Nico Rosberg wins F1 Monaco Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg wins from Pole in Monaco Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg won the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix from pole position to notch his second race victory of his career. In the process he also followed in the footsteps of his father Keke Rosberg who had won Monaco Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel of Redbull won the second position followed by his teammate Mark Webber who came third. Hamilton of Mercedes finished fourth.

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes would be cursing Massa. It is Massa’s accident in lap 30 which necessitate a safety car. At that time only three drivers hadn’t taken their first stop – Nico Rosberg leading, Lewis Hamilton in second and Vettel in third. Vettel immediately dived in to the pits to change his tyres. Rosberg and Hamilton too did the same. However, Hamilton got delayed as the Mercedes had to attend to Rosberg and as a result Hamilton dropped from P2 to P4. After that Hamilton was close on the tail of Webber. However, he could not overtak as there was a crash in Lap 46.

In lap 46 Pastor Maldonado of Williams and Max Chilton of Marussia collided and that resulted in the barriers broken. The race was immediately red flagged and the cars had to come to stop in the race order. The mechanics cleared the shards of carbon fibre lying in the track. Under the rules, drivers are allowed to change to fresh tyres, so everybody changed their tyres. Alonso meanwhile had to give up his position to Perez as he had cut a chicane to defend himself. Chilton was handed over a drive through penalty for causing the collision. It seems he got away with a light punishment.

Lewis Hamilton tried hard to overtake Webber but couldn’t succeed due to superb defensive driving in the narrow tracks of Monaco. As a result Hamilton ruined his tyres and gave up the chase.

In lap 60 Jules Bianchi crashed and soon after in lap 63 Romain Grosjean and Daniel Ricciardo collided ruining the races of both.

It was a big result for Adrian Sutil of Force India who came in at fifth position.

It was a poor result for championship aspirant Fernando Alonso of Ferrari who finished in 7th position behind Jenson Button of McLaren at 6th.

Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso finished in 8th followed by Paul di Resta of Force India at 9th.

In lap 71 Perez was trying to overtake Raikkonen as a result Raikkonen suffered a puncture ruining his race. Raikkonnen however overtook many cars and managed to take the last point.

It was later found that Perez too suffered as a result of the indiscretion and both of them finished outside points in the 16th position.

Results of F1 Monaco Grand Prix

1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull
3. Mark Weber Red Bull
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
5. Adrian Sutil Force India
6. Jenson Button McLaren
7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
8. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso
9. Paul di Resta Force India
10. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus
11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber
12. Valeri Bottas Williams
13. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber
14. Max Chilton Marussia
15. Giedo van der garde Caterham
16. Sergio Perez McLaren

Retirements in F1 Monaco Grand Prix 2013

Romain Grosjean Lotus
Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso
Jules Bianchi Marussia
Pastor Maldonado Williams
Felipe Massa Ferrari
Charles Pic Caterham

Nico leads Mercedes 1-2 in Monaco F1 Qualifying

Nico Rosberg bags pole in Formula 1 Grand Prix Monaco Qualifying

Nico Rosberg bags P1 again in Supersoft tyres in Monaco in a Mercedes 1-2. Hamilton finishes in P2. Nico Rosberg scored 1:13.876 seconds to 1:13.967 of Lewis Hamilton ie. 0.091 seconds ahead.

As is the strategy of Mercedes these days, they are tuned to be fastest in qualifying but terrible in race pace. The Pole position limelight may save the job of Ross Brawn.

The second row was occupied by Sebastian Vettel at P3 and Mark Webber at P4. Sebastian Vettel of Redbull was the only other driver to score a below 1 min14seconds time as he scored 1:13.980 as opposed to 1:14.181 of Mark Webber. Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus was on P5 followed by Fernando Alonso of Ferrari in P6. Alonso clearly appeared to be not being at ease on his car. Sergio Perez of McLaren was seventh and ahead of his illustrious teammate Jenson Button who was only 9th. Adrian Sutil of Force India was 8th and Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso was 10th.

A lot of drivers find it tough to race in the twisty street circuit of Monaco. In the name of safety, the barriers have been progressively pushed back inch by inch every year. However, the mandatory crashes every year during practice doesn’t surprise people.

This year it Felipe Massa could not participate in qualifying due to prior crash and and Jules Bianchi had one lap.

It rained during the qualifying and drivers took to the intermediate tyres. The drivers who were knocked out in the Q1 were Max Chilton, Gutierrez, Charles Pic and Paul di Resta of Force India along with Felipe Massa and Jules Bianchi.

So for the first time in his career Van der Garde could qualify to the Q2. It was a great qualifying for him as he finished in 15th position ahead of Pastor Maldonado of Williams at 16. Valeri Bottas of Williams finished in 14th position. Romain Grosjean expressed surprise over radio that he was out of the top 10. He finished in 13th position behind 11th placed Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber and 12th placed Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso.

The total circuit length is 3.340 kilometers.

Schumacher is Back!

Michael Schumacher is Back on top, to the position he rightly belongs!

Michael Schumacher drove a phenomenal lap of 1:14.301 to score the pole position in Monaco Grand Prix 2012. The first since his come back in 2010. Surely, the stars are appearing to be turning over for the good for Michael Schumacher, but the dark clouds are still not over, as he was handed by the stewards in Spain due to his collision with Bruno Senna. Michael Schumacher will start on 6th due to the five place grid penalty.

Mark Webber of RedBull who came in P2 with a time of 1:14.381 will be elevated to P1 after Michael's Grid Penalty. Michael's misfortune has come as a stroke of good luck for his German teammate and rival Nico Rosberg who will be elevated from P3 to the first row with a P2 position. Nico Rosberg scored a time of 1:14.448. Lewis Hamilton scored a P4 1:14.583 where as his team mate Jenson Button could not qualify for the Q3 and scored a P13 position. Grosjean came in P5 with 1:14.639 and Alonso scored P6 with 1:14.948

Pastor Maldonado came in P9. However, he has been penalised 10 places for an earlier incident during free practice.