Buzzin F1 – Formula One Blog

Sebastien Vettel - Red Bull Racing 2010

Following last weekends Monaco Grand Prix, the joint championship leader, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel has fuelled rumours that he could be heading for a drive with the Ferrari team next season.

The German driver has made no secret of the fact that his ultimate aim would be to one day drive for the Ferrari crew although his team-mate Mark Webber and winner of Sunday’s race has also been linked to be the replacement for Felipe Massa’s seat in 2011.

Webber crossed the line to take the chequered flag for the second time in two weeks at the Monaco Grand Prix for the Red Bull team, followed by team-mate Vettel in second.

The incident packed race saw the safety car deployed four times after several accidents during the 78 laps but Mark Webber managed to stay ahead and focused after each slot to make it another Red Bull one-two.

The first yellow flag was seen being waved from lap 1 of the race after Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg crashed his car into the barrier of the tunnel causing the first deployment of the safety car.  Hulkenberg dropped back at the start of the race after suffering problems with his clutch on the formation lap.  It was later reported that his car had encountered a front wing mounting failure which will be investigated by the team.

Current F1 World Champion Jenson Button was out of the race by lap 3 after qualifying in eighth place on the grid.  Apparently a cooling cover had been left on the left-hand side pod and wasn’t spotted until the McLaren had already entered it’s grid position.  Following the deployment of the safety car, the McLaren engine began to overheat causing a small fire and ending Button’s race as he was forced to switch off his car.

The safety car entered the pit lane on lap 7 and the restart was underway with Webber again leading the race followed by Vettel and Robert Kubica in third.

Fernando Alonso was forced to start from the pit lane in his Ferrari after hitting the barriers in practice.  The Spaniard made a mistake at Massanet, only 20 minutes into the final practice session, damaging the chassis which meant that the car would not be available to him for qualifying on Saturday.

Alonso made an early pit stop as the race got underway, having passed Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok, Lucas di Grassi was defending his line and kept Alonso behind him until he made a mistake on lap 10, allowing the Ferrari to slip past.

Pedro de la Rosa retired his BMW Sauber on lap 24 after a long pit stop saw smoke billowing from the back of his car and he was pushed into his garage.

Lap 28 was the end of the race for the Virgin driver Lucas di Grassi and on lap 32 the safety car was once again on track after Rubens Barrichello crashed out and was stranded in the middle of the circuit at Massenet.  The Brazilian had been running in tenth place when he suffered a failure at the rear of his Williams, sending him into a spin and into the barrier and leaving him with front and rear wings missing and a broken suspension.

The race was again underway on lap 34 but was deployed again on lap 43 after it was reported that a drain cover was loose at turn 3.  After a brief investigation it was decided that it was safe to continue and the safety car came in the following lap.

Bruno Senna parked his HRT F1 in his pit garage on lap 63 of the race while on lap 66, Heikki Kovalainen suffered a problem with his gearbox resulting in a long pit stop while the crew battled to try and get him back on track.

On lap 74, the safety car was deployed yet again after a huge incident at La Rascasse as Jarno Trulli’s car went over the top of Chandhok’s as both cars fought for the line.  Trulli had tried to put his Lotus up the inside of the HRT of Chandhok but the two touched wheels resulting in the Lotus jumping over the HRT as Chandhok was seen trying to protect his head.

With only two laps of the race remaining it looked as if the drivers would finish the Monaco Grand Prix behind the safety car but it exited the track just before the final lap to see Webber cross the line to take the greatest victory of his career.

Michael Shumacher was given a 20 second penalty after the race after it was deemed that he had broken regulations by overtaking.  The rules state that the drivers must take the chequered flag in the order they have been running in if the safety car has been deployed.

Here are the results;

1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 78 laps 1hr 50m 13.355s
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 00.4s
3. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +00m 01.6s
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 02.6s
5. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 04.3s
6. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 06.3s
7. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 06.6s
8. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +00m 06.9s
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +00m 07.3s
10. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +00m 08.1s

11. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +00m 09.1s
12. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 25.7s
13. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +5 laps [DNF]
14. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth +8 laps [DNF]
15. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth +8 laps [DNF]

Rtd Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 58 laps completed
Rtd Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 58 laps completed
Rtd Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 30 laps completed
Rtd Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 26 laps completed
Rtd Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 25 laps completed
Rtd Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 22 laps completed
Rtd Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 21 laps completed
Rtd Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 2 laps completed
Rtd Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 0 laps completed

Fastest lap:

Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 15.192s lap 71

all results unofficial