Red Bull’s Webber Wins Monaco Grand Prix; Alonso Leads Standings
May 30 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Olivia Sterns reports on the success of Formula One's Red Bull racing team and sponsorship in the sport. (Source: Bloomberg)
Mark Webber of Red Bull won the Monaco Grand Prix yesterday for the second time in three seasons after controlling the race from pole position.
Nico Rosberg of Mercedes was runner-up, less than a second behind, and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso came third after 78 laps of the Monte Carlo street circuit. Alonso took the lead in the Formula One drivers’ standings.
It was Webber’s first victory in 2012 and the eighth of the Australian’s career. It’s the first time six different drivers have won the first six races of the season, and it was the third straight victory at Monaco for Red Bull.
“I feel incredible. It was a very interesting race, reasonably straightforward at the start, just managing the gap to Nico,” Webber, 35, said at the post-race news conference. “It was a matter of trying to build a gap before and after the pit stops.”
Overtaking at Monaco is traditionally difficult because of the narrow track, and even amid some rain near the end Webber managed to hold off his rivals. The first six cars were bunched within seven seconds as they took the checkered flag.
Mercedes’s Michael Schumacher, a five-time winner in Monaco, set the fastest qualifying time but didn’t take pole position yesterday as he was penalized five places for an incident at the previous grand prix in Barcelona.
Webber, the 2010 Monaco winner, made a good start, ahead of Rosberg and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, second and third on the grid. The Ferraris of Alonso and Felipe Massa were fourth and fifth in the early stages.
Pit Stops
Romain Grosjean’s Lotus and the Williams of Pastor Maldonado, winner of the Spanish Grand Prix, were involved in early collisions and left the race as the safety car came out.
A round of pit stops left Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel leading, as he planned to take a later tire-change, and the German took a 15.8-second lead over teammate Webber by halfway. Then followed Rosberg, Alonso and Hamilton.
A 46th-lap pit stop saw Vettel come out in fourth spot, just ahead of Hamilton and behind leader Webber, Rosberg and Alonso. That proved to set the pattern of the lead for the rest of the race.
By lap 65, some spots of rain began to fall but Webber continued to control the race with a 0.8 second advantage on Rosberg. Meanwhile Schumacher pulled out with a mechanical problem.
Alonso Leads
The field began to bunch up with 10 laps to go as the track became more damp. Then the pace increased as the rain eased, but Webber maintained his concentration throughout and gave a mistake-free performance.
Vettel finished fourth and Hamilton fifth. Massa, Force India duo Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg, Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus and Williams’s Bruno Senna completed the scoring positions.
“I got a good start, but so did Mark. He was very controlled and for me it was a matter of tire-management,” Rosberg told reporters. “I was a bit surprised how strong we were in qualifying and in the race. We probably had the fastest car out there and we are making progress all the time.”
Alonso leads the standings on 76 points, followed by Red Bull’s Vettel and Webber on 73. Then come Hamilton (63), Rosberg (59), Raikkonen (51) and Jenson Button of McLaren (45).
“The target was to try to finish in front of Sebastian and Lewis as they are with us in the championship,” Alonso said. “If you go race by race, you aim to finish ahead of different drivers. Now it is Mark, it will be interesting.”
Red Bull tops the constructors’ event on 146 points, with McLaren on 108, and Ferrari and Lotus on 86.
The next event in the 20-race season is the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on June 10.
To contact the reporter on this story: Peter-Joseph Hegarty in London at phegarty@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Elser at celser@bloomberg.net
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