"They were kind of dependent on the Mercedes telemetry" - Nico Rosberg's crash in the 2014 F1 Monaco GP and the aftermath explained

F1 pundit Peter Windsor recently analyzed Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg's crash in the qualifying session of the 2014 Monaco GP. The German driver made an error on his final Q3 lap, costing the rest of the grid a shot at pole position.

Rosberg was sitting on provisional pole, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton was over a 10th up on the German's provisional pole lap time. The world champion then made a mistake, locking up his brakes and heading into a run-off area, calling for yellow flags.

The cautionary flags ruined Hamilton's shot at pole position, meaning that Rosberg started on pole the following day. The Mercedes driver was never reprimanded for his actions. However, many suspected that Rosberg intentionally brought out yellow flags to increase his chances against his teammate Hamilton.

F1 pundit Peter Windsor believes that the one-time world champion "definitely" brought out yellow flags on purpose. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Windsor said:

"He went off and semi-blocked it [the track]. And they were kind of dependent on Mercedes telemetry. The telemetry didn't show that he did anything suspicious, other than the fact that he did it.

"Nico Rosberg did that as well as he a lot of things in F1. He did it absolutely perfectly. In my opinion, he definitely did that intentionally."

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Mercedes to introduce major upgrades in Monaco

Despite initially planning to introduce their upgrades at the Imola race, Mercedes will now showcase them at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where most teams intended to debut significant updates, had to be canceled due to heavy rainfall causing severe flooding in the region.

Mercedes had been eagerly preparing a highly-anticipated package of changes for their car, aiming to address their dissatisfaction with the W14's initial performance. However, since the Emilia Romagna race did not take place, the next event on the calendar is the Monaco Grand Prix, known for its slow pace.

The Monaco circuit's unique nature requires low-speed maneuvering and maximum downforce, which poses a higher risk of damage to the cars. Consequently, teams are contemplating delaying their upgrades until the following race in Barcelona to mitigate this risk.

For instance, Ferrari is expected to postpone the introduction of revised suspension for their SF-23. They could opt to implement it at the Spanish Grand Prix instead.

It will be interesting to see what kind of performance gains the team can make in Monaco with its new package.