2013 Monaco Grand Prix – Rosberg roars to the top step in Monaco

By Simon Wright

Red Bull’s recent stranglehold of the Monaco Grand Prix was ended today in superb fashion by Nico Rosberg.  On a great weekend for German sport following Bayern Munich’s Champions League victory at Wembley on Saturday night, Rosberg dominated around the streets of Monte Carlo to take the second victory of his career.

He was fastest in every single session, and controlled an action-packed race with two safety cars and a red flag thrown into the drama.  The Red Bull pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber completed the podium positions, with Vettel extending his championship lead to 21 points in the process.

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton lamented his sudden drop in pace during a safety car period, which cost him a podium.  He still finished fourth, and there were useful points for Jenson Button and Paul di Resta too, but championship contenders Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen had a miserable afternoon, finishing well down the order and leaving Monaco with only minor championship points.

Mercedes’ victory was thrown into doubt by a protest launched by Red Bull Racing and Ferrari over an illegal test in-between this race and the event in Barcelona two weeks ago.

The German manufacturer claim Pirelli asked them to stay behind and do a 100km test over three days, to get an idea for next year’s tyre specification, and to solve some of the alarming safety concerns on the 2013 trends.

Red Bull and Ferrari feel that this is against sporting regulations, despite Pirelli and the FIA allegedly giving the team based in Brackley, Northamptonshire the green light to do this extra testing.  The result of this race will stand, but the matter has been referred by the stewards, with the FIA opting to launch an investigation.  Should they be found guilty of any wrongdoing, Ross Brawn’s operation could face an uncomfortable tribunal into the matter at an FIA World Motorsport Council meeting in Paris next month.

Away from the bickering that clouded race morning and the stars came out in force to watch the spectacular around the principality.  Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden, Cameron Diaz, film director Ron Howard, singer Nicole Scherzinger and bike legend Valentino Rossi were among those in attendance.  However, they would all take a backseat as the drivers strapped up for the start at 1pm.

Nico Rosberg was the king of the streets.  The Red Bull pair seem content.

And it was Rosberg (pictured with Vettel and Webber) who converted pole position into a lead by Ste. Devote, despite making a terrible getaway.  It was Vettel who made the best start from third position on the grid, but with the short, narrow run to turn one, he couldn’t utilise this advantage and had to tuck in behind the Mercedes duo of Rosberg and Hamilton as they went up the hill to start the 78-lap encounter.

The first stint of the race was a very cagey affair.  Apart from some frisky racing between the McLaren pilots on the opening circuit, it was a slow burner, with everyone settling into a rhythm, controlling the tyre life as has so often been the way in 2013.

It was Webber who broke the stalemate when he pitted on lap 24 to get rid of his option tyres.  He was swiftly followed by Raikkonen, Jenson Button and an off-colour Alonso, but the top three elected to stay out, as it became clear that a one-stop strategy was the way to go for most teams.

Two big crashes turned Felipe Massa's weekend into a nightmare

The first main drama of the race came on lap 28, when Felipe Massa (pictured) had another big accident at Ste. Devote.  At exactly the same spot as a crash in Saturday practice which had ruled the Ferrari man out of qualifying, the Brazilian suffered an almost complete replica on raceday, destroying another chassis.

Ferrari’s technical director Pat Fry later confirmed afterwards there was a technical failure behind the crash.

Speaking to Autosport.com, he said: “Today’s accident looked very similar to what happened in the third free practice session, but in fact the two incidents are very different.

“Unlike yesterday, it seems that today’s incident can be attributed to a problem on the left-front corner of the car.

“It’s too early to say precisely what happened and in the next few days, we will try and ascertain the exact cause in Maranello.”

The safety car made its first appearance of the season, while a clearly shaken Massa was attended to at the scene by the doctors.  He was taken to the Princess Grace Hospital nearby for checks, but was released this evening with just neck pain and is on his way home to Sao Paulo after a truly forgettable weekend for the likeable Brazilian.

It was at this stage where Hamilton’s afternoon began to fall apart.  Mercedes asked him to drop six seconds behind Rosberg to ensure no delay in a stacking queue in the pits.  However, he fell too far back, and realised his error when he arrived to find Rosberg had already left the box.  The damage was done, and he lost track position to both Red Bulls.

When the race restarted on lap 38, it was Sergio Perez who started to make the moves.  The aggressive Mexican pounced to pass team-mate Jenson Button at the chicane when he was wrong-footed after tagging Alonso at the Fairmount hairpin.  A few laps later, he tried the same trick on Alonso for sixth and it worked.  Alonso had to cut the chicane to avoid a collision, but he would have to let the McLaren through on a restart.

That was after a temporary halt to proceedings on lap 46.  Max Chilton was under pressure and had just been passed by fellow rookie Esteban Gutierrez in the chicane.  As he tried to regroup, Chilton misjudged exactly where Pastor Maldonado was on the outside of Tabac, and the contact was scary.  Maldonado was lifted into the air, before a hefty shunt into the TechPro barriers.  The Williams removed the barriers into the middle of the road, causing a roadblock.  A red flag was inevitable, whilst the marshals put the structure back into place.  Maldonado luckily was unhurt, while Chilton was given a drive-through penalty for his dangerous move.

That wasn’t enough for the Venezuelan, who expressed his anger on Sky Sports F1, saying: “It was a big impact; I didn’t expect Chilton to cross my line.  I’m disappointed, as I didn’t expect him to do this kind of manoeuvre.”

After a delay of approximately 20 minutes, the action resumed behind the Safety Car and when it pulled in, Rosberg quickly built up an advantage of around four seconds, with his tyre wear being controlled brilliantly against the Red Bull cars, which seemed to be wearing their tyres out faster.

