MUMBAI: Nico Rosberg will be aiming to complete a hat-trick of wins at the Monaco Grand Prix and make further inroads into Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s championship lead, as Formula One takes to the streets of the glamorous Principality this weekend.

Rosberg scored his first win of the season at the last race in Spain, cutting Hamilton’s lead in the standings to 20 points as he got his title challenge underway after a lackluster start to his campaign.

He will be aiming to repeat that result and build momentum behind his title charge this weekend.

Part of the triple crown of motor-racing, the Monaco Grand Prix presents a unique challenge to drivers and has been likened to riding a bicycle around one’s living room. Cars thread their way through the tight, twisting streets of the Principality, hemmed in by unforgiving barriers that leave absolutely no room for error.

Rosberg has excelled in the narrow confines of Monaco, winning the race in the last two years. He is the only multiple winner of the race among the current crop of drivers, apart from Fernando Alonso, and could become only the fourth driver since Graham Hill, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna to win the race three times in a row.

Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button are the other drivers in the field to have won in Monaco.

Given the relatively slower average speed per lap, the Monaco Grand Prix runs for the shortest distance of all races on the calendar. Drivers will lap the 3.34 km-long circuit a total of 78 times.