari	0
11	Caterham-Renault	0