Mark Webber wins 2012 Monaco GP

Mark Webber has driven a masterful race and hung on to record a hard fought win at the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix.

Starting from pole position Webber got his Red Bull off the line cleanly and then pretty much led from start to finish. However, the race was anything but a procession with an ongoing threat of rain messing with tyre strategies and keeping drivers and fans on edge.

By not setting a time in the third period of qualifying Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) was able to start the race on the soft tyres, while those ahead of him were on the super softs used to qualify. This allowed Vettel to run much longer for his first stint during the race and gave him the lead after those ahead had stopped earlier.

As the teams kept an eye on the approaching rain it was thought Vettel’s lead would come in handy and push him right up the leaderboard if the drivers needed to come in for wet weather tyres. In the end the expected heavy rain failed to arrive and Vettel had to yield, but did well to resume in P4 where he remained for the rest of the race.

A light sprinkling of rain did fall with around 10 laps to go and Webber drove with great maturity to ultimately hold off Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG) by just 0.6 seconds, with Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) finishing third.

Webber becomes the first Australian to win the Monaco Grand Prix twice, following his win in 2010, and this is his eighth victory in F1. Keeping the category interesting, he’s also the sixth different race winner from six races in 2012.

It is worth noting there is a chance that some teams may protest the Red Bull victory after concerns were raised about the legality of the floor on the RB8 after qualifying. Let’s hope politics doesn’t strip Webber of a truly excellent result.

The final finishing order is listed below, along with updates to the drivers’ and constructors’ championship.

2012 Monaco Grand Prix final placings

1. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 78 laps
2. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG) +0.643
3. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) +0.947
4. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) +1.343
5. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) +4.101
6. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +6.195
7. Paul Di Resta (Force India) +41.500
8. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) +42.500
9. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) +44.000
10. Bruno Senna (Williams) +44.500
11. Sergio Perez (Sauber) +1 lap
12. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) +1 lap
13. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham) +1 lap
14. Timo Glock (Marussia) +1 lap
15. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT) +2 laps

Retirements

Jenson Button (McLaren) lap 71
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) lap 66
Charles Pic (Marussia) lap 65
Michael Schumacher (Mercedes AMG) lap 64
Vitaly Petrov (Caterham) lap 16
Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) lap 6
Pedro De la Rosa (HRT) lap 1
Pastor Maldonado (Williams) lap 1
Romain Grosjean (Lotus) lap 1

Fastest lap: Sergio Perez (Sauber), 1:17.296 (lap 49)

2012 World Championship (Drivers’ top 10) – Round 6

1. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) – 76
2. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) – 73
3. Mark Webber (Red Bull) – 73
4. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) – 63
5. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG) – 59
6. Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) – 51
7. Jenson Button (McLaren) – 45
8. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) – 35
9. Pastor Maldonado (Williams) – 29
10. Sergio Perez (Sauber) – 22

2012 World Championship (Constructors’) – Round 6

1. Red Bull Racing-Renault – 146
2. McLaren-Mercedes – 108
3. Ferrari – 86
4. Lotus-Renault – 86
5. Mercedes AMG – 61
6. Williams-Renault – 44
7. Sauber-Ferrari – 41
8. Force India-Mercedes – 28
9. STR-Ferrari – 6