VETTEL TAKES MONACO
Monaco. What can be said about this insane place that hasn't already been said? It's impossible to overtake on, it wouldn't be approved as a new circuit today, and there's no way you'd be able to afford a hotel room there but we still love it. We love it because of the glamour, because of the tradition, because it's seen as the ultimate challenge for F1 drivers...and the driver on form coming into this weekend was Sebastien Vettel. Yet he didn't have the greatest of records going into this encounter so could this be the weekend when someone would slow his title charge down? It was time for another trip to the Monte Carlo to see what the best drivers in the world could do.
In qualifying, well all three Brits made it through to Q2, the McLarens in particular taking the mick out of the field but the Hispanias came up short only for the stewards to have mercy on them. Q2 saw more of the same from the McLarens but di Resta got booted and had to settle for P14(at least initially). Q3 turned out to be seriously messy. Schumacher set the benchmark but it was then beaten by Massa who in turn was beaten by Jenson who was then gunned down by Vettel...before Perez slammed into the wall forcing a red flag, worst crash since Massa in '09 and he wouldn't start the race due to concussion(pushed up di Resta to P13). As it was, no one was able to stop Vettel from claiming his fifth pole of the season, Jenson P2(matching his best qualifying performance of the season). Lewis however had a disasterous Q3, only able to claim P7 initially before being forced down to P9 after his fastest time was banked under yellow flags.
Di Resta finished the race in 12th.
Lewis had a minor coming together right at the start with Schumacher but the McLaren driver survived reasonably well and retook 9th eventually and waiting for other people to come into the pits got him up to 7th but a messy pitstop put him right back down to 10th. The problems then came when Lewis tried to make his way up the field. He burned Massa(and later Maldonado) in what he considered to be perfectly fair moves but the stewards had other ideas and he was given a drive through. He did benefit from some luck later on though, staying out of a major incident that led to a red flag. He took the restart from 6th and didn't get the chance to get any further than that. Fingers crossed the FIA didn't mind his Ali G impersonation.
Jenson opened the race solidly enough, maintaining 2nd and while he closed in on the leader, he wasn't able to do much before pitting..and lucked in when Vettel followed him in and Red Bull messed the stop up, allowing Jenson to lead! The 2009 world champion was blowing the opposition to pieces before coming in for a second stop which put him back into 2nd but on a clear track. Again, he persued the reigning world champion but couldn't get past him before his second pitstop that drooped him down to 3rd. He didn't waste time in catching up but was banking on Vettel at least coming into the pits one more time...and that didn't happen before the red flag. Jenson was unable to get any further up after the restart and had to settle for third.
As for Vettel, well after that messed up pitstop you had to wonder if he'd been holed below the waterline...and then he had his rivals on his tail on fresher tyres, unable to get past him but still expecting him to go off the cliff! F1 logic in 2011 says that you cannot spend the majority of the race on one set of tyres so surely Red Bull could not possibly win this race. For them though it was all part of the plan, an plan that had no right to work, an insane gamble in a town of casinos - yet somehow it did work and Vettel was able to hold on for his third win in a row. Alonso finished 2nd, his best finish of the season so far. That was one hell of a race.
So, here's how the championship standings now look. Vettel still leads, now on 143 points, Lewis remains in 2nd on 85 points. Further down, Jenson remains in 4th on 76 points.
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