Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel scored his first win in Monaco on Sunday after a beautifully judged drive. A thrilling Formula One race saw him pressured hard by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and McLaren's Jenson Button as Vettel stayed out front on seriously worn tires.
In the end a red flag after a major crash by Vitaly Petrov gave Vettel a break as he was allowed to fit fresh tires as the cars sat on the grid before the restart. That gave him extra momentum for the six-lap run to the checkered flag.
"As expected it was not a straightforward Monaco Grand Prix," said Vettel. "It happens very rarely here without safety cars and surely at some stage they were helping us today but we did have the pace and we took the risk. We wanted to win and at the end we got the reward. I am very happy. It is an extreme honor to join these guys and also other drivers who have won here. It is one of the best Grands Prix all year, surely a nice one to win so I am looking forward to tonight."
Vettel led away from the pole, chased by Button, Alonso and Red Bull teammate Mark Webber. Button pitted first on lap 15 and put pressure on the Red Bull team by fitting supersoft tires. Vettel came in a lap later, but there was a communication glitch in the pits and Vettel was given the slower but more durable soft tires by mistake. He also lost time and Button was able to jump ahead.
Button led until he made another stop for another set of supersoft tires. He was able to keep up a good pace, although he dropped behind Vettel and Alsono. Then there was a safety car after Ferrari's Felipe Massa crashed coming out of the tunnel. Red Bull Racing was trying to get Vettel home on a one-stop strategy--which would have involved a marathon 62 laps on the soft tires. Alonso, meanwhile, gained by making his stop under the safety car and stayed third.
Button made a third and final stop on lap 49, this time putting on soft tires. They were much newer than those of his rivals and in the late stages he caught up to Vettel and Alonso. For a while the race featured a superb three-car train, with Button looking well set to find a way past. However, a red flag came out after Petrov tangled with Jaime Alguersuari at the Swimming Pool as a group of lapped cars became tangled up with the leaders.
On the grid between starts drivers can repair damage and change tires, so Vettel and Alonso were able to change to newer tires. Button thus lost his advantage and over the final six-lap sprint to the flag he had no chance to pass. Alonso's second place was Ferrari's best result of the season.
Webber lost a lot of time when he had a long pit stop in the aftermath of the Vettel foul-up but recovered to take fourth place. Kamui Kobayashi ran a one-stop strategy for Sauber and jumped up the order when the safety car gave him the perfect chance to pit. Initially he ran behind Adrian Sutil, who did the same, but he got by when he pushed the Force India out of the way.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton finished sixth after a wild race that saw him make a bad start and get penalties after tangles with Massa and Pastor Maldonado. Sutil finished seventh, ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Rubens Barrichello.
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