Vettel's gamble pays off

Sebastian Vettel won a chaotic Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.

World champion holds off Alonso and Button in tight finish

Sebastian Vettel won a chaotic Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday after holding off Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button in a tight finish. The defending world champion won his fifth race of the season after taking a gamble that saw him run 56 of the race's 78 laps on one set of tyres. It paid off, though, and despite the Red Bull driver, Alonso and Button lapping nose to tail during the closing minutes, he held on for his first victory in the Principality. Button had earlier led the race and appeared poised to win himself but fell foul of a Safety Car incident that handed the advantage back to Vettel. The German was looking to run a total of 61 laps on one set of harder compound tyres but as Alonso and Button closed on him, another Safety Car incident seven laps from home forced the race to be stopped. Vettel was therefore able to change tyres and so the question of whether he might have held out against the fresher rubber of Alonso, who stopped twice, and Button, who pitted three times, around the tight confines of the Monaco track remains unanswered. His Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber finished fourth ahead of Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, with a difficult afternoon for McLaren's Lewis Hamilton resulting in sixth place. Force India's Adrian Sutil was seventh ahead of Renault's Nick Heidfeld, with Williams driver Rubens Barrichello and Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi claiming the final world championship points. At the end of a race that, with interruptions, lasted almost two-and-a-quarter hours, Vettel now finds himself 58 points ahead of Hamilton in the drivers' championship. Red Bull, meanwhile, have 222 points in the constructors' standings with McLaren second on 161.

Streaked clear

Having claimed his fifth pole position of the season on Saturday, Vettel streaked clear of Button and Alonso at the lights, with Webber dropping to fourth ahead of Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Pastor Maldonado and Vitaly Petrov. Michael Schumacher made a slow getaway from fifth, meanwhile, and then lost part of his front wing when he and Hamilton made contact into the first corner at Sainte Devote. Although Schumacher then passed the McLaren driver for ninth place at the Loews hairpin, the slowest part of the track, Hamilton got ahead again on lap 10. Schumacher stopped on lap 13, with Mercedes team-mate Rosberg also struggling with his tyres by that time as he held up Massa, Maldonado, Petrov and Hamilton. Massa then tried to pass Rosberg heading up the hill at Beau Rivage but lost part of his front wing. However, he made the move stick on the harbourfront, with Maldonado also getting past. Button stopped on lap 16 followed by Rosberg and then both the Red Bull drivers, with Vettel pitting first. But there was confusion among the Red Bull crew, with Webber in particular spending a long time stationary as they struggled to get his tyres ready. The upshot was that Button, who had been about four seconds down on Vettel before his stop, was now eight seconds up on the world champion, with Alonso third while Webber dropped down to 14th. Hamilton then fell behind the Australian after McLaren's mechanics were similarly slow off the mark when he ducked in on lap 23. They started to move back up the order as cars ahead of them stopped such as that of Massa, who split Webber and Hamilton when he came in at the end of lap 26. Hamilton and Massa touched when the McLaren tried to pass at Loews on lap 34, with the Ferrari then crashing in the tunnel when Hamilton had another go up the inside. The former world champion picked up a drive-through penalty for the first incident and fell back to ninth place. Massa's retirement brought out the Safety Car, with Schumacher retiring at the same time when his car lost power exiting La Rascasse. Button, who had built a 12-second lead, lost out because he had stopped just prior to the Safety Car's appearance. He therefore fell back behind Vettel, who stayed out. However, Button was on fresher tyres and when racing resumed on lap 39, he soon closed up on Vettel but could not get past. Button fell to third after stopping again on lap 49 as McLaren sought to put him in clean air in the hope that Vettel would have to stop again. Alonso was now second having earlier pitted under the Safety Car, with Sutil and Kobayashi fourth and fifth after similarly taking advantage and getting ahead of Webber. Alonso was behind Vettel with 20 laps to go while Button was also closing ground. With 15 laps left, the three were right together. But Vettel's ailing tyres gained respite when the Safety Car came out again on lap 71 after Petrov and Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari collided amid a gaggle of cars.

Traffic jam

The traffic jam had been created by the slowing Sutil, who had already been passed by both Kobayashi and Webber. With Petrov still in his Renault, the race was red-flagged to allow an ambulance on the track for the Russian driver, who suffered a minor ankle injury in the accident. Hamilton also bent his rear wing, and as the cars formed on the grid, McLaren sought to make repairs. Just as soon as the race re-started behind the Safety Car, though, he collided with Maldonado trying to take sixth place at Sainte Devote. The Williams driver was out on the spot but Hamilton continued behind Kobayashi and Webber, who passed the Sauber driver on the penultimate lap. Up front, though, the race belonged to Vettel, who had an old set of softer tyres fitted prior to the re-start and comfortably held off his pursuers. Elsewhere, Rosberg came home 11th, one place ahead of Paul di Resta who, like Hamilton, found himself in the wars. The Force India driver also had to take a drive through penalty for an over-ambitious move at Loews hairpin and hit another car later in the race. Result 1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 2hr 09mins 38.373secs, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 2:09:39.511, 3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 2:09:40.751, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 2:10:01.474, 5 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 2:10:05.289, 6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 2:10:05.583, 7 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India at 1 Lap, 8 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault at 1 Lap, 9 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams at 1 Lap, 10 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 11 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP at 2 Laps, 12 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India at 2 Laps, 13 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 at 2 Laps, 14 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 at 2 Laps, 15 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing at 3 Laps, 16 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 at 3 Laps, 17 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 at 4 Laps, 18 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams at 5 Laps
Not Classified: 19 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 67 laps completed, 20 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 66 laps completed, 21 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 32 laps completed, 22 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 32 laps completed, 23 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 30 laps completed, 24 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari Did not start