Rosberg mistake caused yellow flag in qualifying last year; German going for three wins in a row in Monaco
Wednesday 20 May 2015 17:00, UK
Lewis Hamilton does not expect a repeat of last year’s qualifying "episode” with team-mate Nico Rosberg at the Monaco GP but is undecided on whether to go first or second in the crucial pole shoot-out.
The Mercedes drivers alternate who gets to pick the running order of the two cars in Q3 at each race and on Saturday that honour will fall to Hamilton.
Running last is usually seen as an advantage but at last year’s Monaco GP a mistake from Rosberg at Mirabeau saw the Mercedes driver miss the corner and take to the escape road causing a contentious yellow flag. That forced Hamilton to slow, preventing him from challenging Rosberg’s provisional pole time.
“I’m confident that last year’s episode will not reoccur and so I don’t feel pressured either way,” Hamilton said in the FIA Drivers’ Press Conference.
“I am just going with the mind-set of trying to be even better than I was last year and do an even better lap.
“I do have the choice [of when to run] this year which is good. It is lucky I get that as at the first race we tossed a coin and I guess Nico won and chose to go second. From race to race there are pros and cons of being one of the first cars or being one of the latter cars in qualifying and naturally here yellow flags and all those things can be an issue.
“To be honest, you can get it wrong either way, you could go first and on your lap there happens to be a yellow flag, so I don’t know. I think we will decide collectively as a team me and my engineers.”
Rosberg, meanwhile, has the chance to equal the records of Graham Hill, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna this weekend by winning the Monaco GP for a third successive year. But for the German says that isn’t a critical factor.
“It is a little extra, but that is not where my focus is at at all," Rosberg told Sky Sports News HQ.
"It is a race on its own, it is my home race which I’d love to win and it is also an important race in the championship to try and close the gap to Lewis a bit.”
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