F1: Monaco GP - Race Results

[Rory Phoulorie]

Formula1.com

[Rory Phoulorie]

Webber cruises to Monaco victory



Mark Webber moved to the head of the F1 world championship standings with victory in Monaco.

Mark Webber made it two Formula One wins in as many weekends by leading the Monaco Grand Prix from start to finish despite three appearances from the safety car.

The Australian made a good getaway to deny front row partner Robert Kubica into the first turn, and exited finding Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel in second place, the German having squeezed inside Kubica. The race, however, was neutralised shortly afterwards as Nico Hulkenberg clattered the barriers in the tunnel and ran under the control of the safety car for several laps.

The pace car also made returns on laps 31 and 43, to cover an accident for the second Williams of Rubens Barrichello and loose drain cover thought to have been caused by the Brazilian's mechanically-induced incident at Massenet, but Webber held firm throughout, even building up enough of an advantage between the interruptions to complete his mandatory tyre stop and rejoin in P1. Only a fourth safety car appearance, three laps from home when Jarno Trulli and Karun Chandhok tangled in front of him at Rascasse, caused the Australian a headache, but he came through to confirm his domination.

Vettel and Kubica were similarly untroubled, although the Pole briefly gave his rival something to think about en route to completing the podium, leaving the real action to occur in their wake. Having started from the pit-lane, Fernando Alonso was the man on the move, completing his stop under the first safety car and then using his rivals' strategy to make up ground. Although McLaren pitted Lewis Hamilton in time to cover the Spaniard and emerge in front of him, only Alonso's Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa similarly survived, with the double world champion passing both Mercedes. However, the opportunistic Schumacher seemed to find a way back through on the last corner restart to take an eventual sixth place.

Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi completed the scorers for Force India, after Jenson Button retired at the start of lap two.

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