Monaco Grand Prix 2013: Race

A bit of a change to these posts as I move to ten lap summaries. This is down to a few reasons, the main one being a short lap around Monaco leading to 1m15-16s lap times. The weather looks good today and the mixed weather of yesterday appears to have gone.

Here’s how the grid will line up for the race.

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault
4. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus-Renault
6. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
7. Sergio Perez, McLaren-Mercedes
8. Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes
9. Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes
10. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso-Ferrari
11. Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber-Ferrari
12. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso-Ferrari
13. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Renault
14. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Renault
15. Giedo van der Garde, Caterham-Renault
16. Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Renault
17. Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes
18. Charles Pic, Caterham-Renault
19. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber-Ferrari
20. Jules Bianchi, Marussia-Cosworth
21. Felipe Massa, Ferrari *
22. Max Chilton, Marussia-Cosworth *

* Five-place gearbox penalty

The Mercedes’ will look to dominate the race from the front – I would want one of my cars to storm away from the front with the other holding pack back! However, how likely that is, we will see. Overtaking is virtually impossible on this tight, narrow street circuit.

Laps 1-10:

Jules Bianchi’s weekend gets worse as he did not get away from the grid on the formation lap – he is pushed off the grid. Some contact on the first lap as Maldonado comes in with a damaged front wing with van der Garde. Button complains that team-mate Perez cut the chicane on the opening lap. “He’s got to stoop turning in on me guys,” he says. There are very few position changes across the field. On lap 9, Pic slowed in the Caterham. He stopped and the car caught fire. Since his car in at the entrance of the pit lane there is potential for a safety car, but nothing comes of that. As this happens, di Resta has been into the pits and taken on a set of soft tyres and he rejoins in 19th. The midfield is still around 10-15 seconds off Mercedes’ lead.

Laps 11-20:

Button has managed to overtake Perez, with Button now catching Alonso. The field is still tightly together, so that any stop would drop someone down the field too much. Not much  is going on. Di Resta now moves through ahead of Chilton and up into 17th spot. Vettel is now 4.1 seconds off the lead, caring for his rubber, while Alonso is now clocked 11.1s behind leader Rosberg. Other than di Resta passing the Marussia cars, positions remain static through the field as everyone wonders who will blink first and come in for a stop.

Laps 21-30:

Rosberg continues to lead. Vettel is catching Hamilton’s Mercedes in third. A gap has formed further down the field between Hulkenberg and Bottas in 10th and 11th. Webber makes the first significant stop, resumingi n that gap. Di Resta passes Massa into the first corner. Raikkonen, Button, Massa and others also pit between laps 26 and 28. Hulkenberg now pits from eighth, further releasing Webber for a push on his fresh rubber. Sutil is up to sixth spot now with Vergne seventh, Webber eighth, Raikkonen ninth and Button 10th. Felipe Massa crashes at the first corner once again – he did so in practice yesterday too in a carbon copy of the crash – leading to double waved yellows and a flurry of pit stops for those who hadn’t already.

Laps 31-40:

The safety car has been deployed for the first time this year. Mercedes may or may not benefit from this though as they still need to pit. As they do, Rosberg retains the lead, but Hamilton drops down to fourth. The safety car remains on the track as Massa sits down and collects his thoughts, while the FIA doctors remain on the scene. Rosberg leads, Vettel is ahead of Webber in third with Hamilton in fourth. Raikkonen is fifth in the train with Alonso sixth, Button seventh, Perez eighth, Sutil ninth Vergne 10th, di Resta 11th and Hulkenberg 12th. Ricciardo is down in 13th place with Grosjean 14th, Bottas 15th, Chilton 16th, Gutierrez 17th, Maldonado 18th, Bianchi 19th and van der Garde 20th. The safety car was out from lap 31 to 38. The restart leads to little change in the order – Hamilton keeps trying to overtake Webber.

Laps 41-50:

Hamilton again looks for a move on Webber at Tabac, with that pair in a raging battle, the scrap continues around Rascasse as Hamilton attempts a bold move, but Webber defends brilliantly and the pair remain third and fourth. The field is once more tightly together, nose to tail all the down to Ricciardo 13th. Perez dive bombs Button, his team-mate, into the chicane, taking over seventh place. The close following racing continues – there are little touches here and there, but no damage to any of the protagonists – yet.Rosberg leads by 1.5 seconds over Vettel with Webber chased by Hamilton then the scrap between Raikkonen and Alonso. An accident between Maldonado and Chilton on lap 46 leads to a red flag, race suspension. Chilton was attempting to pass Maldonado on the run to Tabac. The pair made contact and Maldonado was launched into the barrier. Bianchi was immediately behind them – he couldn’t avoid running into them and made it back to the pitlane with a damaged front wing.

The race will resume twenty minutes after it was red flagged.

Ferrari Tweets about Massa’s condition:

Massa is allright, currently undergoing some checkups. The race will resart in 10 minutes.

— Scuderia Ferrari (@InsideFerrari) May 26, 2013

When restarting after a red flag, teams are free to change tyres on the grid, super-soft looks like the choice for the top six as the safety car leads the field away to allow the mechanics time to clear the grid. Perez is being allowed past Alonso to correct that chicane-cutting defence. As the safety car pulls in, the positions remain static as everyone is behaving well. Chilton has been given a drive-through penalty by the stewards for causing that collision with Maldonado.

Laps 51-60

The field remains tightly together – 11 seconds cover the first 17. Adrian Sutil becomes very bold, forcing his Force India through into eighth position. He manages the same feat again, as he moves passed Alonso. Rosberg is now 3.2 seconds clear of Vettel, who appears to be taking it easy at the moment with Red Bull still warning of marginal tyres.

Laps 61-70:

Bianchi is out of the race. His front brakes were showing signs of serious wear and he has spun out of the race at Ste Devote. The accident was covered by yellow flags. Lap 63 and another safety car is deployed after contact between Grosjean and Ricciardo. Grosjean attempted to pass the Toro Rosso by running over the top of it out of the tunnel. Grosjean made it back to the pits and has taken on a new front wing, before rejoining.  But Ricciardo’s car is extensively damaged and is out of the race. Rosberg is still the leader behind the safety car. Raikkonen is told that water is being lost from his engine due to overheating,  we’ll have to see how he goes. The safety car was out between laps 63 and 67. Once again, the restart has no incidents.

Laps 71-78:

So, a sprint to the finish. Raikkonen and Perez try to be in the same place as each other. Perez tags Raikkonen’s rear left tyre with his wing causing a puncture, Perez has clanged his front wing on the inside barrier but appears to be continuing for the moment. He battles with Sutil but runs out of grip and pulls off to retire. So now we have Rosberg four seconds clear of Vettel, with Webber third and Hamilton still on his tail. Sutil has taken advantage of all the little incidents and is into fifth spot, with Button sixth, Alonso seventh and Vergne eighth. Di Resta is ninth with Raikkonen 10th, Hulkenberg 11th, Bottas 12th with Gutierrez in 13th. Nico Rosberg becomes the first son of a famous father to win this race.

Overall, not a great race at all. The incidents spiced things up a bit – Grosjean and Ricciardo came to blows at the chicane, while Bianchi retired in the pits after that huge shunt between Maldonado and Chilton. Massa crashed heavily again at Ste. Devote and Pic was the first retirement from this afternoon’s encounter.

Provisional Results

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 2:17:52.056
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault, +3.8s
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing-Renault, +6.3s
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +13.8s
5. Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes, +21.4s
6. Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes, +23.1s
7. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, +26.7s
8. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, +27.2s
9. Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes, +27.6s
10. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus-Renault, +36.5s
11. Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber-Ferrari, +42.5s
12. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Renault, +42.6s
13. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber-Ferrari, +43.2s
14. Max Chilton, Marussia-Cosworth, +49.8s
15. Giedo van der Garde, Caterham-Renault, +62.5s
16. Sergio Perez, McLaren-Mercedes, +6 Laps

Not classified:

• Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Renault, Accident damage
• Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, Accident
• Jules Bianchi, Marussia-Cosworth, +20 Laps
• Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Renault, Accident
• Felipe Massa, Ferrari, Accident
• Charles Pic, Caterham-Renault, +71 Laps

Note – Bianchi and Massa failed to set a qualifying time within the 107% requirement. Both race at stewards’ discretion. Massa and Chilton (originally qualified 20th) took five-place grid penalties for gearbox change.