• Monaco Grand Prix

Driver-by-driver run down

Martin Williamson and Laurence Edmondson May 16, 2010 « No tyre decision in Monaco | »

Mark Webber - 1st Back-to-back race wins is a dream result for Webber and one that is absolutely deserved. The safety car period cut several of his multiple second leads to zero but he kept his head and controlled from the front. He maintained a comfortable distance from the barriers at all times but still managed to clock fastest lap after fastest lap. A fantastic drive

Sebastian Vettel - 2nd It was a good result but he will not be happy about being overshadowed by his team-mate for two races in a row. He never worried Webber ahead of him but equally did enough to control the gap to Kubica behind

Robert Kubica - 3rd Probably the most impressive driver over the course of the weekend; he pushed to the limit from the very first practice session right until the final lap. He will be disappointed with his getaway, and judging by his ability to stay within a second of Vettel throughout the race, he would have been capable of holding position had he been further up the field heading into Sainte Devote on the first lap

Felipe Massa - 4th At times he was able to keep pace with Kubica and he finished comfortably ahead of Hamilton. It was a relatively quiet race for him and the car and tyres came back to the pits in good condition

Lewis Hamilton - 5th On Saturday he said he could not have extracted anything more from the car, and the same has to be said after Sunday's race. A brake problem midway through the race meant he could not push to the limit and chase Massa, but it is worth noting that he kept a comfortable gap to Alonso as well

Fernando Alonso - 6th After starting from the grid he put together a brilliant drive through the field, passing the Virgins and Lotuses with some brave moves into the Nouvelle Chicane. A pit stop under the first safety car was crucial as it allowed him to make up positions when everybody else pitted. The downside to the strategy was that it forced him to go the whole length of the race on one set of tyres, which was no doubt a contributing factor to losing out to Schumacher in the final corner

Nico Rosberg - 7th A massively disappointing result after he showed front-running pace on Thursday and Saturday. When he had a clear track he was very quick but was prevented from gaining positions in the pit stops when he was held up by race leader Webber

Adrian Sutil - 8th Three points is a great result from 12th on the grid. He took advantage of a good start and the safety car confusion to move up the field

Tonio Liuzzi - 9th He finished where he started and will be happy with two points after two bad results in China and Spain. It was a fairly straight-forward race but he lost out to his team-mate Sutil in the pit stops

Sebastien Buemi - 10th He had a quiet race and benefitted from others' retirements to finish just inside the points (after Schumacher's penalty)

Jaime Alguersuari -11th He was last of the runners, but that is an achievement in itself for a rookie driver in Monaco. One error crept in when he lost the rear of the car into Sainte Devote and had to use the run-off area

Michael Schumacher - 12th If proof is needed that he still has the desire to race at the top level, his race in Monaco was it. He beat Rosberg off the line and then drove well in the middle of the race to keep him behind during the pit stops. But it was the last corner move on Alonso that defined his afternoon as he found himself demoted from sixth to 12th

Vitaly Petrov - DNF - mechanical A less than memorable day spent in the lower half of the field after a puncture left him a lap adrift and his team took a decision to bring him in near the end when he had technical issues and was clearly out of the points

Karun Chandhok - DNF - accident Was on course for another solid if unspectacular finish when he was shunted by Trulli and was lucky to avoid serious injury as the Lotus mounted his car

Jarno Trulli - DNF - accident Appeared on course for a finish after avoiding trouble earlier on and despite a lengthy pitstop when his mechanics struggled with a malfunctioning wheelgun , only for a moment of madness - politely described by Chandhok as a "silly move" - resulted in him wiping out both his car and the HRT

Heikki Kovalainen - DNF - Drove a good race and was in 14th, the leader among from three new teams, when he suffered problems with his steering and was forced to quit

Bruno Senna - DNF - hydraulics Solid if anonymous but was happy with the way he nursed his tyres before yet again hydraulic problems forced him out

Rubens Barrichello - DNF - suspension Leapfrogged three cars, including two Mercedes, at the start to go sixth and was looking good when a rear suspension failure caused him to crash spectacularly

Kamui Kobayashi - DNF - gearboxA decent start and then pit stops saw him in the unfamiliar position of being fifth in the race. It was a brief moment in the spotlight as he lost his gears and was forced to park up

Lucas di Grassi - DNF - wheel Ensured Virgin got more TV air time than in the previous five races combined by fighting off an increasingly angry Alonso in the early laps but returned to anonymity thereafter and retired seconds after his team sent out a "it's all up to Lucas now" message

Timo Glock- DNF - suspension A bright recovery from an iffy start as he passed di Grassi and Trulli and then sat on the tail of Kovalainen before his suspension failed

Pedro de la Rosa - DNF - hydraulics Followed team orders to keep out of trouble early on, and then as others pitted he found himself in sixth but familiar problems with hydraulics returned before the race was a third of the way through

Jenson Button - DNF - engine Admitted his engine had overheated before the start and had the safety car not come out so early he might have got away with it. A messy end to a poor few days which saw him drop from championship leader to fourth

Nico Hulkenberg- DNF - accident Appeared to suffer damage to his front spoiler in the opening corners - it seems this may have contributed to him losing control in the tunnel and crashing into the barriers at 140mph. He was fortunate to escape serious injury. He had to start from the back of the grid after ongoing clutch issues which had dogged him throughout

Martin Williamson is managing editor of digital media ESPN EMEA

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