Monaco – Race: Webber sixth winner of the season

The 24 drivers line up on the starting grid of the Monaco Grand Prix under a beautiful blue sky. Mark Webber is in pole position alongside Nico Rosberg. Behind the two men are Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean, Fernando Alonso, and Michael Schumacher.

At the start, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button, Paul di Resta, Vitaly Petrov, and Pedro de la Rosa decided to make their first stint on Soft tires while all the others chose to start the race on Super-Soft tires.

The drivers take off and there’s the first incident before the first corner with a spin for Romain Grosjean who failed to get away properly and found himself between Alonso’s Ferrari and Schumacher’s Mercedes. As he moved, the Lotus driver damaged his left-rear suspension by touching the front-right wheel of the Mercedes. Pastor Maldonado was also involved in an incident by hitting Pedro de la Rosa’s HRT. He brings his Williams to a stop in the second sector while the Spanish driver returns to the pits with the rear wing completely torn off to retire.

The race management decides to deploy the safety car to remove Grosjean’s car and the various debris on the track following the different collisions. It returns to the pits at the end of the third lap at the same time as the restart. Mark Webber maintains the lead ahead of Rosberg, Hamilton, Alonso, Massa, and Vettel.

At the front, Mark Webber strings together the fastest laps in the race with a clear track ahead of him. The Australian opens up a slight gap over Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes.

Seventh lap of the race and already a second pit stop for Kamui Kobayashi driving his Sauber, the Japanese driver had already stopped at the end of the first lap because he was caught in the first corner incident. The Japanese driver retires.

The track marshals decided to investigate the drivers who cut the first corner, but ultimately no decision was made against them.

Jean-Eric Vergne is battling with Sergio Pérez’s Sauber, the Frenchman cuts the chicane and maintains his position, but the Mexican, much faster, eventually overtakes him and immediately sets the fastest lap in the race, quickly reclaimed by the leader, Mark Webber.

Vitaly Petrov returns to the pits on the 16th lap for what is already his second stop. The Russian driver’s car is pushed inside the garage and it’s a retirement for the Caterham driver due to an electrical problem.

Vergne returns to the pits on the 18th lap to put on the Softs, becoming the first to change tires. The Frenchman rejoins in 19th and last position as there have already been 5 retirements since the start of the race.

Meanwhile, at the front of the race, while Fernando Alonso seemed slower than Felipe Massa who was behind him, the Spanish driver appears to be making an effort to gain some ground on his teammate and catch up to Hamilton’s McLaren. The Ferrari driver is clocking fast laps to close in on the Briton.

Behind, it’s Kimi Räikkönen who is under pressure from Michael Schumacher, who had announced before the start of the race his desire to win the Grand Prix despite his 6th place on the grid.

Nico Rosberg is the first of the front-runners to enter the pits to change tires. He switches from Super Softs to Softs on the 26th lap, even though his team had asked him to stay on the track a few minutes earlier because rain might be coming. He returns to the race in 6th position. Mark Webber refuels on the 29th lap, followed by Hamilton, Räikkönen, and Hülkenberg.

Fernando Alonso finds himself leading the Grand Prix and pits on the following lap, leaving Massa in front of Vettel, who had started on Soft tires unlike his rivals. The double world champion Spaniard managed to get past Hamilton following his stop. Massa pits on lap 31 to switch to Soft tires, thus leaving Vettel in the lead; the Red Bull driver’s strategy seems to be working well.

Michael Schumacher comes into the pits on the 35th lap to switch to the Soft tires. He returns to the track in 10th position just ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne, who, thanks to a slightly different strategy, managed to climb up.

Kimi Räikkönen tries to overtake Sergio Pérez at the Rascasse, but the latter cuts in front of the Lotus to enter the pits, and the Finn ultimately loses a position to Nico Hülkenberg. The Force India driver subsequently sets the fastest lap, being the first to reach 1:18 during the race.

The maneuver of the Mexican driver did not go unnoticed by the track officials, who decided to investigate. The Sauber driver is penalized with a drive-through.

Jenson Button enters the pits for the first time on the 39th lap to fit the Super-Soft tires. He rejoins behind Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham, which is fitted with Soft tires. Daniel Ricciardo, who was in 7th, goes through the pits for the first time on the 41st lap. He changes from Super-Softs to Softs. He rejoins in 15th position.

Sebastian Vettel, who was leading, goes through the pits on the 46th lap to put on Super-Softs. He returns in 4th position behind Webber, Rosberg, and Alonso but ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Sergio Pérez, who is far back in 17th place after his penalty, strings together fast laps and records a 1:17.296, being the only one to lap in under 1:18.

Slightly ahead of the Sauber driver, Jenson Button is not getting through, the McLaren driver is still stuck behind Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham and he is unable to overtake even though he seems slightly faster.

Michael Schumacher complains about an issue with his car, but his team tells him they see nothing on the telemetry. However, the Mercedes driver loses a lot of time and is overtaken one after another by Vergne, Di Resta, Hülkenberg, and Räikkönen. He finally returns to the pits to retire, apparently due to a suspension problem.

A few raindrops begin to fall on the 64th lap, but the drivers remain on track with Soft or Super-Soft tires.

Yellow flag in the second sector, it’s Charles Pic’s Marussia that seems to have stopped. The Frenchman’s MR01 is quickly removed from the track by the marshals. Daniel Ricciardo, who wasn’t in the points, pits on lap 67 to retire. His car is pushed into the pits; it’s the 8th retirement of the race.

Less than 10 laps to go and the top 6 are within less than 4 seconds. Webber, Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel, and Hamilton are really wheel to wheel with eight laps remaining. But on the tight Monaco circuit, overtaking is difficult.

Felipe Massa, 6th, is closing in on Lewis Hamilton. There is a train at the front as they come up on backmarkers. Meanwhile, Vergne pits to switch to intermediates, with the Toro Rosso team taking a gamble 7 laps from the finish as a few raindrops fall on the Monaco circuit. He rejoins in 11th after being 7th.

Jenson Button attempted an overtaking move on Kovalainen but made a mistake, causing the McLaren driver to spin and ultimately retire from the race. A weekend to forget for the Brit.

The leaders catch up with Kovalainen and Pérez. Both men are doing what they can to let the leaders pass, but it’s not easy. They are also under investigation following contact at the first corner, and they touch again at the chicane, but the Sauber driver overtakes the Caterham driver.

The gamble attempted by the Toro Rosso team with Jean-Eric Vergne does not seem to be paying off as the rain is not intensifying, and on intermediates, he is slower than his rivals. He is lapping 6 seconds slower, a surprising gamble by Toro Rosso as the Frenchman was in a solid 7th place, which meant significant points for him and for the team from Faenza.

With a damaged front wing, Heikki Kovalainen returns to the pits. He was in 12th place for a while but eventually rejoins in 13th position just ahead of Glock’s Marussia.

The six leading men follow each other closely, with only one second between the first four, and it is Mark Webber who takes the win after starting from pole position. The Australian driver thus becomes the sixth winner of the year in six races, a new record for Formula 1.

Behind the Red Bull driver are Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Paul di Resta, Nico Hülkenberg, Kimi Räikkönen, and Bruno Senna, who grabs the point for 10th place. Sergio Pérez finishes 11th ahead of Vergne, Kovalainen, Glock, and Karthikeyan, all more than a lap behind the winner.

The classification of the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix of Formula 1