MONACO ENDS THE MERCEDES MONOPOLY

Mercedes was caught in a crossfire after Valencia. Celebrations for a 1-3 finish for drivers Nyck de Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne were lost amid the anger of the energy management crisis as teams blamed the

FIA and the governing body fought back.

De Vries was under-consuming energy, Vandoorne stymied by being dumped to the back of grid after snaring pole when a tyre barcode was incorrectly recorded. It was perhaps more the ‘unluck’ of others rather than a strategy masterclass that meant Mercedes departed Spain with a 23-point cushion over Jaguar atop the standings.

But this had also been built with supreme wins in Saudi Arabia and Italy, the Silver Arrow machines victorious at each of the past four tracks visited, stretching back to Berlin last year.

That run of form stopped in its tracks in Monaco, however, to create a day that team principal Ian James billed as “painful”. He added: “We simply can’t afford to lose any more ground”.

De Vries had his qualifying run botched when he caught a switch on the steering wheel, knocking the car out of the top 250kw power mode and the subsequent recalibration took 30s to activate, by which time he was down and out.

Vandoorne then retired with a rear braking fault before his team-mate headed for an early bath having “basically triggered a shutdown”. In good humour he added: “I don’t know how I did it, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it!”

Testament to the team’s potency, it still holds a slender two-point advantage after the third double non-score of the season. But it still marks an ominous repeat of the avoidable operational errors that blighted its 2019-20 haul.

James told Autosport pre-season: “Our rookie year is now behind us. We cannot make errors twice.” He cited a no-blame culture as the way to press on.

But the cracks haven’t quite been filled. Bad for the team, brilliant for avoiding the potential monopoly that looked on the cards ahead of a run through Casino Square.