Adrian Sutil further caused disruption when he crashed his Sauber car on lap 24 and Rosberg kept the lead after the field made pit stops.

[8] Despite losing the lead of the Drivers' Championship to teammate Hamilton in Spain, Rosberg stated he would not be changing his approach and was not heavily focused on the title but expected it to remain tight.

[9] Hamilton reckoned his increased comfort with the F1 W05 Hybrid car would put Rosberg under pressure in Monaco, saying it was a track where he performed well and wanted Ferrari and Red Bull to battle him for the victory.

The track was resurfaced from the exit of Casino corner until the entry to the tunnel with small areas before the Novelle chicane and Tabac undergoing a similar change.

[11] Jenson Button for McLaren predicted the changes would create a situation similar to the 2012 United States Grand Prix where grip was low and felt the soft compound tyres would be difficult to get working properly.

Kimi Räikkönen, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Pérez, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg rounded out the session's top-ten drivers.

Marcus Ericsson hit the barriers leaving Portier corner but reversed away from the area and drove his damaged car to the pit lane.

The resulting yellow flags forced Hamilton to slow, ruining his final qualifying lap (after he had set a personal best first sector), and stopped him from challenging Rosberg's earlier time.

His teammate Vettel lost the use of his energy recovery system in the first session; he ran in a different mode and the yellow flags left him fourth.

Although the yellow flags affected Vergne's final lap, he took seventh and his teammate Kvyat ninth after struggling with rear control and hit a barrier.

[29] Ericsson locked his rear tyres going into Mirabeau corner and glanced Massa's car heading into the turn, causing both drivers to hit the barriers.

The stewards investigated the incident and Ericsson incurred two penalty points on his super licence and was required to start from the pit lane.

[34] After hitting Button, Pérez spun leaving Mirabeau corner, and his car's suspension was damaged, and had further contact with Sutil, ending his race.

[23][37] As drivers struggled to keep heat in their tyres, the time deficit between Rosberg and Hamilton varied but held a larger lead over the rest of the field.

[36] Cresting a rise leaving the tunnel on lap 24, Sutil's car became light braking from 170 mph (270 km/h),[23] speared into the inside wall, and slid down the escape road at the Novelle chicane.

[36] On lap 28,[38] Räikkönen had to make a second pit stop for a punctured tyre after Chilton's front wing hit his left-rear wheel at Mirabeau corner.

[34] Mercedes instructed Rosberg by radio to use longer gears at Sainte Dévote and Casino Square corners as a fuel-saving measure,[34] causing him to defend from Hamilton over the following laps after slowing.

[36] Gutiérrez in eighth was on course to score points when he hit the inside guardrail at La Rascasse on lap 59, damaging his car's rear suspension and necessitating his retirement.

[23][38] Both Räikkönen and Magnussen reversed out of the barrier but lost a large amount of time, promoting Bianchi to eighth and Grosjean to ninth.

[43] At the podium interviews, conducted by actor Benedict Cumberbatch,[43][44] Rosberg described the day as "very, very special" and praised his car and team.

[45] In the subsequent press conference, Rosberg said the victory was more "special" because Hamilton had pre-race momentum and was unsurprised he was not called into the pit lane following Sutil's crash.

[46] Graeme Lowdon, Marussia chief executive officer, was pleased at the sign of progress, saying: "It is tough and I would be lying if I didn't reflect that", and the result was a "direct reward for people who have worked very hard.

"[48] Former driver Allan McNish wrote in his BBC F1 column the result was like "a Grand Prix victory" for Marussia and called it "a deserved reward for their dogged determination and never-say-die attitude.

"[49] Following Bianchi's death from severe head injuries at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, Will Dale of Fox Sports Australia wrote: "Monaco 2014 will be remembered as his day in the sun, the high watermark of a career — a life — ended far too soon.

"[50] Tensions at Mercedes increased following qualifying in which Hamilton felt Rosberg had deliberately driven off the track in a bid to stop him taking pole position, which strained their relationship.

[51] Mercedes' non-executive chairman Niki Lauda, upset over the incident, said he disliked the lack of communication between the two drivers on the podium and that he would talk to them before Canada.

[52] Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, said the incident between Rosberg and Hamilton would not be allowed to reoccur in the future and that the drivers would be given autonomy as long as they did nothing deceitfully.

"[54] FIA race director Charlie Whiting suggested that qualifying be extended by one minute to give drivers affected by yellow flags another attempt at a timed lap to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

[7] Mercedes's one-two finish further increased their advantage at the top of the Constructors' Championship to 141 points ahead of second-placed Red Bull.

^3  – Jules Bianchi had five seconds added to his race time for taking a penalty under the safety car, and he dropped from eighth to ninth.