Monaco GP review 2010: Webber leads from lights to flag

Mark Webber goes top of the Championship

Mark Webber has taken victory at the Monaco GP after starting on pole, in a race interrupted by four safety cars.

Mark Webber started the race on pole position, and Robert Kubica joined him on the front row. Webber's team-mate Sebastian Vettel had qualified in third and Felipe Massa was in fourth. Fernando Alonso was out of position in the second Ferrari after he damaged his car in FP3, meaning he was unable to take part in qualifying. He started the race from the pitlane. When the lights went out everyone got away cleanly and although there was some jostling for position between the front few rows, they all stayed in their starting positions. However, there was a safety car deployed after only one lap when Nico Hulkenberg's Williams crashed in the tunnel leaving a lot of debris around.

During the safety car period the McLaren of Jenson Button pulled to the side of the track smoking slightly, and it later emerged that the team had "left a bung in the side of the car" which should have been removed and this caused the engine to overheat. Button speculated that it would have been alright had there not been a safety car. When the safety car was still out Alonso pitted to switch from soft to hard tyres. The safety car came in on lap six and they were racing again. Alonso started to fight his way through the pack, although at first not easily as Lucas di Grassi defended well and kept the Spaniard behind him, but Alonso soon got through.

People soon began to pit for tyres after about 18 laps, when Lewis Hamilton was the first to come in. He managed to come out just ahead of Alonso. There was soon a stream of cars into the pits. Pedro de la Rosa became the third retirement of the race as he pitted and it became clear there was a problem as he was wheeled into the garage. The race leader pitted on lap 24 and had built up so much of a lead that when he emerged from the pits, he was still leading.

The second safety car was deployed after Rubens Barrichello suffered a massive crash in his Williams - it appeared that something broke at the rear of his car and he hit the barrier with quite an impact and ended up facing the wrong way on the circuit. He was obviously frustrated as he threw his steering wheel onto the circuit and later when he was interviewed he said that after he pitted the car "didn't feel good" and that the "steering wheel felt numb". The third safety car was sent out on lap 44, the reason being a loose drain cover although it was obviously deemed to be safe to race again as it came in within a couple of laps. On lap 62 both Bruno Senna and Heikki Kovalainen pitted and retired from the race - another disappointing results for the new teams. Kovalainen had been suffering with problems with second gear for the entire weekend, and Lotus said it was his gearbox which caused him to retire.

With only a few laps to go the fourth and final safety car was deployed when Jarno Trulli and Karun Chandhok tangled quite spectacularly when in an overtaking attempt for position Trulli ended up going over the top of Chandhok's car. In a testament to the safety of Formula One cars both drivers were unhurt. Vitaly Petrov retired with a couple of laps to go. The Lotus and HRT cars were cleared up and the message was shown that the safety car would be going in at the end of the current lap, which also happened to be the last lap. Replays showed Michael Schumacher overtaking Alonso as Alonso got out of shape coming out of Rascasse. There appears to have been some confusion over rules regarding whether or not you can overtake in those circumstances, and the incident was taken to the FIA stewards, and a decision is not as yet known.

Webber finished the race in first, stating it to be "the greatest day of my life" with Vettel finishing in second saying he was happy with the points he had picked up as it was a "long season" and Kubica brought the Renault home in a fantastic third place. Massa finished in fourth, with Hamilton  in fifth. Alonso or Schumacher finished in sixth, which was a great drive from Alonso from the back of the pack. Nico Rosberg, Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi rounded off the points finishers. Those who didn't finish the race were Hulkenberg, Button, de la Rosa, Glock, di Grassi, Kobayashi, Barrichello, Senna, Kovalainen, Trulli, Chandhok and Petrov.

The season continues in two weeks at time in Turkey. Red Bull now lead both championships but it is still quite close at the top and all to play for.

Buy next years Monaco Grand Prix tickets here already!

Posted by Hannah Hough - Follow her on twitter @hannahhou.

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Last Comment Posted »

• Makes a change to have an Aussie on top that's for sure!

  I really do like Webber's friendly attitude as well. He comes across as a right 'bloke'...
  by Jimmy@enterF1
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