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Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel rode his luck for all it was worth in Monaco this weekend. He got the pole, then had it inadvertently safeguarded after Sergio Perez’s accident. Then on Sunday, just as he was under massive pressure on worn tyres from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Jenson Button, a nail-biting race was brought to a temporary halt when Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari crashed in heavy traffic in the Swimming Pool, taking out Renault’s Vitaly Petrov in the process.

The incident happened as the leaders were threading their way through the backmarkers, but the race was soon suspended as it became apparent that the Russian had momentarily been knocked unconscious and needed medical assistance. He complained of pain in his left ankle at the accident scene, but further examination and a full body scan in the Princess Grace Hospital confirmed that there was no swelling or broken bones and he is expected back in the paddock within a few hours.

When the race resumed for its final six laps, at 16.04, everyone had fitted the freshest tyres they could muster and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton’s rear wing had been repaired after it had been savaged in the Alguersuari incident. Vettel, back on much-needed fresh rubber, won easily from Alonso and Button.

A frustrating event had started well, with Vettel leading confidently from Button and Alonso. Then Button pitted on lap 15, Vettel on 16 and Alonso on 17. All three were able to resume long before Ferrari’s Felipe Massa led the pursuit, because for a long time he’d been held up by Nico Rosberg’s fast-starting Mercedes.

Now Button was the leader – adding McLaren’s 10,000th Formula One race leadership lap to the team’s tally – after a snafu in the Red Bull pits when Vettel’s front right tyre wasn’t ready.

Vettel was now on Pirelli’s soft compound, not the super soft, and Button opened a commanding lead that at times was as much as 14s. But then the flow of the race was interrupted for the first time when Massa, having just been passed by Hamilton for 10th place, crashed in the tunnel after getting off line. At the same time Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes had ground to a halt at Rascasse.

The safety car was deployed for the first time as the resultant debris was cleared up. Button still led Vettel and Alonso when the racing resumed on Lap 39, but even on super-soft rubber the McLaren driver could not pass the Red Bull and on Lap 48 Button dived in for a third stop, switching to softs. He dropped to third but stayed ahead of a gaggle of cars at that stage led by Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi who had both done very long opening stints and then been cleverly pitted by their teams as the safety car had come out.

Now it was Vettel leading again, chased by Alonso, whose Ferrari was now also on soft tyres. Could they both possibly go the distance without a further stop? Read the rest of this entry »