GP Monaco, Webber wins ahead of Rosberg, Alonso 3rd

Mark Webber won the Monaco GP, but the race on the streets of the Principality demonstrated great balance, with the top five drivers within a space of 4".

The Australian from Red Bull dominated the race starting from pole and always led except for a period in which his teammate, who had chosen a different strategy, dominated. Behind Webber was Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes, 0 seconds behind, while Fernando Alonso took the Ferrari to third place, just three tenths behind the German and nine tenths behind the winner. Fourth place for Sebastian Vettel, author of an extraordinary race starting from tenth place, which in turn finished three tenths behind the Ferrari driver; behind the Red Bull champion, fifth place went to Lewis Hamilton with the McLaren 6"4 from the top and 1" ahead of the other Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, author of a beautiful race. The others are very far behind: seventh and eighth place for the Force Indias of Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg at 2", then Kimi Raikkonen with Lotus and Bruno Senna with Williams close the Top Ten. DNFs for Jenson Button with McLaren, Michael Schumacher with Mercedes and also at the start for the winner of the Spanish GP, Pastor Maldonado.

In Monaco before the race the air temperature is 22 degrees, the weather is sunny but clouds obscure the sun threatening rain, which the forecast says is possible within an hour of the start. All the top drivers are on Supersoft tyres, except Vettel and Button who are on Softs. the start sees great emotions: if Webber starts well in front followed by Rosberg, Hamilton and Alonso, behind Romain Grosjean's Lotus he attacks Massa and squeezes Schumacher on the far left. The German hits the left rear tire of the Frenchman with his right front tyre, who turns and involves the cars of Kobayashi, Maldonado and Pedro De La Rosa with the HRT at the Sainte Devote curve. The Venezuelan from Williams loses his nose and crashes into the barriers after a few corners, De La Rosa has his wing torn off while Kobayashi's Sauber and Schumacher's Mercedes do not appear to have suffered any damage. The Safety Car was sent onto the track and returned on the fourth lap. In the turmoil it was Vettel who took advantage, who was sixth and ahead of Raikkonen, while Schumacher was eighth and ahead of Nico Hulkenberg with Force India and Bruno Senna with Williams in the top ten. In the meantime, Kobayashi retires: the flight he had at the beginning in the contact with Grosjean damaged his suspension. In front, Webber tries to escape, with Rosberg following him maintaining a gap of 1"6 and Hamilton with the same gap, 3"2 from the top. Alonso constantly loses in fourth place, he is 6 seconds behind Webber but remains on the track because rain is forecast around lap 3. Of course, it is difficult to think of doing a long stint with the Supersofts: on lap 30 the Pirelli supersoft compound seems to maintain its performance, given the constant decrease in times.

Alonso set the best time on lap 18: eight tenths better than leader Webber, he is now 7"5 behind the head and 2"9 behind Hamilton. Rain is indicated as imminent, 10km from Monaco and Ferrari could make a stop, as they continue to attack and have gained a clear second on both Hamilton and Webber. On lap 22 Alonso is just one second behind the McLaren driver, and 5 seconds from the top: the Red Bull Australian responds to the Ferrari driver's times and gains nine tenths, bringing his lead over Rosberg to 3 seconds. The German returns to the pits on lap 2, putting on the Softs and returning to sixth position, just as the wall warns that rain is expected within a few minutes. At the back Raikkonen is struggling with badly damaged tires but no one is able to pass him, with Schumacher systematically attacking him while Lotus warns the Finn via radio to stay on the track for another five laps due to the rain. On lap 2 double stops for Webber and Hamilton, with the Ferraris remaining on the track and now in the lead. Alonso also enters the garage on lap 28: 29"30 tire fitting, two tenths better than Webber and half a second better than what the McLaren mechanics did: this is enough for Alonso to overtake Hamilton. The Prancing Horse mechanics were also incredible in Felipe Massa's stop: only 3"7, a record here in Monaco. Sebastian Vettel is now in the lead on the Softs: the German shows no signs of tiredness and his tires seem to be capable of doing many more laps. Red Bull warns the world champion via radio to wait for the rain to arrive, even if at the moment the weather seems to be holding: Schumacher also uses the Soft tyres, with a tire fitting time one tenth less than that of Massa. Excellent work by Mercedes, with the former Ferrari driver returning to the track behind Button, who is ninth and also on Softs from the start.

