Monaco Grand Prix: Kimi Raikkonen robbed of victory as Mercedes off-day hits Lewis Hamilton hard

Five things we learned: Wider cars make overtaking impossible, McLaren suffer a bitter blow and why Jenson Button's retirement just about summed up his weekend

Kimi Raikkonen admitted he was far from pleased with second place (Getty)

Raikkonen robbed of victory

There was virtually no chance of Sebastian Vettel making it safely past Kimi Raikkonen on the track while the Ferrari pair were racing at the front of the Monaco Grand Prix, so the only way that the championship leader was going to win the race was if the team interfered.

Hey presto, Ferrari lived up to their reputation of being race spoilers. Like Rubens Barichello and Felipe Massa before him, Raikkonen joined the Ferrari second drivers club as he saw his own hopes of victory sacrificed in order to push the world championship efforts of the No 1.

Once Vettel had clean air in front of him he quickly proved that he was able to run the faster lap times, but the controversial decision came in pitting Raikkonen first when the overcut – not the undercut – had already been mentioned in the lead up to the Grand Prix. Once Raikkonen pitted and took a lap or two to heat up his tyres, Vettel was able to put the hammer down and take the lead, with Raikkonen quickly giving up the ghost and settling for second.

Mercedes off-day hits them hard

If a team is going to have an off day, then it’s wise not to have it at Monaco. With Lewis Hamilton starting the race in 12th position, the best he could hope for was a points finish given he would find overtaking extremely difficult on the narrow streets of Monte Carlo.

That he was able to make it to the finish in seventh was credit to a smart strategy and putting in the lap times when needed, but there was still nothing the Mercedes could do on the track as he spent the final stint of the race stuck behind Carlos Sainz, with a safety car period not even helping his cause.

The result is that while Hamilton may have been able to salvage a top four finish at other, wider tracks, he lost a large chunk of points to championship rival Vettel and heads to Canada a full race-winning haul of 25 points behind.

Wider cars mean overtaking really is impossible

Monte Carlo has never been the most natural of overtaking race circuits on the calendar, but these new, wider models make passing virtually impossible unless a driver forced another into the barrier. We saw this in the incident between Pascal Wehrlein and Jenson Button, and also Button’s teammate Stoffel Vandoorne when Sergio Perez forced his way up the inside of turn one on the safety car restart.

Monaco may be the most picturesque venue on the calendar and steeped in motor racing history, but it comes at a cost as the lack of on-track action makes proceedings rather dull.

Carlos Sainz was able to keep Lewis Hamilton at bay (Getty)

Double retirement a big blow for McLaren

This was a big chance for McLaren to finish inside the top 10 and gain their first points of the season, and for the majority of the race it looked like Stoffel Vandoorne could be the man to do that. With Fernando Alonso away at the Indy 500 and Jenson Button trying to re-find his feet in the F1 circus, Vandoorne needed to step up and lead the team despite his inexperience.

For most of the Grand Prix he did that, but when Sergio Perez came steaming up the inside of turn one after the race restarted following a safety car period, Vandoorne was forced onto the dirty part of the track and left with nowhere to go but the tyre barrier, ending his race and McLaren’s chances of points, given that Button had just retired after crashing into Pascal Wehrlein.

Jenson Button endured a miserable race at the back of the field before crashing out (Getty)

With a big chance gone, McLaren must now look towards tracks like Hungary and Singapore if they are going to score points this season, otherwise they must pray for a freak Grand Prix to give them a chance of avoiding the worst season in their history.

Button’s at fault for Wehrlein crash

Jenson Button’s return to Formula One didn’t exactly go according to plan. A very strong qualifying performance, in which he made Q3 along with Vandoorne, was pointless given he had already been handed a 15-place grid penalty. That led McLaren to start the 2009 world champion from the pit lane, meaning that for most of the race he ran at the back of the field and spent his afternoon looking in his mirrors to get out of the way when being lapped.

Once he finally caught the car ahead in the form of Wehrlein, Button tried to show his nous by sneaking through at Portier after Vettel had lapped the German. However, the gap wasn’t really there as Wehrlein returned to the racing line, and the end result was a nasty-looking crash that sent the Sauber onto its side and into the barrier - and Button back into retirement. It was a sad end, but it summed up his entire weekend.