Rosberg not surprised by Hamilton's pace: 'Only been on pole here twice'

"This is not one of Lewis' best tracks", Rosberg explained in his analysis for Sky Sports. The 2016 world champion can know. In the four years he was Hamilton's teammate at Mercedes, the German was faster in qualifying three out of four times and was just as often too fast for him in the race.

'Confidence was completely gone with Hamilton'

"He 'only' has had two pole positions here in his entire career. Nevertheless he's still quick, but he lost all the confidence already this morning. The car was snappy, it was moving out in breaking, the rear was locking up. He never found that confidence in qualifying and that's why he's so far off."

So says Rosberg, who won the Monaco GP himself three times. This puts him on a par with Hamilton. Of the current starting field there is no one who has won this GP more often. Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso each have two wins. Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo have one.