Was Rosberg right to move over for Hamilton?

Amid the drama and excitement of the wet Monaco Grand Prix, it was easy to overlook the co-operation between two title contenders who had crashed into each other just two weeks before.

Nico Rosberg moved aside for Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to set up the Briton's first victory of the season, which allowed him to close to within 24 points of Rosberg in the title race.

Without that teamwork, Daniel Ricciardo would almost certainly have won the race, irrespective of Red Bull's surprising pitstop blunder. And Rosberg's advantage in the championship would have been bigger heading to Canada later this month.

Rosberg himself described the move as "very painful". So, was he right to let Hamilton by?

THE CASE AGAINST ROSBERG

When it really comes down to two team-mates fighting for the title, each driver's priority will naturally become their own interests rather than those of the team.

There are plenty of examples of that.

Several Alain Prost/Ayrton Senna races during their time together at McLaren come to mind, from Prost turning up the boost on his failing engine to push Senna into using too much fuel at Monza in 1988, to Senna's apparent ignoring of their first corner agreement at Imola the following year. Not to mention Suzuka 1989...

Conversely, in two consecutive races - Jerez 1997 and Melbourne 1998 - David Coulthard moved over for Mika Hakkinen. To suggest Hakkinen's subsequent advantage over DC was down to that would be ridiculous, but it surely contributed to Mika's momentum and pre-eminent position at McLaren.

But perhaps the most pertinent case study is how Hamilton behaved in the 2014 Hungarian GP.

Rosberg had dominated the early part of the race, while his team-mate tried to recover from a pitlane start and a spin.

A safety car period led to Mercedes running its cars on different strategies, Rosberg on a three-stopper and Hamilton on a two-stopper. That's something it usually tried to avoid to prevent exactly the situation that subsequently arose. After Hamilton's final change to mediums the soft-shod Rosberg, who still had a pitstop to go, caught him.

From the team's perspective, Rosberg's best chance of a good result was for Hamilton to let him go. That would allow Rosberg to lap as quickly as he could before putting on his final set of softs and charging back up to the leading pack.

Mercedes duly gave the order. And Hamilton refused. For 11 laps, before Rosberg finally pitted.

"If I let him past he could pull away and come back at me later," correctly argued Hamilton at the time.

The result was Rosberg finished fourth when he probably should have challenged Ricciardo for victory, while Hamilton moved three points closer to his team-mate in the championship standings.

Even Mercedes didn't criticise Hamilton too much afterwards, realising that in such a race - and finely poised title fight - expecting Lewis to move out of the way was, at best, optimistic.

In the heat of the battle, Hamilton had looked after himself, as one might expect from a world champion.

So by giving up his position in Monaco, did Rosberg demonstrate exactly why he isn't one?

THE CASE FOR ROSBERG

From the team's point of view, the Monaco call last weekend was a no-brainer. In the six laps after the safety car period ended on lap nine, second-placed Rosberg lost on average nearly two seconds per lap to the charging Red Bull of leader Ricciardo.

That the W07 Hybrid had the race pace was underlined by Hamilton after Rosberg let him by on lap 16.

The #44 machine was almost five seconds faster than Rosberg on that lap (which included Rosberg slowing to move over) and pulled another six seconds over the next three, prior to Rosberg pitting.

Even late in the race, with both drivers on ultra-soft rubber, Rosberg's fastest lap was more than 0.8s down on Hamilton's. Simply, Hamilton had the pace to challenge Ricciardo and Rosberg did not.

Crucial to Rosberg's decision was how early the call came. Whereas the 2014 Hungarian GP team order came later in the race, with either Mercedes driver still a potential winner, it was very clear as soon as racing got properly under way in Monaco that only Hamilton had a chance of victory.

Moreover, Rosberg's pace was so poor that Hamilton was always going to overtake him at the stops whether he pitted before or after him.

Unlike in Hungary, a change of position was inevitable. Trying to make a point by ignoring the order and staying ahead, and then getting beaten anyway would not have looked good. Or gained Rosberg much.

It's also worth remembering how the two Silver Arrows ended their race at Barcelona. In bits, in the gravel, on lap one.

There's been much debate about who was at fault in Spain, but the fact is both drivers will have been keenly aware that avoiding a repeat was high on their employer's list of priorities.

Rosberg not moving aside would have forced Hamilton into making a move. He had already got close a number of times and hitting things is a great deal easier around Monte Carlo than it is at the Circuit de Catalunya.

The two Mercedes drivers threw away a near-certain victory in Spain. To jeopardise the squad's chances again at the very next race would have been foolhardy, even if it meant letting Rosberg's chief rival - the man that has twice denied him the world crown - go past.

A BIGGER PROBLEM?

While on the face of it not the move of a world champion, Rosberg's acquiescence was the only sensible option open to him. But that doesn't mean there weren't some worrying signs for the German from the Monaco weekend.

The most obvious is that Hamilton looked a relieved and joyous man after the race, someone who felt the tide had finally turned. The spring was back in his step.

It might have been seven months since Hamilton's previous GP victory, but you sense it wouldn't take a whole lot to launch the kind of run of form that swept him to the 2015 crown. He surely won't keep having all those technical gremlins.

And, perhaps more worryingly for Rosberg, he was once again found wanting in wet conditions. He can sometimes hold his own in the damp on slicks - look at how he came back at Hamilton in the closing stages of last year's British GP - but in full wet conditions Rosberg seems to struggle.

The championship leader's Monaco woes were such that he actually affected the Ferrari/Force India battle behind, ultimately helping Sergio Perez to third as the Mercedes slipped back. Losing sixth place to Nico Hulkenberg's Force India on the very last lap rather summed up Rosberg's day.

That's not the sort of performance you normally associate with world champions. Think of the great names of the past and it's not normally too difficult to recall days they starred when rain arrived.

Rosberg and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff talked of brake and tyre temperatures in the immediate aftermath of Monaco, but neither sounded overly convincing.

In the very wet 2014 Japanese GP - and with a set-up that even Rosberg conceded was basically the same as Hamilton's - the German was overtaken for the lead and again proved incapable of matching the pace of his rival.

The chasm between the two in the wet could highlight one of the key differences between Lewis and Nico. When everything is optimised, the variables known and the data available, the intelligent Rosberg is a fearsome competitor. One Hamilton respects.

But when things require a bit more improvisation, whether it be in a wheel-to-wheel battle or when the heavens open, you get the impression Rosberg groans while Hamilton grins.

It's that which is more likely to define the championship battles between them in the years to come than the occasional team order.