With his post-qualifying demeanour and comments indicating he was far from convinced that Nico Rosberg hadn't committed a professional foul to secure pole, Lewis Hamilton was clearly simmering with frustration in his interviews post-race after a second opportunity to beat his team-mate in Monaco failed to present itself through the sole pitstop phase. "Unfortunately [at Mercedes] we have one overall strategist, and he's amazing, but unfortunately the role in the team is that he has to look out for the number one [driver in the race] and the guy in second has to come second," Hamilton told Sky F1. "I knew from the get-go that I had a lesser opportunity to win the race and I needed a miracle to win at a track like this."
As the only driver in the last decade not to convert Monaco pole into a race win, Felipe Massa has never had the best of luck in the Principality - as evidenced by his bizarre pair of identical crashes at Ste Devote last year. That run seemed set to continue last weekend when Marcus Ericsson came careering into the side of his Williams at Mirabeau at the end of Q1, consigning Massa to 16th on the grid. However, 78 laps of racing later and Massa was taking the chequered flag in seventh place - his joint-best result of 2014 - in no small part to a roll of the strategy dice. "I took some risks when I changed strategy at the Safety Car and had to make my tyres last, which they did," the Brazilian explained. "I made the most of the opportunities I had with other cars making mistakes or retiring." That equated to a mammoth 45-lap opening stint on the supersoft tyres which, while initially gaining Massa track position while everyone else pitted under the Safety Car on lap 26, ultimately meant he was always going to return to the track down the pack when he did stop, albeit with the grip advantage of fresher soft tyres.
Marussia scored their first F1 points after 83 races on Sunday, but how much of a jump in competitiveness did the team make following the two-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya?