Red Bull’s Mark Webber won yesterday’s Monaco GP, which means after six races in the 2012 Formula 1 season, we have had six different winners. The Aussie’s win is also his second victory in the principality, after his 2010 triumph. It also completed a hat trick of Monaco wins for defending champs Red Bull – Sebastian Vettel won here last year.
Webber led home a string of cars, all bunched up after it started to rain in the latter stages of the race. Just behind him was Nico Rosberg for the Petronas-sponsored Mercedes team, while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso completed the podium. The other Red Bull of Vettel, Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren and Felipe Massa crossed the line thereafter.
Of the lot, defending champ Vettel made the biggest gain from an unusual strategy. The German got up to sixth at the start, which was made chaotic by a spinning Romain Grosjean, before staying out very long.
He was on opposite tyre strategies from the rest, and came out of the pits just in front of Lewis Hamilton. The McLaren man must have been cursing his luck, as he was also jumped by Alonso over the pit stop window.
The Grosjean incident at the start happened after the Lotus man made a slow start and closed the door on an advancing Michael Schumacher. Swerving left, he clashed with the Silver Arrow and spun in the middle of the road at Sainte Devote.
Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber clipped the Lotus and flew (literally) before his suspension gave way. Williams’ Pastor Maldonado, winner of the last race in Spain, clashed with Pedro de la Rosa’s HRT at the tail end.
Schumacher, who rolled back the years in Saturday qualifying by setting the fastest time, emerged from the start incident unscathed, but his Mercedes had fuel pressure problems later in the race. Another DNF for the unlucky living legend.
Schumi was seventh when he stopped, and his position was inherited by Toro Rosso new boy Jean-Eric Vergne. His team then made a gamble to pit for intermediates at the tail end of the race. It was a double or nothing bet in Monte Carlo, and he lost.
But the most frustrated man in Monaco had to be Jenson Button. Starting 13th on the grid, nothing went right for the McLaren man the whole weekend, and he spent a big part of the race tucked behind Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham, who had the street circuit’s narrow streets on his side. Button eventually spun trying, caught up with Heikki again, before a puncture ended his day.
The Angry Bird in the Caterham was in bullish mood against faster rivals. On course for a historic 11th place, Heikki had to pit after sustaining front wing damage from a big fight with Sergio Perez. Final result was 13th out of 15 finishers.
Alonso now leads the championship with 76 points, three ahead of Red Bull pilots Vettel and Webber. Hamilton is a further 10 points behind. Next stop Canada.
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