Mark Webber delivers quite an exemplary display of consistency. Finishing within the top-5 in five of the last six races, the Australian racing driver clinches another win at the historic Monaco Grand Prix, his second victory at the Principality in three years. Commendable efforts from Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso round off the podium.
In stark contrast, the 2012 Formula 1 season isn't even halfway through its 20 Grands Prix racing schedule, but it is already shaping to be one of the most exciting and unpredictable seasons in modern motorsports. After Mark Webber's Monaco victory, the 2012 season claims its sixth different winner in only the first six grand prix races, a first in Formula 1 history.
In supreme form, Mark Webber led the race from the start, piloting his No. 2 Red Bull RB8 in a measured pace to synchronize team strategies that sealed his win. While Webber had the race under control, the win didn't come easy. The top six finishing cars, from Webber to Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, and finally Massa, thundered through the narrow streets of the Principality from nose-to-tail for the final 10 laps of the race.
With light rain thrown in for good measure, the intense final laps only separated the top five drivers by a mere three seconds. BBC Formula 1 commentator David Coulthard remarked, "It's been world class driving from all of them - on the trickiest circuit, I have not seen a mistake from any of these guys."
Into the first corner of the first lap, Webber maintained his position, and was closely followed by Rosberg, Hamilton and Alonso. During the initial stint, Webber managed to pull a two second lead ahead of the pack and control the gap, while Alonso's Ferrari slowly began to drop back as the Spaniard concentrated in managing tire wear instead.
The first series of pit stops revealed the dividends of Alonso's conservative driving. As Rosberg returned to the pits on lap 27 and Webber and Hamilton stopped on lap 29, Alonso's Ferrari managed to say out for an extra lap, pulling the fastest two sectors at that point of the race. This placed Alonso ahead of Hamilton after the first round of pit stops were completed.
Commenting on his race result, Alonso explained, "The target was to try to finish in front of Sebastian and Lewis as they are with us in the championship... We took Hamilton at the stop with a perfect time and a perfect stop again, so well done to the team."
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel started ninth on the grid on a more durable set of 'soft' tires to make the jump to sixth place at the start. However, a dramatic concertina effect at the first corner forced Sebestian into the escape road in order to avoid an accident causted by Romain Grosjean of Lotus and Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes.
A race to forget for seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, the German was penalized with a five-place grid penalty for causing a crash during the previous race in Spain. Slipping into eighth in the opening lap and pushed against the wall by Grosjean, Schumacher eventually dropped out without a single point in the books when an engine problem caused him to retire on lap 64.
Final results would move Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne, Force India's Paul Di Resta and NicoHulkenberg, Lotus-Renault's Kimi Raikkonen, and Williams driver Bruno Senna to complete the top 10 finishers.
Celebrating his win, Mark Webber shared his emotions after the race, "I'm feeling incredible.... It's an amazing day for the team, myself and really happy to have won here again."
Marking the first time Formula 1 has ever delivered six different winner in as many races, the motorsport journalists of crash.net are wondering the odds that the upcoming Grand Prix in Montreal, Canada would produce a seventh winner. Veteran Formula 1 champions Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen have yet to bag a win in 2012, but the pair are poised for massive results in the races ahead.
