Webber rolls six in Monaco

Mark Webber soaked up all the pressure to achieve victory in one of the greatest challenges in motor racing for the second time in his career while also becoming the sixth different winner in the opening six races, a record for Formula 1.

There is no other circuit quite like Monaco. Nowhere else offers the challenge of 100 per cent concentration and perfection that is required to win around the majestic barrier lined streets. 

Webber was in control from the start and didn’t put a wheel wrong. He for once got a good launch away to lead into the first corner and from then on apart from during the single pit stop strategy that most used, was never headed.

But don’t let this fact make you think it was an easy race for the Australian. Nico Rosberg who started alongside him was never less than two seconds away crowding his mirrors especially when a few drops of rain fell in the latter stages.

He took it cautiously in the moments when the track moistened, and Rosberg followed by the ever charging Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and a rejuvenated Felipe Massa all bottled up behind him.

But he corked them all nicely, and this is Monaco, if he didn’t make a mistake no one would have a chance to pass; no opportunity was forthcoming.

Truth told it wasn’t exactly the most thrilling of races, but with the threat of rain and six cars circulating within five seconds of each other it made for a tense finish to the end but it still ended with the now traditional Red Bull victory pool party as they won for a third year running.

After a consistent showing so far this year where he’s had the better pace than team mate Sebastian Vettel for a fair amount of the season, this win puts him right in the mix in the championship.

He’s now just three points behind Fernando Alonso and tied equal second with Vettel. This is Webber of 2010 vintage, with the absence of blown diffusers, which he wasn’t able to exploit as fully as Vettel last year, he is showing great form.

Red Bull didn’t really have the fastest car today, but they used it to its full potential and delivered a great result to become the first manufacturer of 2012 to double up their win tally. The threat of a protest about a hole in the floor just in front of the rear wheels that is meant to send more air to the diffuser failed to materialise.

It’s been on the car for some races now, and the FIA have approved it before. It shows really well how they are fighting this season despite not having the best car anymore and also how much they’ll push the rules to get it back.

As it is, both their drivers are only three points from the lead and they have a significant lead in the constructors, provided by the fact that both their drivers are challenging near the front of the title race, something the other teams haven’t got right now.

Vettel’s damage limitation run

 Sebastian Vettel started only ninth on the grid after again not setting a time in the final part of qualifying. He avoided Romain Grosjean’s spinning Lotus at the start, having to cut the first corner, but found himself sixth.

He’d started on the harder of the two compounds (the soft tyre), and despite a gap appearing between himself and the Ferrari’s in front, he was never too far away. It may well have been a clever ploy to give himself a little clearer air to look after his tyres, but whatever, when the front runners pitted on lap 30 for the softs he began to push.

Vettel flew, lapping in 1.19s while Webber and co for a long time couldn’t get much below a 1.21 as they struggled to push them. It brought Vettel into play and until Webber began to find the sweet spot and push his Pirelli’s, it looked like the German might even just manage to pull a gap large enough for him to come back out in the lead.

He came in on lap 46, his lap times had begun to drop, but it was enough for him to exit in front of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and move up to fourth. From then on he was caught in the Webber train and just like the rest of them could find no way through. Still it was a bit of a damage limitation race for Vettel and he executed it well.

Fernando, Felipe is faster than you

Well, not quite but a special mention for this weekend has to go to Felipe Massa who has been under intense pressure all year after a disastrous series of results. He looked quicker than team mate Alonso through a lot of practice, and just missed out on out qualifying him.

 

During the early parts of the race Massa definitely looked the faster Ferrari driver, however he fell back just enough that he couldn’t replicate his team mate jumping in front of Hamilton during the pit stops which consequently allowed Vettel to also get ahead when he made his stop. However he still finished sixth which is progress, now let’s see if he can continue this into the Canadian Grand Prix.

However he’ll still have to go some to beat Alonso. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe how Fernando is driving this year. He is making the most of every opportunity offered to him, and now Ferrari are maintaining their new found competiveness compared to the start of the season he is the man everyone has to watch out for in the title hunt.

But his Monaco Grand Prix could have gone very wrong at the start. Alonso had a great getaway, but Hamilton’s slow start meant there was no room on the inside. He hesitated slightly then moved to the outside only for a slow starting Grosjean to already be there.

Fortunately for the Ferrari driver, it pushed the Lotus to the outside clattering it into the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher, by then Alonso was well away.

