photo credit: Flickr/ph-stop
First of all, the two drivers involved in yesterday’s antics in practice ended up dead last on the grid. Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez ended up starting P23 and P24 respectively after gearbox changes.
Mark Webber managed to win from pole today in Monaco, as the rain everyone kept talking about never happened during the race.
One driver, Jean-Eric Vergne, did attempt the gamble on intermediates at the end of the race, which led to him falling out of the points positions.
The first corner of the first lap was chaotic, with Romain Grosjean spinning out and causing a safety car to be brought out so his car could be removed from the track. It was the only time the safety car was needed all race.
Maldonado made his win in Spain look like a total fluke this weekend as he hit the wall on the first lap, taking himself out of the race before it even started.
Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa both had to retire after being involved in these incidents. De la Rosa’s wing was taken out in Maldonado’s crash, and Kobayashi went airborne in the Grosjean incident, and later had to retire because of suspension damage.
Michael Schumacher was also involved in the Romain Grosjean incident, but was able to continue on until problems with fuel pressure took him out of the race.
Jenson Button and McLaren’s woes continued. Button could not get around Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham. Button eventually had to retire towards the end of the race after a spin in his attempts to pass the Finn.
Kovalainen was almost in the points, but lost a few places after an incident with Sergio Perez, who also had a horrible day. Perez impeded Kimi Raikkonen on his way to the pits, causing Raikkonen to lose a position. Perez was given a drive through penalty for the late turn towards the pits.
Sebastian Vettel led the race for a good amount of time as he started on the soft tire. Red Bull were hoping for rain, which never came, but Vettel was able to maintain fourth place.
Lewis Hamilton didn’t enjoy himself much either, after complaining something hit his head near the pit boards, and also whining about not being kept up to date about drivers pitting. Both Fernando Alonso and Vettel were able to come back out of the pits ahead of Hamilton.
Webber makes an unprecedented sixth different winner in as many races. He is also one of the few drivers to win at Monaco from pole. This is however, the second win for Red Bull this season, so they easily have the lead in the Constructor’s Championship now.
Next race is in Montreal, which means I won’t fall asleep towards the end. Although I didn’t miss much of anything, it seems. Webber was able to hold on to his lead, despite having a train of cars behind him. Nico Rosberg was also on the podium once again, joined by Alonso.
Results after the cut:
01. Mark Webber, Red Bull
02. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
03. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
04. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
05. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
06. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
07. Paul di Resta, Force India
08. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
09. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus F1
10. Bruno Senna, Williams
11. Sergio Perez, Sauber
12. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso
13. Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham
14. Timo Glock, Marussia
15. Narain Karthikeyan, HRT
Not classified/retired: Jenson Button, McLaren (lap 71); Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso (lap 66); Charles Pic, Marussia (lap 65); Michael Schumacher, Mercedes (lap 64); Vitaly Petrov, Caterham (lap 16); Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber (lap 6); Pedro de la Rosa, HRT (lap 1); Pastor Maldonado, Williams (lap 1); Romain Grosjean, Lotus F1 (lap 1).
