Monaco Grand Prix: Review

  Sebastian Vettel claimed his first victory around the streets of Monte-Carlo by clinching victory in today’s somewhat chaotic Monaco Grand Prix. Vettel had to overcome the monumental pressure from former winners of the event, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button throughout the races latter stages, as the three driver’s strategies came to head in what looked like would be a fantastic scrap over the course of last ten laps. However, with six laps to go, Vitaly Petrov was involved in a sizable crash also involving, Jaime Alguersuari and Lewis Hamilton that was triggered by Pastor Maldonado passing Adrian Sutil for sixth place at Tabac.

  Having held off a charging Lewis Hamilton last time out in Spain, Vettel once again had to resort to his proven defensive driving skills, after his pit stop strategy was changed from the conventional two stop strategy to a much more ambitious one stop plan, in an attempt to cover off the scintillating pace being exercised by Jenson Button. Button had taken the lead after the first round of pit stops after a rare error in preparation from the Red Bull mechanic’s caused disastrous pit stops for both Webber and Vettel, who inconveniently both pitted on lap 16.

 Button looked to have the legs on Vettel at the half way point of the 78 lap race; however prior to a mid-race safety car period caused by an ill-fated battle between Felipe Massa and Button's team mate Lewis Hamilton, in which the Brazilian driver came out worse, Button had pitted in caution to another potential safety car period caused by Jerome D'Ambrosio's stricken Virgin Racing car. Button as a result, was placed third come the end of the eventual safety car period behind Vettel who had selected not to pit under caution.

  From then on, Button had the bit between his teeth; keeping in close company to Vettel looking for a way past on the notorious Monaco streets. Safe in the knowledge that Vettel would 'have to pit' again, Button made a third stop on lap 58, putting the prime Soft Pirelli tyres on. He emerged third, behind Vettel and Alonso as a result, both of which had essentially used the two sets of tyre compounds. Although Button's pace was significantly quicker than that of Alonso or Vettel’s, up until roughly 20 laps to go, the Brit was safe in knowledge in that they would have to pit again

 However, Vettel was embarking on an extremely ambitious mission; aiming to go the distance on a set of tyres that would be 56 laps old come the end of the race; the longest stint ever achieved on the soft Pirelli tyres this year.

 With Vettel’s tyres nearly destroyed, and Alonso's tyres being only 12 laps younger, Button in third place was closing a rate of 1.5 seconds a lap, eventually closing a 20 second gap down to 1 second deficit with ten laps to go. Alonso launched a number of half-hearted glances up the inside of Vettel's Red Bull on the entry to Sainte Devote, as Button took a backseat in third place, waiting for an ideal moment to attack the rear wing of Alonso's Ferrari. Petrov's incident at the Swimming Pool chicane with 6 laps left of the race to run however, brought out the Red Flag. Unconventionally, the race directors decided to restart the race for a mad six lap sprint. However, as the teams were allowed to work on the cars and change tyres, the top three were unable to continue the fabulous battle that had initially started prior to the red flag, meaning that Vettel went on to clinch a victory that would be perceived by many as being somewhat 'lucky'.

Outside the podium positions, Mark Webber finished fourth, having dropped as low as 14th early on due to a 15-second stop as Red Bull pitted him on the same lap as Vettel. His two-stop strategy left him with fresher rubber than many of the cars around him during the second half of the race, allowing him to pass Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber, Sutil, Petrov and Maldonado within the final 15 laps. Kobayashi secured a fantastic fifth place,  scraping the barrel for the Sauber team after the monstrous crash from the teams other driver Sergio Perez on Saturday, that had left him unfit for today’s race. Lewis Hamilton’s disastrous race left him finishing in fifth, however with an investigation once again hanging over the McLaren driver after he effectively took Pastor Maldonado out of a points scoring position on the restart on lap 73. Adrian Sutil, Barichello, and Heidfeld locked out the points positions respectively.