Well there you go, just how much to I know about F1 then. On the strength of the Monaco result, not a hell of a lot.
So much for "There's no way Redbull can win here ...... Webber won't even make the top 10 hardy har har. He’s a bit rubbish etc etc" Apparently he's rather good and can indeed defy expectation and win back to back races which is a first. But you know what, he did it. Now you could argue that had Alonso not attempted to crash test the Ferrari on Saturday morning so that he needed a new car for Sunday, then Webber might have a had to do a bit more work. But the fact is, Webber didn't hit the Armoco and Alonso did. Not so Teflon now are you Mr. Spanish bloke. Thus the Magic of Monaco is displayed for all to see. You kiss the metal work here, you don't give it a good hard smack and tell it to come round the hotel room later. Lady luck doesn't like that kind of thing, she's an old fashioned lass that likes to see a good time before the sweaty business can begin.
1st for Webber who takes the keys to lady lucks room for another weekend, this sort of thing can lead to World Championships if your not careful. Let's see if he can keep the roll going. He was fast when it counted, controlled the race during the safety car periods as other got it all wrong. Then calmly drove off into the wide blue yonder, leaving the rest to mess round in his wheel tracks. I guess he had a pretty boring race, because I didn't see that much of him.
Vettel get's 2nd this time around, he's going to be wondering what happen to the Wunderkind tag he had at the start of the year. Okay yeah, he's second, but he's supposed to be the team leader here, the young gun going for the win at all cost. Not one being shown the way home by the old guy waiting to get fired and move on to some mid field Jonny Nobody effort. However Vettel is second, he's now joint first in the championship with Webber, so he must be doing something right. It's just you get the feeling that Vettel is second because he got the best car on the grid, not because he's the best driver on the grid.
3rd up on the podium is a rather surprising Kubica. He was there all weekend. He didn't look like he was going to win it, but the Pole was within his grasp until Webber found an empty lap and nailed the Redbull to the front row spot. Kubica beat the other Redbull of Vettel to the front row of the grid though and that's very telling. Look where Petrov was all weekend and you can tell that Kubica made the difference here. I don't think he's going to get close to the top step for the rest of the season, but he'll have done his Ferrari chances no harm at all this weekend.
Massa 4th and untroubled by anything like racing. Drove the car and didn't crash, oh well.
Hamilton starts and finishes in 5th, which you have to regard as a bit of a failure. Kubica took a rubbish car to the podium by spanking it. Hamilton just didn't seem to get on top of the car and drive it forward. McLaren brought him early to make sure he stayed ahead of Alonso driving back from last please. But after than he couldn't get close enough to Massa to put a move on him, despite two safety cars. So I think Hamilton will be wondering where the win is going to come from this year, because Monaco should have been there for the taking.
Now 6th is Alonso who did a pretty good job of driving from the back of the grid to the top 10. He had a bit of luck after cocking it all up on Saturday morning, with safety car and other drivers screwing up during the race. But on the last lap under the safety car, he was passed by Mickey Schumacher. Ferrari where incensed by that and claimed the race was still under safety car rules even though the green flag was being waved and the track was officially clear. But the FIA being the FIA said :
"Under rule 40.13, which states that "if the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking," Schumacher has been given a penalty."
This I guess is to allow sponsors to have their cars cross the line without an unsightly Mercedes safety car getting in the way of the money shot. Why the safety car has to peel off and why the safety car line is at the pit entrance not the start finish like it always used to be, is anyone's guess. So there you go. Mickey gets a 20 second penalty (instead of a drive through) and gets bumped all the way back to nowhere. Meanwhile Alonso just about saves the day with a drive back to the top 10, but he was good enough for pole and the win was there for the taking. Webber would certainly have to have worked a bit harder.
7th For Rosberg who was beaten by his team mate again, until the FIA interviened. He felt he had a car capable of winning, but failed to find the clear lap and then didn't really get going in the race. I think he talked a good weekend, but the reality was less then stellar really.
8th. Sutil hmmm normally goes well here, but didn't really trouble the goose bumps all weekend. Made places up off the line that settled back to a few hours racing.
9th for Liuzzi. jolly good
and 10th goes to Buemi after Mickey get's hit with the FIA ban hammer of doom. Well done to him.
Meanwhile its a sorry tail of woe in the Tail and Charlie challenge. Not one of them make it to the line this week. Unbelievably, HRT and Chandhok was showing the Lotus of Trulli the way home. No I don't believe it either. Maybe, just Maybe, Chandhok has done himself the power of good on the best drivers circuit out there. But then the waste of space that is Trulli felt the need to pull a do or die move with 3 laps to go and overtake Chandhok in the most random place available. Chandhok had no idea the Trulli was coming up the inside of him and they dully collided, sending Trulli over the top of the very surprised Indian and in to the Armco. The sooner Trulli retires, the better. Which all means that none of the Tail end Charlies finished this week.
So it's starting to look like Redbull might be running a benefit gig year. They appear to have the fastest cars on the slowly twisty stuff and the long fast stuff. which covers all the tracks. Baring the reliability gremlin of course.
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