On lap 35 Alonso has Rosberg in his sights, the Spaniard is 1"2 behind the Mercedes driver, Vettel on the other hand is pulling a lot, on lap 38 he has 16" on his teammate: the stop by Button, who uses the Supersoft, it could show the German's strategy. On lap 40 Sergio Perez had to serve a drive-through penalty due to an incorrect action against Raikkonen. Vettel, on the other hand, is continuing to push: he didn't make any stops, on lap 44 he has a 17"4 lead over his pursuers and is demonstrating an extraordinary strategy. On lap 46 it was time for him to stop, fitting the Supersofts as expected. Vettel comes out on track behind Alonso but ahead of Hamilton, who attacks him in vain at the Casino. Webber is now in the lead, ahead of Rosberg 1"4 behind and Alonso 1"2 behind the German. Vettel, however, is pressing the Ferrari driver, he is half a second away only being able to take advantage of the softer tyres.

With 20 laps to go, with the rain refusing to fall, the situation is frozen: the leaders are about 2" behind each and only Massa is trailing Hamilton by 0"6 in the fight for fifth place. Behind them, Schumacher is 20" behind, ahead of the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne and the two Force Indias of Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg. But Schumi has problems: he repeatedly blocks the front wheels and is overtaken by the young Frenchman, who laps 5” slower than the others. The Force Indias now followed the Mercedes driver and passed him on the straight, with the German stopping in the pits and retiring. The rain finally starts to fall but it's light, Rosberg is 1" behind Webber in front, Alonso is 2"7. With eight laps to go the race is very uncertain, the rain is pouring down, Alonso sticks to Rosberg, just as the German does to Webber: the leaders are in a little train, with six riders closed in 3". Vergne mounts the intermediates hoping that it will rain heavily: the first ones instead continue, with the Sainte Devote curve wet. Perez and Button spin, but the rain is intermittent and after five laps the gaps and positions are unchanged. Button in the meantime retires, while it's a battle between Perez and Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham who breaks the wing and is forced to make an unscheduled stop. But the race has nothing more to say: the train does not break down, in the end the positions remain unchanged, Webber is the sixth different winner of the first six races of this world championship, which is now led by Fernando Alonso at 76 points.

Lorena Bianchi

Pos Driver Team Time 1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1h46:06.557 2. Rosberg Mercedes + 0.643 3. Alonso Ferrari + 0.947 4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 1.343 5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 4.101 6. Massa Ferrari + 6.195 7 Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 41.500 8. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 42.500 9. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 44.000 10. Senna Williams-Renault + 44.500 11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 12. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 13. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap 14. Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap 15. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps Fastest lap: Perez, 1:17.298 Not classified / retired: Driver Team on lap Button McLaren- Mercedes 71 Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 66 Pic Marussia-Cosworth 65 Schumacher Mercedes 64 Petrov Caterham-Renault 16 Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 6 De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1 Maldonado Williams-Renault 1 Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1 Rankings updated until after the GP of Monaco, round 6: Drivers: Constructors: 1. Alonso 76 1. Red Bull-Renault 146 2. Vettel 73 2. McLaren-Mercedes 108 3. Webber 73 3. Ferrari 86 4. Hamilton 63 4. Lotus-Renault 86 5. Rosberg 59 5. Mercedes 61 6. Raikkonen 51 6. Williams-Renault 44 7. Button 45 7. Sauber-Ferrari 41 8. Grosjean 35 8. Force India-Mercedes 28 9. Maldonado 29 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6 10. Perez 22 11. Di Resta 21 12. Kobayashi 19 13. Senna 15 14. Massa 10 15. Hulkenberg 7 16. Vergne 4 17. Schumacher 2 18. Ricciardo 2