Monaco Grand Prix 2011 – Race Report

Sebastian Vettel took his first Monaco victory around the streets of the principality in an incident-filled race. The German narrowly led fellow champions Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button in the closing stages, both of whom were running on newer tyres, when a multi-car collision triggered a race stoppage with six laps to go. The race was eventually resumed and Red Bull's number one held on to take his fifth win in six races.

Vettel came out on top in an interrupted final qualifying session on Saturday as Sauber's Sergio Perez suffered a high-speed encounter with the barriers at the Nouvelle Chicane. The accident delayed the session by a half an hour, by which point Vettel comfortably held pole from Button, his own teammate Mark Webber and Alonso. Lewis Hamilton looked the only man capable of denying Vettel pole position when the session got underway once more, but his only time, which was only good enough for seventh place, was erased as he cut the chicane while setting it. This dropped the frustrated Brit to ninth on the grid.

As the race began, Vettel and Button both made clean getaways to hold their positions, whilst Alonso made another good start to leap ahead of Webber for third place in the run to St. Devote. Behind, Michael Schumacher had a horrific start in his Mercedes, dropping him to tenth behind Hamilton. The seven-time champion then made light contact with the back of the McLaren, damaging the front wing of his Mercedes, through St. Devote before proceeding to thunder back past Hamilton later round the first tour at the unlikely location of the Loews hairpin.

It wasn't long however before both Mercedes began to exhibit signs of tyre wear - Schumacher was clearly holding up Hamilton while Rosberg, who had climbed from seventh to fifth at the start, was holding up Massa's Ferrari, the impressive Pastor Maldonado's Williams and Vitaly Petrov's Renault. Hamilton overtook Schumacher at St. Devote on lap 10 with the help of the DRS, before Rubens Barrichello too made a bold move on his former teammate at Mirabeau Haute to take tenth two laps later. Schumacher then pitted on lap 13 for fresh tyres and a new nose, dropping him to a lowly 21^st.

With a much faster car beneath him, Hamilton quickly caught up to the back of Rosberg 'train', and on lap 14, Massa and Maldonado both forced their way past the struggling German at Tabac corner. The ailing Mercedes driver pitted two laps later, dropping him behind his teammate. On the same lap, Button, running second but unable to keep pace with race leader Vettel, made his first pit stop, crucially deciding to do another stint on the super-soft tyres. Vettel and Alonso both pitted for softs in that order in the next two laps, but a radio problem actually resulted in the Red Bull mechanics equipping Vettel with the wrong compound of tyres. It was a mistake however that transpired to gift the race to the championship leader.

The confusion in the Red Bull pit garage also cost Webber time when he made his switch of tyres on the same lap as his teammate, but he was able to remain ahead of Massa and Hamilton, who made their stops later on laps 27 and 23 respectively. Maldonado and Petrov both dropped behind Hamilton, but remained well ahead of Rosberg, who was mired in traffic after his early stop. With some cars ahead not yet having stopped though, Webber, Massa and Hamilton remained nose-to-tail, unable to pass Sebastien Buemi's yet-to-stop Toro Rosso.

After being held up by Massa for several laps, Hamilton attempted a clumsy move on lap 34 at the Loews hairpin which resulted in contact being made as the Ferrari pilot took his usual line. Hamilton, however, remained side-by-side with his erstwhile championship rival to make a pass at the right hander of Portier, which saw the pair run abreast through the tunnel section. Massa then found himself in the marbles, lost control of the scarlet car and clouted the barriers with some force, giving the Safety Car its first appearance of the season.

Button came in for his second pit-stop just before the Safety Car appeared, taking another set of super-softs, whilst Alonso also stopped just after, again for softs. This meant Vettel assumed the lead as he elected not to stop. Behind, Adrian Sutil and Kamui Kobayashi timed their one and only stops to perfection to hold on to fourth and fifth places ahead of Webber, Hamilton, Maldonado and Petrov at the restart. Hamilton would drop two places though as the stewards handed him a drive through penalty for making avoidable contact with Massa.

