Webber wins again in Monaco

FORMULA ONE:MARK WEBBER celebrated the eighth win of his Formula One career as history was made in yesterday's Monaco Grand Prix.

For the second time in three years Webber triumphed around the streets of the principality, leading home a train at the end of the 78 laps as the top six were covered by only a few seconds.

Significantly, and for the first time in F1’s 62 years, the season has now witnessed six different winners in the opening six races.

Webber was followed home by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, the reigning champion Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari.

“My start was one of the worst I’ve had in a long time,” Hamilton said.

With drivers favouring a one-stop tyre strategy on the most difficult track for overtaking, Webber effectively needed to make it to the first corner in front and then negotiate a clean pit stop. “When days like this come along you can’t afford to let them go,” Webber said. “You have to grab them with both hands and feet and hold on like hell . . . in 1983 [Alain] Prost led with two laps to go and crashed, so you never get carried away here.”

The 35-year-old Australian beat Rosberg by 0.6sec and Alonso by 0.9. “I’m feeling incredible,” Webber said. Alonso, who is bidding for his third F1 title, headed into the race level on 61 points with Vettel, the defending champion. He now leads Vettel and Webber by three points.

“It’s interesting to see the constant surprises we’re having this season, you never know who’s going to be in pole and win the race,” Alonso said. “It’s difficult in Monaco, but we managed the traffic.” Several drivers failed to finish, including Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher. Vettel drove brilliantly to finish fourth, after starting ninth, and Red Bull’s clever strategy of keeping him on the same set of tires for 46 laps worked to perfection.

“It was an amazing day for the team,” Webber said. “It’s great to win here twice, fair and square off the pole position.” Webber clenched a fist as he crossed the finish line ahead of Rosberg. “Unfortunately it didn’t come together perfectly, but I’m happy with second place overall,” Rosberg said. “I hope there’s a lot more to come from the next few races, it’s just nice to see how we’re progressing.”

(78 Laps): 1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1hr 46mins 06.557secs, 2 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:46:07.200, 3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:46:07.504, 4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:46:07.900, 5 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:46:10.658, 6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:46:12.752, 7 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:46:48.094, 8 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India 1:46:49.119, 9 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 1:46:50.593, 10 Bruno Senna (Bra) Williams 1:46:51.073, 11 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari at 1 Lap, 12 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 13 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Caterham at 1 Lap, 14 Timo Glock (Ger) Marussia at 1 Lap, 15 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 at 2 Laps, 16 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren at 8 Laps. Not Classified: 17 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 65 Laps completed, 18 Charles Pic (Fra) Marussia 64 Laps completed, 19 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 63 Laps completed, 20 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Caterham 15 Laps completed, 21 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 5 Laps completed, 22 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) HRT-F1 0 Laps completed, 23 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 0 Laps completed, 24 Romain Grosjean (Swi) Lotus F1 Team 0 Laps completed World Championship Standings: 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 76pts, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 73, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 73, 4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 63, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 59, 6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin).