Webber dominates eventful Monaco GP

F1 Grand Prix, GP Monaco, Monte Carlo Circuit

Mark Webber has won the Monaco GP in style by again leading the race from start to finish. Webber led his teammate all the way until the end and was clearly dominant, despite 4 safety car periods. Robert Kubica put his Renault on the podium in third place.

The weather is sunny at Monaco, with air temperature 22°C and the track at 38°C. These conditions should be good enough for the tyres to work properly.

Mark Webber is on the clean line and manages to keep his lead from pole position. Sebastian Vettel, starting from third also launches off the clean line and immediately passes Kubica, with the latter even threatened by Massa and Hamilton. Kubica did however take his third position as he was on the inside of St. Devote.

Nico Hulkenberg made a bad start and crashes out in the tunnel of the first lap. He was off the line already halfway through the tunnel and effectively came to a halt just ahead of the chicane.

Fernando Alonso who started from the back chose to pit immediately, switching his extra soft tyres to the harder compound, hoping that it will allow him to stay out on track long enough to gain several positions. Bruno Senna does the same one lap later.

One lap later Jenson Button's race is already over due to what appears to be an overcooked engine.

Due to debris on the track, the safety car lapped 6 times before restarting the race on lap 7.

5 laps later, Webber has started to pull a lead over his teammate. It's up to 4 seconds on lap 13. As of Vettel to Hamilton, 4 cars are seperated by 2 seconds each. Behind Hamilton however is an increasing gap to Barrichello. The Brazilian made a great start but now has the two Mercedes cars on his tail.

In the back, Alonso is moving up through the field. First Chandhok allowed him to pass, and the next 4 cars were passed by a move at the end of the tunnel. The Spaniard has most trouble with Di Grassi and actually got frustrated behind the Virgin.

On lap 17, Hamilton is the first to make a pitstop and he rejoins behind Alguarsuari and ahead of Fernando Alonso. 2 Laps later Massa, Schumacher, Barrichello also dive into the pitlane, and basically everyone from P6 and further down are rejoining behind Fernando Alonso.

Kubica makes his stop in lap 20, followed by Petrov. Vettel is the first of the Red Bulls to stop in lap 22. His crew completes the tyre change in a mere 3.9 seconds. Mark Webber stops one lap later, his pitstop completed in 4.4 seconds.

In lap 25, Mark Webber is still in the lead, just ahead of Nico Rosberg who didn't stop yet. Rosberg put in the fastest lap right when Webber made his stop. The German postpones his stop and may do a god job as Massa, Hamilton and Alonso were held up by Kobayashi, until the latter stopped aside of the track in lap 28.

Rosberg stopped one lap later and rejoined just behind Schumacher. In the meantime, Di Grassi parked his car alongside the track at Portier, Glock stopped at La Piscine with a broken suspension and De La Rosa was pulled into the pitbox after failing to get his car going again after his pitstop.

On lap 31 Rubens Barrichello smashes into the barriers after an apparent technical problem. It may be his left rear suspension failed while taking a turn up the hill after St. Devote. The safety car was deployed immediately and the car was removed from the track with one of the debris cleaning cranes.

Halfway through the race, Webber is still leading the field, ahead of Vettel and Kubica. The latter set the fastest lap in lap 40 and pulled a small gap on Massa in 4th. Hamilton is 5th, Alonso 6th, followed by Schumacher and Rosberg.

In lap 43 the safety car is deployed again. Apparently a drain cover has come loose in turn 3 and needs to be fixed before it causes any safety problems for the cars. It appears they just removed the cover and restarted the race 2 laps later.

Several laps before the safety car came out for the third time, Fernando Alonso started to have trouble following the cars in front of him. It may be he is starting to suffer tyre degradation, as he is obviously wearing these tyres out for 20 more laps than anyone else.

On lap 61 Kovalainen and Senna come in simultaneously. Bruno Senna's HRT is pulled into the box immediately while Kovalainen surprises his team. It's the end for the fastest of the Lotuses this weekend.

Mark Webber meanwhile is posting fastest lap after fastest lap, icnreasing his lead on Sebastian Vettel. The German Red Bull driver is stuggling to keep up and has Kubica and Massa closely behind him.

In lap 75 and with only 3 laps to go, Jarno Trulli flies over Karun Chandhok in what could have been a very problematic incident for Karun Chandhok. If Trulli's Lotus had come up slightly different, he might have ended up with the wheel on Chandhok's head.

All the happened at Anthony Noghes, just ahead of Mark Webber. The race leader managed to brake in time and pass the event, but lost all his advantage over Vettel. Obviously here at Monaco, the cars are stuck on track, and the safety car is deployed.

The safety car was pulled in in the final lap, allowing the cars to pass the flag without an SC ahead of them. As a result, Mark Webber rolls over the finish line to secure his first Monaco win, ahead of Vettel, Kubica and Massa. Hamilton is 5th, and in the final corner Schumacher managed to get past Alonso for P6. Race control quickly mentioned that the stewards will be investigating this event.