Before Rally Sweden kicks off next weekend, take some time to relive Volkswagen’s dominantion of Rallye Monte Carlo, where the reigning world champions went Ogier one, Latvala two and Mikkelsen three!
Tag: Monte Carlo
Sebastian Vettel has made it back-to-back wins for Red Bull Racing at the Monaco Grand Prix by claiming victory in a dramatic race overnight. His fifth win of the year, and his first on the famous street circuit, has given him a seemingly unassailable 58 point lead in the drivers’ standings. Fernando Alonso achieved Ferrari’s best result for the season to date by finishing second, ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.
As always, Monaco provided plenty of action and gave us the first Safety Car laps of the year. The race was heading for a thrilling climax with Vettel, Alonso and Button all nose-to-tail with six laps remaining. All drivers were on different tyre strategies with Vettel, having only stopped once on lap 16, hoping to hold his track position by running 62 laps on the Prime tyres.
Vettel was somewhat forced into a one-stop strategy after the usually lightening quick Red Bull crew made a hash of his first pit stop (9.6 seconds) and followed that immediately after with a worse stop for Webber (15.5 seconds); all but ruining the Australian’s race, who did well to fight back to fourth place.
Meanwhile, in the closing stages Alonso’s tyres were fresher than Vettel’s, but still 20-odd laps old, while Button’s three-stop race meant he had the cleanest and quickest rubber of the top three.
On lap 72, while fast approaching slower traffic, the leading trio were lucky to miss a bit of kerfuffle immediately ahead of them involving Vitaly Petrov (Lotus Renault GP) and Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso). The pair crashed into the barriers and caused the second Safety Car period of the race, which quickly turned into a red flag after initial concerns over the well being of Petrov. With just six laps left to race it was first thought the race would end and Vettel would be declared the winner. Petrov was safely removed from his car and it subsequently appears he will be okay.
While Petrov was being attended to the cars formed up on the grid and under red flag conditions were able to make the most of a relatively lengthy delay by making minor adjustments to their cars if required. Crucially, this also gave teams the chance to fit fresh rubber if available to them. Ultimately, this handed Vettel the race who, after the restart, was able to hold off Alonso and Button for what looked like a comfortable win. Although, at various times all three men on the podium would have felt like they were best placed to win.
You can read what they had to say after the break. Video highlights are available at the One website.
[Pic: Ferrari]
No doubt Mark Webber is still beaming after his Monaco Grand Prix victory. A win in Monte Carlo is something all Formula One drivers cherish and to see an Australian dominate the race made for one very welcome procession.
Webber clearly places this win very highly, “It’s a special day, the greatest day of my life I suppose. As a Formula One driver you really hope that you win races and if you have a choice then the blue riband event is very, very special for any driver. To join Ayrton Senna and the likes round here is a very special thing.”
More quotes from Webber, as well as podium drivers Sebastien Vettel and Robert Kubica, can be read at Formula1.com.
The Aussie currently sits atop the World Championship leaderboard, thanks to two successive wins, but he’s not getting ahead of himself just yet, “To get 50 points from the last two races is awesome, but there is a long, long way still to go. We’ve got so many different conditions and tracks coming up – there are many exciting times to come; I’m looking forward to it.”
The one-two result now puts Red Bull Racing in the lead of the constructors’ title race, as well.Red Bull now has 156 points, 20 ahead of Ferrari and 27 clear of McLaren.
A gallery of Red Bull Racing photos can be seen after the jump. More pics from the other teams to follow.
UPDATE 18 May: Images from Renault, Ferrari, Mercedes GP, Force India, Lotus, Williams, Virgin Racing and Sauber now available below.
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Mark Webber wins Monaco GP
Mark Webber has driven a masterful race at Monaco to win his second Formula One Grand Prix in as many weekends. After clutching pole position at the death during qualifying he was able to keep his Red Bull machine out of trouble from the start and take the chequered flag unchallenged. This is the first Australian win at Monaco since Sir Jack Brabham’s 1959 breakthrough victory
Several Safety Car periods ensured Mark had to keep his wits about him, but after each green flag he was able to simply drive away with apparent ease. In fact the race almost finished behind the safety car after an incident between Jarno Trulli and Karun Chandok. The tangled mess happened right in front of Webber. The Australian kept his cool and was able to avoid the incident and maintain his lead.
As it was the Safety Car pulled in at the last corner to allow Webber to cross the line at full noise to claim his fourth career victory. Amazingly, Webber now leads the World Championship. Sebastien Vettel finished the race second and joins Webber on 78 points. However, Webber is classified as Championship leader on account of winning two races to Vettel’s one. Pleasingly for Red Bull they are turning their qualifying dominance into race wins.
Robert Kubica finished third in a great result for Renault. Of course, the Red Bull RB6 is powered by Renault engines, thus giving the French company a clean sweep of the podium.
Speaking after the race Webber with a beaming smile declared it was “the greatest day of my life today.” The significance of a Monaco Grand Prix victory on his CV was not lost on Mark who said, “it was a very, very rewarding win, and (I’m) just absolutely elated. To join Aytron Senna and those guys around here, it’s real blue riband event.”
In further good news for Australian motorsport young gun, and Red Bull test driver, Daniel Ricciardo won the Formula Renault 3.5 race at Monaco earlier today.
[Pics: via OneHD]
In the days before jazzy simulators one had to sit a chap down and talk through a lap of a Grand Prix circuit, man to man. In 1968 Graham Hill was jolly kind enough to do just that and you can watch his interview right here after the jump.
As an extra special treat there’s another video with highlights of the 1982 Monaco GP. Clive James provides the commentary and I’ll be well surprised if you don’t enjoy his summary. Funny thing is, the climax to the race was just as laughable.
The latest in the Red Bull Racing simulator series sees Mark Webber enjoying the sights of the French Riviera ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. When in Monte Carlo Mark is impressed by all the big boats, apparently. Here’s to Webber finishing at the head of the field once again—an Aussie win on the famous Monte Carlo streets would be epic!