He wasn’t quite able to keep pace with the top three in the early laps, and was actually beginning to look like he was forming his own train behind him. However, unfortunately for Massa, Alonso may well have just been protecting his tyres because as the pit stops approached he got it together and started to close Lewis down.

Hamilton pitted on lap 30 which signalled a brilliant in lap from Alonso, fastest personal sector times all the way round followed by a quick pit stop. He blasted out of the pits just in front of Hamilton to eventually claim third place; a great result that elevates him to the outright lead of the title hunt once again.

Contrasting fortunes continue at Mercedes

Mercedes had a mixed weekend; on the one hand Rosberg delivered a great result. If he’d got Webber at the start he may well have won easily as the German squad looked to have the better car around Monaco.  

It wasn’t to be, so he had to settle for harrying him all the way to the end, and especially during the damp stages of the race Rosberg looked like he was building up to a challenge, but no opportunity was offered to him.

On the other we have Schumacher. He’s been criticised a lot since Spain but he answered his critics in qualifying with a brilliant pole position lap. After he’d taken his five place grid drop for the clash with Bruno Senna he started 6^th.

He made a good start but was caught up in the Grosjean incident at the start and then got stuck behind Kimi Raikkonen who’s tyres faded badly allowing a big gap to build up to the front six.

He had looked after his tyres and set a great pace to easily jump Kimi into 7^th and set about catching the front runners. A fuel pick up problem put an end to another promising display.

Rest of the top 10

Lewis Hamilton was a frustrated man after going backwards from 3^rd to 5^th. His start was poor but he maintained position as chaos broke out behind, but a slow pit stop dropped him behind Alonso and Vettel.

He’s still bringing home points though and keeping himself near the front while Jenson Button is looking lost at sea with the Pirelli’s. His late race retirement failed to lose him any points as he ended his day spinning behind the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen, which tells you everything.

Paul di Resta fought back from a 15^th start position to jump ahead of his Force India team mate Nico Hulkenberg to finish 7^th. Nico ended up 8^th after being in the queue behind Kimi, an opportunistic move when Kimi got held up by a late pitting Sergio Perez salvaged an extra spot so all round it wasn’t a bad day for the team.

After Grosjean’s early retirement Lotus were left with Raikkonen to pick up the points, and he did but only two of them for 9^th. After three podiums from the last two races and looking quick in practice Monaco ended up being a bit of a disappointment for Lotus.

Kimi’s tyres went off worse than the others while waiting to see if it would rain, when  he eventually pitted he came out behind the Marussia of Charles Pic, then lost a place to the aforementioned Hulkenberg when he ducked inside Perez at La Rascasse, only for the Sauber to swing into the pits late and baulk him which cost the Mexican a drive through penalty.

Final point went to the Williams of Senna. Not the glory of two weeks ago for the team but at least it was something after Pastor Maldonado’s worrying weekend when he sideswiped Perez in practice after he felt he’d been held up although he denies it. Maldonado was caught up in the start incident and failed to complete the opening lap.

Kovalainen who finished 13^th was impressive today, he caught the Kimi train and held off Button for a while too although his defence was sometimes a little questionable especially one time exiting the tunnel when he appeared to change lines. Timo Glock also had a good run to 14^th for Marussia.

Finally Jean-Eric Vergne had a decent display for Toro Rosso moving up from 16th on the grid to lie 7th before pitting for intermediates when the few spots of rain came, a gamble that did not pay off as he slipped down the order.

The title fight develops

If Monaco taught us anything, apart from that even with DRS and these lottery inspired Pirelli’s it’s still a very difficult track to pass on, it’s that the top teams are beginning to move ahead. You might see flashes of speed on occasion from the other squads, but the consistency of the main front runners and the rate of development will soon begin to tell.

We are beginning to see a championship battle forming. Alonso, Vettel, Webber and Hamilton look to be the leading contenders at the moment, not just by the fact they’re the top four but because they are consistently scoring decent points. Kimi, Rosberg and Button are all in there too.

Already Alonso has said that he achieved his objective today which was to finish ahead of Vettel and Hamilton, now he’ll add Webber to that list of targets. The main contenders aren’t quite defined yet, but we’re getting there.

The next race takes us to Montreal in Canada, where even without the variables we have this year is usually an entirely frenetic unpredictable event. Who’s going to make it seven from seven?

all photo's taken from autosport.com