Perez continued his aggressive approach, and his next target was Raikkonen.  After one near-miss, he tried again on lap 68, and this time, his ambition outweighed his talent.  Perez came from too far back into the chicane, and clouted into the rear of Kimi’s Lotus, damaging both cars.

Raikkonen picked up a puncture a lap later, and was forced to pit.  Meanwhile, Perez’s front wing damage had lodged some debris in his rear brakes and on lap 72; he was forced to stop at La Rascasse with his car totally undriveable.

Lotus was furious with the driving standards of Perez.  Team boss Eric Bouiller told reporters after the event: “He tried once and if you look at the video he was attempting very, very late braking misunderstanding the braking line of Kimi.  I think that was a little bit too much.

“He nearly crashed with his team-mate in Bahrain, here there was also a little bit of action.  It looks like he’s trying to often to be too aggressive and attempt something which is most of the time impossible to do.”

Raikkonen’s response was quite telling.  When asked about if speaking to Perez would calm him down, Kimi is quoted as saying by BBC Sport: “That won’t help.  Maybe someone should punch him in the face.”

If Lotus thinks Perez is a pain, Romain Grosjean is starting to become a real inconvenience.  The Frenchman returned to his wild 2012 antics this weekend, as he crashed three times in practice.  Then in the race, he assaulted Daniel Ricciardo’s Toro Rosso entering the chicane on lap 61, ending the races of both drivers. 

The stewards took a dim view, and slapped Grosjean with a 10-place grid penalty for the Canadian Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time.  Serious questions have to be asked about his lack of judgement and his future as a Grand Prix racing driver.

Rosberg reeled off the final lap in commanding fashion, to complete the father and son double act.  30 years ago, his dad Keke won the race in Monaco for Williams, and now Nico has completed history by becoming the first dad and son combination to win in Monaco.

Vettel’s second place means he is the only driver to finish in the top four at every Grand Prix in 2013.  Third for Webber was a good result, as he had to hold off a feisty Hamilton for the majority of the afternoon, and keeps his record up of finishing in the top five in Monaco every time since retiring from the 2007 edition.

Behind Hamilton, Adrian Sutil made some bold passes on Button and a sleepy Alonso at the Fairmount hairpin to come home a well-deserved fifth.  Di Resta’s recovery to ninth after a strategy error in Q1 yesterday means Force India have achieved their highest ever points total in the first six races of any past season.

Button fought validity to sixth, whilst Alonso’s pace was poor all day and the Spaniard was never a factor in contention for victory.  Seventh place was all the team deserved from a miserable Monaco for the Scuderia.  Their winless run here stretching back to 2001 continues.

Jean-Eric Vergne matched his best ever career result with eighth on the day Toro Rosso announced they would be switching to Renault engine power from Ferrari for 2014, and some superb driving from Raikkonen on the final lap saw him overwhelm Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg to steal the final point.  That was Kimi’s 22^nd consecutive points finish, and despite receiving a reprimand afterwards for failing to meet safety car delta requirements, this means he is just two races away from Michael Schumacher’s all-time record.  Despite his close shave with Maldonado, 14^th is Chilton’s best finish to date in his short career.

Mercedes have proven this weekend that they can turn Saturday form into a great result on Sunday.  Whether this will be a turning point for their season is too early to say, but whilst the storm clouds hang over the tyre test that could end up with severe repercussions, Nico Rosberg was truly the king of the streets in Monaco this weekend.

	FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2013  RESULT
Pos	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Reason	Grid
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	78	2hr 17min 52secs	1
2	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing Renault	78	+3.8secs	3
3	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing Renault	78	+6.3secs	4
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes GP	78	+13.8secs	2
5	Adrian Sutil	Force India Mercedes	78	+21.4secs	8
6	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes	78	+23.1secs	9
7	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	78	+26.7secs	6
8	Jean-Eric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari	78	+27.2secs	10
9	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes	78	+27.6secs	17
10	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault	78	+36.5secs	5
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber Ferrari	78	+42.5secs	11
12	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Renault	78	+42.6secs	14
13	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber Ferrari	78	+43.2secs	19
14	Max Chilton	Marussia Cosworth	78	+49.8secs	22
15	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Renault	78	+1min 02.5secs	15
16 R	Sergio Perez	McLaren Mercedes	72	Brakes	7
R	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Renault	63	Collision with Ricciardo	13
R	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari	61	Collision with Grosjean	12
R	Jules Bianchi	Marussia Cosworth	58	Accident	20
R	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Renault	44	Collision with Chilton	16
R	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	28	Accident	21
R	Charles Pic	Caterham Renault	7	Gearbox/Engine Fire	18

Drivers’ Championship after 6 rounds: 1. Sebastian Vettel 107, 2. Kimi Raikkonen 86, 3. Fernando Alonso 78, 4. Lewis Hamilton 62, 5. Mark Webber 57, 6. Nico Rosberg 47, 7. Felipe Massa 45, 8. Paul di Resta 28, 9. Romain Grosjean 26, 10. Jenson Button 25, 11. Adrian Sutil 16, 12. Sergio Perez 12, 13. Daniel Ricciardo 7, 14. Nico Hulkenberg 5, 15. Jean-Eric Vergne 5

Constructors’ Championship after 6 rounds: 1. Red Bull Racing 164, 2. Ferrari 123, 3. Lotus 112, 4. Mercedes GP 109, 5. Force India 44, 6. McLaren 37, 7. Scuderia Toro Rosso 12, 8. Sauber 5

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