2012 Monaco GP: Webber wins, sixth winner in the sixth race

Mark Webber won the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix from pole position. Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes and Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari finished second and third. The Australian in the Red Bull led the entire race apart from the pit stop phase. In the closing laps, on an increasingly wet track, he kept a tightly packed queue of cars behind him. It meant that, for the first time in the history of the World Championship, the first six races of a season had produced six different winners.

The fastest time in qualifying was actually set by Michael Schumacher with 1:14.301. However, he had been handed a five-place grid penalty for his collision with Bruno Senna at the Spanish GP and started sixth. That promoted Webber to pole. Right at the back were two drivers who had endured difficult weekends: Sergio Pérez had crashed heavily at the Swimming Pool in the first part of qualifying and started the race from 23rd. Pastor Maldonado picked up penalties for a clash with Pérez in the third free practice session and for a gearbox change, and started from last (source 2).

Webber made a good getaway and turned into the first corner ahead of Rosberg. Behind them, there was contact. Romain Grosjean in the Lotus touched Alonso. He then ended up alongside Schumacher and ran his left rear wheel over the front of the Mercedes. With broken suspension, the Lotus spun sideways across the track. Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber was hit by the rear wheel of the Lotus and launched into the air, right next to the McLaren of Jenson Button. At the back of the field, Maldonado braked too late and ran into the HRT of Pedro de la Rosa (sources 2, 4).

Grosjean, Maldonado and de la Rosa did not make it beyond the first lap. All three are listed with the status “Accident”. Kobayashi had to pit on the opening lap and retired after five laps with damage from the start crash. The Safety Car was deployed briefly. Sebastian Vettel made contact with his front wing in the melee but escaped without damage (source 2).

Rain was forecast for the second half of the race, so nobody wanted to switch to fresh tyres too early. Anyone who stopped then and later needed wet tyres would have wasted a stop. In the end, every driver in the top ten made do with a single stop (source 3).

Vettel had not set a timed lap in Q3. That left him free to choose his tyres, and he started ninth on the soft tyres, the harder of the two compounds that weekend (sources 2, 4). Rosberg kicked off the round of stops on lap 27. Webber and Lewis Hamilton followed on lap 29. Ferrari kept Alonso out for one more lap. He briefly led the race on lap 29, pitted on lap 30 and rejoined ahead of Hamilton. That cost the McLaren driver a podium. Felipe Massa then led briefly until he pitted on lap 31.

From lap 31, Vettel, who had yet to stop, was in the lead. He set quick times on his used tyres and waited for the rain, which was a long time coming. Webber, however, kept the gap under control (source 3). When Vettel stopped on lap 46, he rejoined in fourth, ahead of Hamilton. From lap 46 Webber led again, and he did not give up the lead until the finish.

Light rain began to fall in the last ten laps, and the asphalt became slippery (source 3). A proper shower that would have turned the race on its head never arrived, though (source 4). Webber made no mistakes on the slippery track. Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton and Massa followed him nose to tail, but overtaking was almost impossible in the narrow streets of Monte Carlo. At the flag, just 0.643 seconds separated Webber and Rosberg. Alonso was 0.947 seconds back, Vettel 1.343 seconds. Hamilton finished 4.101 seconds behind, Massa 6.195 seconds (source 2).

Further back, there were several retirements:

• Michael Schumacher reported problems from lap 59 and parked the Mercedes after 63 laps with a loss of fuel pressure (sources 2, 3).
• Charles Pic (Marussia) retired after 64 laps, according to source 2 with an electrical problem.
• Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) retired after 65 laps, according to source 2 with a steering problem.
• Jenson Button was stuck behind the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen for a long time. While attempting to pass, he touched Kovalainen, spun and retired after 70 laps. Official reason: “Collision” (sources 3, 4).
• Vitaly Petrov in the second Caterham had already retired after 15 laps with an electrical problem.

Jean-Éric Vergne was the only driver to gamble on intermediates (source 2). According to our data, he pitted for them on lap 70 from seventh place. The switch cost him all his points; he finished twelfth, a lap down.

Winners:

• Sergio Pérez gained twelve places from 23rd on the grid and set the fastest lap of the race. His race was still a bumpy one, though: he had to serve a drive-through penalty and finished eleventh, a lap down and out of the points (source 4).
• Paul di Resta gained seven places, bringing his Force India home seventh from 14th on the grid. Teammate Nico Hülkenberg finished eighth, giving the team ten points.
• Narain Karthikeyan also moved up seven places. In the HRT he finished fifteenth, two laps down.
• Vettel and Timo Glock (Marussia) each gained five places. Thanks to his strategy, Vettel finished fourth from ninth on the grid. Glock crossed the line in fourteenth.
• Bruno Senna finished tenth to score the only point for Williams.

Losers:

• Romain Grosjean, starting fourth on the grid, was Lotus's best hope. He went out at the first corner, losing 20 places. Kimi Räikkönen salvaged only two points in ninth.
• Michael Schumacher first lost pole because of the penalty and then all his points with the retirement.
• Lewis Hamilton dropped from third on the grid to fifth after the pit stop.

Third place put Alonso at the top of the 2012 standings. He had 76 points, three more than Vettel and Webber, who had 73 each. With his win, Webber jumped from fifth to third. Behind them came Hamilton on 63, Rosberg on 59 and Räikkönen on 51 points. In the constructors' standings, Red Bull extended their lead: 146 points to McLaren's 108. Ferrari and Lotus were level on 86 points each.

The race fitted into a crazy season. After Button, Alonso, Rosberg, Vettel and Maldonado, Webber was the sixth different winner in the sixth race. That had never happened before in the Formula 1 World Championship (sources 2, 3). It was Webber's second win in Monaco after 2010 and his first victory since the 2011 Brazilian GP (source 2). The race was not spectacular, with hardly any overtaking at the front. Webber won it with his start, mistake-free laps in the drizzle and a well-timed pit stop. You can find all the results and lap data on our race page for the 2012 Monaco GP.