Nico Rosberg Wins In Monaco

Nico Rosberg took his second career win with a controlled drive to victory at the Monaco Grand Prix despite two safety car periods and a race stoppage.  It was thirty years ago that Keke Rosberg claimed his second career win around his hometown circuit in Monaco. And Sunday saw,  for the first time in Formula One history, a son able to emulate his father as he too collected his second career win around the streets on which he spent his childhood.

Starting from pole, Rosberg held his lead at the start (despite getting away badly) and with team-mate Lewis Hamilton in second place, set about controlling the pace as to maximize tyre life over the 78 lap race.

It went according to plan up until lap 30 when Felipe Massa suffered the same accident that had in FP3 (which led to him starting from 21st position after failing to set a time in qualifying). Unlike his FP3 shunt, this was caused by a car problem rather than driver error was subsequently diagnosed as the case.

Massa lost control on the run up to turn one and hit the wall on the left-hand side of the track before straight-lining into the barriers ahead. The crash brought out the safety car and Mercedes immediately signaled for both Rosberg and Hamilton to pit. Following the lengthy safety car period Rosberg set about reinstating his gap to second place and he was able to pull out a solid three second lead over Vettel in the following laps.

But with both Mercedes pitting in the same lap, a delay was sure to ensue. It was Hamilton that lost out as a result as he had to wait for Rosberg to be serviced first and rejoined in fourth behind the two Red Bulls.

Just as Hamilton was gettingsome good times and really giving Webber a hard one, another incident occurred on the 45th lap. Pastor Maldonado (who had already collided at the start with Giedo van der Garde's Caterham) collided with Max Chilton. The Marussia rookie failed to see the Williams as he moved back on to the line for the Tabac corner after the chicane and as the two cars made contact. Maldonado's Williams was momentarily launched before crashing almost head-on into the protective wall. 

The race was red-flagged until the debris was cleared up, and finally resumed on the 48th lap. Fortunately Maldonado was unharmed, and Chilton subsequently received a drive-through penalty for 'causing a collision'.

The stop didn’t appear to hurt any of the front runners, who continued their stately progress through to the flag, even while comfortably negotiating a final safety car period (brought about when Romain Grosjean ploughed into the back of Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo on lap 63 – a mistake that would later earn the Lotus driver a 10-place grid penalty for his next race).

When the racing resumed on the 67th lap, Perez set his sights on Raikkonen (whose Lotus had lost water during the slow running). Behind them, Force India's Adrian Sutil had overtaken Alonso and Button as Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne and Force India's Paul di Resta closed in as well.

Perez tried to pass Raikkonen down the inside at the chicane on the 69th lap but they touched as the Finn took his line. Raikkonen had to pit with a puncture as a result but later sped back up to claim the final point. (Raikkonen is under investigation for speeding under the safety car) After moving to fifth Perez eventually had to retire with left-front suspension damage after tapping the chicane barrier during his unsuccessful manoeuvre on the Lotus.

That left Button to follow Sutil home (after he passed Alonso on the 70th lap). Vergne and Di Resta hounded Alonso all the way to the flag, with the Frenchman taking a well-deserved eighth and Di Resta a fantastic ninth (after starting way down in 17th). Further back, behind the recovered Raikkonen, Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg finished just ahead of Williams' Valtteri Bottas and teammate Esteban Gutierrez to take 11th.

Chilton however, recovered after his drive-through penalty and a stop for fresh rubber, to grab 14th place from Caterham's Van der Garde. 

*Other retirements were Jules Bianchi, whose Marussia was damaged in his team mate's incident with Maldonado, and Charles Pic whose Caterham caught fire early on.

The result from Monaco put Vettel even further ahead in the world championship with 107 points to Raikkonen's 86. Alonso's 78, Hamilton's 62, Webber's 57 and Rosberg's 47. In the constructors' stakes, Red Bull have 164 to Ferrari's 123, Lotus's 112 and Mercedes' 109, with Force India on 44 from McLaren's 37.

Nico Rosberg	Winner
Sebastian Vettel	Second
Mark Webber	Third
Lewis Hamilton	P4
Adrian Sutil	P5
Jenson Button	P6
Fernando Alonso	P7
Jean-Éric Vergne	P8
Paul di Resta	P9
Kimi Räikkönen	P10
Nico Hülkenberg	P11
Valtteri Bottas	P12
Esteban Gutiérrez	P13
Max Chilton	P14
Giedo van der Garde	P15
Sergio Perez	P16
Romain Grosjean	Retired (Collision)
Daniel Ricciardo	Retired (Collision)
Jules Bianchi	Retired (Brakes)
Pastor Maldonado	Retired (Collision)
Felipe Massa	Retired (Suspension)
Charles Pic	Retired (Fire)