Vettel, his tyres around thirty laps old by this stage, soon had Button right on his tail who had the benefit of fresh rubber. With Alonso closing on the pair though, Button chose to make another tyre stop on lap 49 to switch to the soft tyres. This moved him behind Alonso, who soon caught up to Vettel, but seemed unable to make a pass. With newer tyres than either of his rivals, Button quickly closed in on the back of Alonso to create a three-way tussle for glory, but he was also unable to get by on the notoriously tight streets of Monaco. With neither Alonso nor Vettel planning on making another stop, Button would now have to overtake both in order to get back into the lead.

The trio ran in formation for several laps before hitting heavy traffic on lap 69. Several laps earlier, Kobayashi made a heavy-handed move on Sutil for fourth place at Mirabeau Haute, ramming the Force India's right-rear wheel as he made his way past. After giving away a further position to Webber, Sutil was then passed by Maldonado at Tabac, forcing the German wide and into some light contact with the wall which gave him a puncture just as the leaders approached behind to lap the gaggle of cars. Sutil consequently missed the apex at the Swimming Pool and the confusion caused the lapped Jaime Alguersauri to launch off the kerbs and collide with Hamilton before plunging into the barriers, collecting the unfortunate Petrov in the process who had also just been overtaken by Hamilton at Tabac.

Alguersauri and Petrov were out on the spot, but Hamilton continued in seventh with a severely buckled rear wing behind the ensuing Safety Car. Vettel continued to lead Alonso and Button, who all safely negotiated the carnage, with Kobayashi fourth, Webber fifth and Maldonado up to an excellent sixth. With Petrov unable to leave the cockpit of his stricken Renault unaided after sustaining some bruising to his legs, the red flags were shown and the race was suspended with 72 of 78 laps complete.

Theoretically, with over three-quarters distance complete, a result could have been declared there and then, but the decision was nonetheless taken to resume the race. Unfortunately for the fans, all the leading runners took the opportunity to change their tyres, Vettel being the primary beneficiary as his were reportedly close to 'falling off the cliff' at the time of the accident. Hamilton's mechanics were also able to miraculously repair his McLaren's rear wing just in time before the race restarted under the Safety Car, which peeled into the pit-lane after one lap.

With brand new rubber, Vettel was able to easily keep Alonso and Button at bay, and the three unsurprisingly finished in that order come the chequered flag. Vettel thus took win number fifteen of his career to draw level with Hamilton in the all-time standings. Kobayashi was unable to hold onto fourth, cutting the Nouvelle Chicane on the penultimate lap as Webber attempted a move, surrendering the place straight after to avoid a penalty. For all that, fifth was still a terrific result: the Japanese driver's best ever finish during his tenure as a Formula One driver.

Maldonado would've scored his richly-deserved maiden points but for an over-exuberant Hamilton who made contact with the Venezuelan in  trying to pass at St. Devote on lap 73, sending the Williams firmly into the wall and into retirement. The irate Brit, who later undertook criticism for joking about being targeted by the stewards for his skin colour, received a 20-second post-race penalty for this incident, but had enough time in hand to stay sixth ahead of Sutil, a rather anonymous Nick Heidfeld for Renault and the sole-remaining Williams of Barrichello who took his team's first points of the season.


Buemi claimed the final point ahead of a struggling Rosberg and Paul Di Resta in the second Force India, who made contact with both Alguersauri and Jerome D'Ambrosio's Virgin at Loews, both occasions earning the Scot a drive-through penalty. The Belgian novice finished behind the two Lotuses of former Monaco winner Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen, but ahead of the Hispania pair of Vitantonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan. Joining Maldonado, Petrov, Alguersauri and Massa in the list of retirees were Schumacher, who, after struggling to make the ground he lost early on, succumbed to an engine fire just before the first Safety Car, and Timo Glock whose Virgin developed a fault with its suspension.

With Hamilton finishing sixth, Vettel's lead in the championship has now extended to a rather gargantuan 58 points over the McLaren driver, albeit with Webber, Button and Alonso now all within just 16 points of the 2008 champion. Vettel's rivals can take heart in the story of 1976 though: Niki Lauda led the championship by 33 points (87 in today's money) after six rounds, but went on to be deprived of his second consecutive title by James Hunt. 


In two weeks' time, the F1 circus visits the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada, a track where Red Bull and Vettel were somewhat off the pace last year. That will certainly have to be the case again this time around if anyone is to stop their seemingly irresistible romp towards both 2011 titles.