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Monaco   24-27 May 2012
Grand Prix de Monaco
Circuit de Monaco Monte Carlo, Monaco
Race Distance: 78 laps, 260.520 km

The Monaco Grand Prix has been around since 1929 and has evolved into not just the most spectacular race of the F1 calendar, but perhaps the most amazing race in all of motorsports.

The course has remained nearly unchanged since the inception of the event resulting in a narrow, bumpy course where the cars race wheel to wheel mere inches away from the Armco walls. The course is so tight, the teams are forces to use one-off suspension designs to get around the tightest hairpin of the season.

Vettel continued his domination of the 2011 season with a win from pole in Monaco, fighting off hard challenges from Alonso and Button along the way who take 2nd and 3rd in a race with several red-flag periods.
Mercedes steals the show with both Schumacher, a Monaco expert, and Rosberg in the top 3. However, Schumacher will take a 5 spot penalty for causing a collision in the previous race, putting Webber who set the 2nd fastest time on the poll position.

Hamilton qualifies 4th, with Grosjean in 5th. The two Ferraris start 6th and 7th with Alonso ahead of Massa. Vettel chooses not to run in Q3 in order to have his choice of tires at the start of the race, while Button fails to even make the final session.

The top 10 qualifiers in Monaco:
MSC* WEB ROS HAM GRO ALO MAS RAI MAL** VET HUL
* 5 spot penalty
** 10 spots penalty for collision in practice + 5 more spots for a gearbox change
Rain tends to be the great equalizer in Monaco, and this season, it was just the threat of rain that played havoc on the teams. With virtually everyone running a 1-stop strategy, the threat of rain right as the pitstop window opened left many drivers out on track with worn tires waiting on the weather.

Vettel's strategy of starting 10th on a set of fresh prime tires (compared to the leader's options from qualifying) vaulted him to the front of the field. But the risky strategy couldn't quite get him far enough out front to stay ahead of everyone when he finally pit for tires, leaving him to come out 4th when the stops were complete.

Teammate Webber's strategy of starting on the front row and switching to primes worked better allowing him to take the victory, and become the only 2 time Monaco winner from Australia. Webber is also the 6th different winner in 6 races this season.

Rosberg rounds out the podium, while Alonso takes his Ferrari to 3rd for another above-expectations finish.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th
WEB
(+25)
ROS
(+18)
ALO
(+15)
VET
(+12)
HAM
(+10)
MAS
(+8)
DIR
(+6)
HUL
(+4)
RAI
(+2)
SEN
(+1)
PER
 
VER
 
KOV
 
GLO
 
KAR
 
BUT
 
RIC
 
PIC
 
MSC
 
PET
 
KOB
 
DLR
 
MAL
 
GRO
 
Pos Participant Driver Picks Round
Points
Season
Points
Champ.
Standings
1 owace ALO GRO MAS ROS VET 53 253 3rd ↑ 2
= Tahoe RX7 ALO GRO MAS ROS VET 53 226 5th ↑ 4
3 Double Phister ALO BUT HAM RAI WEB 52 266 2nd  
4 Nick ALO BUT HAM KOB WEB 50 251 4th ↓ 1
5 RapidfireAZ ALO BUT HAM MAL ROS 43 303 1st  
6 Motoring ALO BUT GRO MAL ROS 33 174 12th ↑ 1
7 Van ALO GRO HAM MAL MAS 33 201 10th  
8 sperry ALO GRO KOB SEN VET 28 205 8th  
9 zpeed ALO BUT MSC PER VET 27 168 13th ↓ 1
10 delongedoug ALO GRO HAM MAL RAI 27 182 11th  
11 curley ALO BUT GRO MAS PER 23 222 6th  
12 MS3 GRO HAM KOB MAL MAS 18 218 7th ↓ 3
13 MattR ALO BUT GRO MAL RAI 17 201 9th ↓ 2
14 Lisa BUT GRO MAL PER VET 12 146 14th  
Grand Prix de Monaco
Circuit de Monaco Monte Carlo, Monaco