Monaco GP winner Nico Rosberg surprised by Lewis Hamilton pitstop

A strategy blunder by Mercedes after a safety car was deployed for a lap-64 crash involving Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean cost Hamilton dear, handing a third successive triumph around Monte Carlo to Rosberg.

For Rosberg, there was never any question he would make a pit stop of his own, not with so few laps left in the race at that stage.

"Stopping wasn't on my mind at all," he said. "There were just a few laps to go, so I didn't consider it.

Mercedes apologises to Hamilton

"Instead I was very, very surprised to see the safety car and not see Lewis [behind it].

"It was a big surprise and I thought 'where the hell did he go?'

"Then all of a sudden I saw wheel-banging behind me between a Mercedes and a Ferrari, and I thought 'what the hell is going on there?'"

Rosberg empathised with Hamilton after stealing a victory he suggested was the luckiest of his Formula 1 career.

Expressing "mixed" emotions over his 10th F1 success, Rosberg said: "Lewis did a great job, he deserved to win.

"I'm very well aware of that, and I also feel for him. It's a horrible way to lose a race.

"I have a lot of space for empathy towards him because I know how horrible a day it is for him after such a strong weekend, and to lose it right at the end like that, that sucks.

"On the other side a win is a win, and in sport luck plays a big factor in all these things, so I've learned to just take it.

"I'm aware I got lucky, very lucky, probably the luckiest I've ever been in my career, but I'll take it and enjoy it."

Although overtaking is almost impossible on the streets of Monte Carlo, Rosberg was not confident about holding on to win the race on much older tyres than Hamilton.

"I still thought Lewis would win because he was on fresh super-softs and we were on stone-cold hard tyres," said Rosberg.

"It was going to be a massive mission to not hit the wall after the restart because it felt treacherous out there.

"I still thought he was going to come through and it was going to be a big battle, and I was sure he would win it.

"But I went for it, the temperature came back quick and I could do some good lap times."