Lewis Hamilton thanks Nico Rosberg for being a gentleman in Monaco
That barren spell had culminated in a fractious first lap collision with championship-leading team-mate Nico Rosberg at the Spanish Grand Prix.
With Rosberg ultimately falling to seventh while Hamilton won, the gap between them in the drivers’ championship came down from 43 to 24 points.
Sunday’s race, with Hamilton making the right strategy call and clearly faster than Rosberg, who was asked to move aside after struggling to get the tyres up to temperature, was the Briton’s first success of the season.
The Australian was nothing short of livid after finishing second to Lewis Hamilton last Sunday despite dominating the weekend overall.
By contrast, Hamilton - who had not won since clinching last season’s United States Grand Prix - was delighted, grabbing the race trophy from Monaco’s Prince Albert and tossing it up in the air. “I’m conscious mistakes are still being made and we really need to pull together”.
The vital lost time meant that Ricciardo emerged from the pit lane behind Hamilton’s Mercedes, whereas he would have been ahead had the pit stop been a routine one.
“I said ‘thanks for being a gentleman, ‘” said Hamilton. It was later revealed that Rosberg had brake problems, but around the narrow streets of Monte-Carlo, Hamilton could not find a way past him.
Though Ricciardo then ran one lap longer than Hamilton before changing to slicks, he was on course to reclaim the lead and came out only marginally behind the Mercedes even with his pitstop having taken nine seconds longer.
After starting behind the safety auto because of rain the cars were finally released are eight laps and, as Rosberg struggled, Ricciardo built up a lead of 13.1 seconds. That is where he seem poised to finish, but to cap a awful afternoon at his adopted home, he was passed in the closing stages by Force India’s Hulkenberg to finish the race in seventh.
The 31-year-old also says he prays every day.
He added that he was disappointed also to lose sixth place to fellow German Nico Hulkenberg of Force India on the final lap. “I wanted to win my home race, it’s the most exciting race of the year and that’s what I was out there to do”.
“Two weekends in-a-row now, I have been screwed. It sucks. It hurts”, he told an interviewer.
Horner explained what happened, saying: “Based on how we are set up here in Monaco, the pit wall is upstairs and the garage is downstairs”.
“No. No idea. I was called into the box”.