We saw something today what I never thought I would see in my lifetime, an honest to goodness exciting race in Monaco.
Of course it could have been a legendary race but, unfortunately, FIA regulations say tires can be changed and cars repaired on the grid under red flag conditions.
A shame, the reason the race was so exciting today was that you had three drivers, all world champions, on three different tire strategies who ended up within the same second with eight laps to go. To make circumstances even sweeter, the slowest guy, with the oldest tires was leading and the one with the best tires was third, it would have been an outstanding finish.
But, no go, fresh tires meant leveling the grip equation and that was that.
Fortune helped the daring, Red Bull and Vettel overcame a terrible pit stop by switching to a one stopper and nursing the tires some sixty or so laps, amazing. The RB7 is really amazing and Vettel the perfect driver for it. Too bad for Webber, once again getting the short end of the stick and losing a ton of time because of that stacked pit stop.
Mclaren had a rough day, they had the car to beat Vettel but I'm still trying to figure out the logic of a three stop strategy for Button on a track where passing is almost impossible and every pit stop means lost track position. As far as Hamilton, well...call Oliver Stone because it's a conspiracy against him apparently.
Alonso did what has become the norm for him, didn't complain much, put his head down and did the best he could, which is pretty good. He jumped Webber at the start and there was a pretty good chance he might actually win with eight laps to go.
Amazingly, Webber might have won: there was a moment, in the final chaos, when all three of the leaders could have gotten mixed up in that pileup by the swimming pool. it's a miracle none of the three got hit or punctured a tire.
That melee was triggered by "Machete" Sutil who had the brilliant idea to stay on the throttle after hitting the wall and getting a puncture. If Hamilton wants to complain about the stewards pulling in the wrong guy, maybe he should bring up his good buddy "Machete". Can't believe he actually scored points after causing that mess.
Still, all and all, this race did a huge favor to Monaco, simply by producing a good show, finally!
The Monaco Grand Prix Classified: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2h09:38.373 2. Alonso Ferrari + 1.138 3. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 2.378 4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 23.100 5. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 26.900 6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 27.200 7. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 8. Heidfeld Renault + 1 lap 9. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 11. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap 12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 2 laps 13. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps 14. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 2 laps 15. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps 16. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps 17. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps 18. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 5 laps Fastest lap: Webber, 1:16.234
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