Vettel Wins in Exciting Monaco classic

MONTE CARLO, Monaco- RIS -  Despite countless attempts to be passed, along with two safety car periods, Sebastian Vettel took advantage of geeting fresh tires at the end to just hold off Fernando Alonso and Jenso Button to win his first Grand Prix of Monaco Sunday in Monte Carlo.

For the German, it is his fifth win in six races this season, and now leads the championship by 58 points over second place Lewis Hamilton after six rounds.

For Vettel, he summed it up in one word.

“Unbelievable.” Commented the World Champion. “The race today was pretty entertaining. With the safety car is was quite a break but it was difficult to pass and the only chance was to stay out. I was under pressure and it would have been a difficult race, but I got a chance to change the tires and got a gap. I am really happy and I am pleased to put my name on the list of winners.”

Vettel got a great start in the race as the Red Bull driver maintained a three second gap after four laps. But a botched opit stop on lap 16, even with a lead over five seconds moved Vettel back to third as Button assumed the lead and lead Vettel by six seconds as the German grabbed second position following an Alonso pit stop. Mark Webber also pitted, but the pit crew was caught off guard, and the 37 second stop put the Australian into 14th place.

Hamilotn encountered the same problem a few moments later and dropped to 13th. By lap 30, the race still had all the entries in it, but things as they always do on the tight streets of Monaco began to get very unpredictable when Michael Schumacher encountered a smoking car just coming out of Rascasse on lap 34. Hamilton tried to pass Felipe Massa at the Hairpin on lap 34, and struck the Brazilian, gaining a drive through penalty. But Massa continued on as well, only to lose control of his car, due to the damage by Hamilton, and crashed his Ferrari in the tunnel, bringing out the safety car.

When the safety car came in, Vettel began to lose wear on his tires. But both Alonso and Button had better wear on theirs and both gain considerable time on the German. But Vettel’s decision was keeping him in the lead, and as the last few laps approached, all three drivers were catching up on lapped cars that were in fourth through sixth position.

All three cars were bunched up as Vitaly Petrov ran into the back of Jaime Algusuari as Adrian Sutil struck the wall at Tabac. The Russian smashed into the wall at the Piscine and was knocked unconscious, but awoke as he was put into an ambulance and taken to the hospital. The Spaniard though, escaped injuries. But the twisted an scattered debris caused the race which was supposed to have been completed, stopped for 15 minutes as the safety car came out again, and gave the time for the Marshalls to clear up the track.

But Vettel got going again, as new tires were put on his car, and holding both off threats by Alonso and Button, as well as an accident by Pastor Maldonado at St. Devote corner, put the German into history, as he won his first race in the Principality.

In all the mess, Webber managed to take fourth, just ahead of Sauber’s Kamui Kobyaschi and Hamilton. Sutil survived to finish seventh, while Nick Heidfeld was eighth. Rubens Barrichello and Sebastian Buemi rounded out the top ten.

With the series now out of the spring races in Europe and heading in two weeks to Canada, Vettel still feels that despite his domination, anything can still happen this season.

“I think it is a long way still to go and last year proves things can change.” Said Vettel. “There was a chance to win today and we deserved to win. You have to be aggressive and we tried our best and achieved our optimal.”