? German claims fifth win in six races ahead of Alonso
? Button denied final challenge as Petrov is taken to hospital
The Monaco Grand Prix is traditionally the one with more blue blood than red. It is held at a venue renowned for its extravagance but the racing is normally anything but excessive and sometimes a bit of a yawn, however challenging it is for the drivers.
The average speed, of under 90mph, is less than some people are prepared to use on the motorways. Overtaking, by common consent, is a rare and beautiful thing and even incidents are few in this procession, this multi-coloured train.
There are exceptions, such as in 1982, when rain struck with three laps to go with devastating results; and on Sunday we had another. There were crashes, safety cars, drive-through penalties and even ? wait for it ? cars actually passing each other. One driver, Vitaly Petrov, went to hospital, joining Sergio P�rez, who had crashed in qualifying the previous day, though the Russian was not seriously hurt.
The only thing that could be described as usual was that Sebastian Vettel won in the Red Bull, for the fifth time in six races, to pull out a lead of 58 points which already looks unassailable. It was his first win through these famous streets.
Monaco, the old Dowager of Vroom, was always likely to look down her patrician nose at Formula One's latest innovations ? DRS, Kers and Pirelli's magically disappearing tyres, none of which had a profound effect on this race.
However, she lifted her skirts as if to join all the boat people, the champagne-guzzling yacht dwellers, who were revelling under one of the C�te d'Azur's postcard skies, and gave us some more traditional racing thrills.
The race should have been even better than it was. With 20 laps to go it appeared to be heading for a thrilling climax. Vettel was leading but on tyres so hoary they were about to "fall off a cliff", according to rival teams. Fernando Alonso, one of the most feared sights in any racer's rear-view, had hunted him down in the Ferrari and was about to move in for the kill. McLaren's Jenson Button, on relatively new rubber, was gaining fast on both cars.
Then the three world champions hit traffic or rather traffic hit them. Adrian Sutil struck a barrier emerging from Tabac and suffered a puncture and struggled to control his Force India car. Jaime Alguersuari also crashed into the back of Lewis Hamilton and Petrov, attempting to avoid the mayhem, put his car into the wall like a Stuka dive-bomber.
The flags came out and the safety car emerged for the second time in the afternoon. Only half a dozen laps remained after the track had finally been cleared.
This amounted to a sprint but not an exciting one for Vettel was allowed to change his hoary rubber and went on to win with some comfort. His eventual winning margin was 1.1 seconds, ahead of Alonso, who was a similar time clear of Button.
Red Bull, in general, and Vettel, in particular, are hardly in need of good fortune but this was their second fat slice of it in two days. On Saturday Vettel's pole position had been assisted by Perez's late crash in qualifying.
Button, looking for his first win since April last year, had even more reason to grieve over the appearance of the first safety car, midway through the race, when he was not only winning but doing so with some style. Ironically this followed an incident between his team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa.
Red Bull are the slickest tyre-changers in the business but on Sunday they botched pit-stops involving both Vettel and Mark Webber, so their ultimate triumph was all the more fortunate.
There is nothing fortunate about the fact that they lead the constructors' championship by 61 points, however. McLaren showed some real pace this weekend, and Alonso displayed flashes of the great champion he undoubtedly is. But Vettel is surely now only weeks away from having his second title wrapped up.
"Winning here is easy," Sir Jackie Stewart had said over brunch in the morning; and as he won the thing three times perhaps he should know. It was a delightful part of the build-up to this sporting occasion-cum-fashion parade, in which Stewart regaled his audience with memories of visiting David Niven in his pink palace, just along the coast in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, not to mention recollections of Grace Kelly, Cary Grant and Muhammad Ali.
But this was not easy for Vettel. The only pity was that second safety car ? not only for Alonso and Button, as well as the crowd, but for Vettel too in a way.
For if he had been able to hold off the other two, with his rubber fast melting beneath him, it would have gone down as one of the greatest of this remarkable driver's 14 victories.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/may/29/sebastian-vettel-monaco-grand-prix
Qatar Entertainment Asia Simon Barker Arsenal Blackburn Rovers
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