Mon GP - Race weekend recap - Rosberg

For many of the Formula One drivers Monaco is known as a home race.

With big wallets from their big pay cheques, its unsurprising that many of the Formula One drivers up and down the pit-lane move to Monaco to enjoy life when they are away from the race track.

For Nico Rosberg though, Monaco really is a home Grand Prix, as he was brought up around the streets of Monaco after father Keke moved the family there.

Rosberg used to walk through the famous tunnel on his way to School, so if any driver has a home advantage it has to be the German.

Up until third practice though the Mercedes driver didn't seem to be gaining an advantage despite all his local knowledge.

In FP1 he was almost a second off the pace in tenth, in a damp FP2 Rosberg was 1.275 behind Button, but in FP3 Rosberg topped the timing sheets with a 1minute 15.159s the fastest time of all the practice sessions and it needed to be to keep the Ferrari of Felipe Massa from going quickest with the Brazilian just 0.038s off the time of the Mercedes.

Going into qualifying Mercedes looked good, but to the surprise of everyone it was in fact Michael Schumacher who took pole position with the fastest time of the weekend, but with a five-place grid penalty he was forced to drop down to sixth.

Team-mate Rosberg inherited the front row after his initial time was third quickest.

Could Rosberg get away from the grid and take the lead going into the first turn? Well that was what was certainly on his mind straight away when he hopped out of the car on Saturday.

'I had a pretty smooth qualifying session, and managed to save two sets of new super soft tyres for the race, but it was just so close out there this afternoon, it's incredible and fantastic for Formula One. Congratulations to Michael, he did a fantastic job. Of course, I am sorry for him that he must take the penalty, but that means I will be on the front row in Monaco. And at a race where overtaking can be so difficult, that's a great place to start.”he told formula1.com.

The answer though was no and Rosberg didn't really threaten for the race win all afternoon, in fact with Hamilton and then Alonso behind him, his day was one of no dramas as he cruised to second place.

After the race he said: “It's a fantastic feeling to be on the podium at my home race in Monaco today in front of all my family and friends.

'I had a clean start but Mark drove a very controlled race today. I could keep in touch with him but we all know how difficult it is to overtake around the streets here and there just wasn't a way past. Still I'm more than happy with second place, and it's great to get another podium for the boys here.'