F1 News
Date: 27/May/2012
Mark Webber became the sixth different winner in as many 2012 F1 races with a tense victory in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.
The Australian, who began the world’s most glamorous motor race without a podium this season, maximised a pole position inherited from Michael Schumacher to take the lead into turn one.
Barring a shuffling of the order during pit stops, the Red Bull driver remained in command - but was kept in check by Nico Rosberg for most of the 78-laps around the steel-lined street circuit.
“The start was key, the pitstop was key, both of them went well,” said Webber. “I did a little bit of work in between and we got an incredible victory that I’m very, very happy with. Nico kept me honest. I had him under control, but he drove well.”
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Webber’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel homed-in on the leading pair in the closings stages - as drizzle began to fall - and the quartet crossed the finish line covered by just 1.3sec!
Webber explained the challenge he faced in the closing laps: “It’s always tricky when you’re the first guy arriving into corners and it’s sprinkling with rain.
“On other tracks you wouldn’t have to back off so much, but all of a sudden the car is wheel spinning, the front’s not biting, and around this place that’s not very encouraging.
“Particularly when you’re in the lead with only ten minutes to go. So it required me to really, really control the race and get the car home.”
A student of F1 history, Webber didn’t allow himself to relax until he exited the final turn.
“I watched the 1983 or ’82 Monaco Grand Prix. Prost was leading with two laps to go and he crashed,” explained Webber. “So you never get ahead of yourself around here, because you’ll get bitten in the arse really hard.
“After the last corner was when I thought I was going to win. That’s Monaco.”
Shanghai winner Rosberg began the race alongside Webber on the front row of the grid and held second place for much of the race.
“My engineer and my team gave me a great start - the problem was Mark had a great start too,” he said. “And from then on Mark drove a really, really good race,
“I was hoping I might get a chance at the end, but my tyres were really struggling and also I had Fernando behind me.”
The final place on the podium went to Alonso, who has now broken free of reigning double champion Vettel by three points at the head of the standings.
The Spaniard initially relished the prospect of rain as a possible chance for victory.
“20 laps to the end they said ‘maybe rain is coming’. And I said, ’If rain is coming we have to attack’. There is always a better chance to overtake in the wet than in the dry. We were ready to take a risk, because victory in Monaco means a lot.”
But the ‘real’ rain never materialised and the spots that fell in the closing stages were the last thing the drivers needed.
“Five or six laps to the end with the drops of rain that we had, I think we were all praying ‘no more rain’ because it was so difficult,” said Alonso.
“You don’t know how the next corner will be. You have a little snap, a little problem in the corner before, you see all the drops on the visor on the straight and when you approach the next corner at 250kph, how wet will that corner be? You never know.
“At that point, five laps to the end, we all, I think, wanted to keep positions and finish the race as we were,” he confessed.
Reflecting on his leadership of the title chase, Alonso added:
“Our target obviously was to finish in front of Sebastian, in front of Lewis - they were nearest in the World Championship. And if you go race by race you concentrate on different drivers. The next one will be Mark, now he’s second in the championship.”
A canny tyre strategy helped Vettel lead for 15 laps during the middle stages, fuelling his rise to fourth from ninth on the grid. Vettel and team-mate Webber are now equal on points.
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Felipe Massa (Ferrari) were also within sight of victory in fifth and sixth.
Webber joins Jenson Button (McLaren), Alonso, Vettel and Pastor Maldonado (Williams) in winning a race this season.
The likes of former world champions Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) and Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) will be seeking to extend that list to a ‘magnificent seven’ in the Canadian Grand Prix on June 10.
“You never know,” said Webber of a seventh winner.
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