World Champion – Sebastian Vettel

World champion Sebastian Vettel won his first Monaco Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday when he was awarded for a Red Bull tyre gamble and got some late help from a 20 minute suspension.

Vettel managed to keep Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button at bay with 56 laps on one set of tyres before the suspension after a crash from Vitaly Petrov which allowed him to change rubbers for the final six of total 78 laps.

Alonso finished Ferrari’s best season result ranking in the second place with two stops and Jenson salvaged pride for McLaren in third place with three stops as team-mate Lewis Hamilton completed sixth place.

Vettel now is leading the individual championship table with 143 points from five victories and a second place as he received the trophy from Prince Albert. Following him is Hamilton with 85 points, Webber with 79, Button with 76 and Alonso with 69.

Vettel handily won the start from Button while Alonso stole third place from Webber and Michael Schumacher dropped from fifth to ninth after brief contact with a wall.

Vettel shot away quickly while his main title rival Lewis Hamilton was stranded in 10th place and held up badly by Schumacher’s inferior Mercedes whose rear tyres started graining early on and making the situation difficult for competitors near him. Hamilton finally managed to get past the Mercedes in the 10th lap on the inside but by then Vettel was already 24 seconds ahead of him.

This race also involved bad crew performances by big names. Vettel’s stop was marred by a sticky tyre blanket. Webber’s stop was even worse for similar reasons and Hamilton’s frustration grew when the McLaren crew was also not at their best.

Vettel won the restart but was soon under pressure from Alonso and even Button was closing in after a third tyre change in the 48th lap. Ferrari and McLaren were unsure whether Vettel would attempt to finish the race with the hard tyres applied in the 16th lap, and the Champion and his team had exactly the same plans. But suddenly things went wrong ahead of them in an accident involving several drivers including Jaime Alguersari, Adrian Sutil and Petrov.

Petrov had to be rescued by medical staff and was taken to hospital for which the race was halted. Renault tam principal later stated that he was fine except some leg bruises.

Two teams took the advantage of the suspension and were allowed to change tyres. This allowed Vettel to cruise home with the trophy!

Tags: F1, Fernando Alonso, Formula 1, Jenson Button, Monaco Formula One Grand Prix, Motor Sports, Motorsports, Sebastian Vettel, World Champion