Monaco Grand Prix
Nico Rosberg has won the last two consecutive races at MonacoReuters

With the 2015 Formula One season already five races old, the action now moves to the Mediterranean coast, where teams battle it out at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was very dominant in the last race in Barcelona, as he claimed his first victory of the season after securing the pole position in qualifying.

Although defending world champions Lewis Hamilton, who recently signed a new three-year contract believed to be worth £100 million, got off to a very poor start in Barcelona, he still managed to pip Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to claim the second place.

The result in Barcelona means that Hamilton's lead over Rosberg in the world drivers' championship has now been cut down from 27 to 20 points.

Despite saying that he had a "perfect weekend in Spain", and it was good to close in the gap between himself and Hamilton in the championships, Rosberg insists that there is still a long way to go and he is taking one race at a time.

"We had a perfect weekend in Spain and, for me personally, it was good to close the gap a little in the points," the German told Formula 1's official website. "There's still a long way to go this season so it's all there to fight for, I'm just taking it race by race."

Rosberg's record in Monaco is excellent as he managed to emerge victorious at the Circuit de Monaco for the last two consecutive seasons.

Now the 29-year-old German has the chance to record his hat-trick win at Monaco, a feat that was last achieved by three-time world champion Ayrton Senna, who won five in a row from 1989-1993.

And the German says that he is optimistic about his chances of winning his third successive race at Monaco.

"The car felt very good so I'm feeling optimistic and ready for this next race. If we can have everything running smoothly from the start it should be a good weekend, so I'm really looking forward to it."

Meanwhile, Hamilton, who admits he did not have the best weekend in Barcelona and a second place finish was a good achievement especially for the team, says that he is now fully focused on doing well in Monaco.

"I didn't have the best weekend in Barcelona, so to come away with second was okay in terms of damage limitation and it meant another great result for the team with the one-two," the defending world champion told F1's official website.

"I'm now fully focused on Monaco - the race that everybody looks forward to and one I particularly love. It's the biggest challenge of the year for a driver and, when you get it right, that feeling is hard to beat."

Vettel, on the other hand, has played down suggestions that Ferrari will fail to compete against Mercedes this weekend due to the Maranello based team's poor record at Monaco, where they have failed to emerge victorious since 2001.

"I think we come here open minded and trying to do our best," Vettel told ESPN. "I don't know the record of Ferrari in particular at this track, but statistically - especially compared to last year - we have broken all the statistics so far [this year]."

Where to Watch Live

First Practice Session (Friday): 10 am - 11:30 am local time, 1:30 pm – 3.00 pm IST, 9:00 am to 10.30 am BST

Second Practice Session (Friday): 2 pm - 3:30 pm local time, 5:30 pm – 7 pm IST, 1 pm - 2:30 pm BST

Final Practice Session (Saturday): 11 am – 12 pm local time, 2:30pm - 3:30pm IST, 10 am – 11 am BST

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