Vettel leads Ferrari 1-2 at Monacoposted in F128 | 05 | 2017
FERRARI COMPLETED A 1-2 in the Monaco Grand Prix, but it was world championship leader Sebastian Vettel who took the win ahead of pole sitter Kimi Raikkonen. Defending world champ Lewis hamilton, who stated 14th o the grid, battled through to finish seventh. The Mercedes driver head to Canada 25 points behind Vettel.
The German seized control of the race after Ferrari pitted Raikkonen from the lead. Vettel opted to stay out for another five laps and capitalised on the clear track to register a number of searing laps.
As a result, when he emerged from his only compulsory pitstop, he had established a lead which Raikkonen was then unable to challenge.
The Finn had a glimmer of hope when the field was closed up again following a safety car period caused by McLaren’s Jenson Button colliding with Pascal Wehrlein at Portier, pitching the Sauber onto its side against the barrier.
But once the race restarted, Vettel eased away eventually taking the chequered flag 3.1 seconds clear of his team-mate to secure Ferrari's first win in Monaco since 2001.
The final step on the podium went to Daniel Ricciardo. But the Red Bull driver survived a scare when he hit the wall at Sainte Devote after the race restart. Like Vettel, the Aussie ran a long first stint, enabling him to jump the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and the other Red Bull of Max Verstappen to take third.
Hamilton ran a long first stint and was the last car to pit, switching from ultra-softs to super-softs and rejoining seventh. But despite pressurising the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz Jnr, over the closing laps, he was forced to settle for seventh.
Verstappen who, like Raikkonen, found himself victim of the ‘overcut’, was furious when he found out Ricciardo had jumped him after the pitstop, labelling the situation a disaster and filling the airwaves with expletives. The Dutchman finished fifth, right behind the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and ahead of Sainz.
Button meanwhile, sitting in for Fernando Alonso at McLaren while the Spaniard tackled the Indy500, tried an ambitious pass on Wehrlein by spearing down the inside into Portier.
The two cars made contact as they turned right, and Wehlein's Sauber pitched was onto its side against the barrier. Button was then forced to pull over at the exit of the tunnel with the front-left corner of the car heavily-damaged.
Thankfully Wehrlein managed to climb out of his car, once it was righted onto its wheels, and was able to walk away unaided but went to the medical centre for precautionary checks.
It was an uncomfortable day for Sauber, capped by Marcus Ericsson carrying too much speed into Sainte Devote and hitting the wall when trying to pass the safety car to unlap himself.
Behind Hamilton, the top 10 was rounded off by Romain Grosjean in eighth, driving the leading Haas, ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams and the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
F1 — Monaco Grand Prix, Monaco (Result):
1. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari - Ferrari 78 laps
2. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari - Ferrari +3.145s
3. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull - TAG +3.745s
4. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes - Mercedes +5.517s
5. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull - TAG +6.199s
6. Carlos Sainz ESP Toro Rosso-Renault +12.038s
7. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes - Mercedes +15.801s
8. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari +18.150s
9. Felipe Massa BRA Williams - Mercedes +19.445s
10. Kevin Magnussen DEN Haas-Ferrari +21.443s
11. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault - Renault +22.737s
12. Esteban Ocon FRA Force India-Mercedes +23.725s
13. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +39.089s
Retired:
14. Lance Stroll CAN Williams - Mercedes 71 laps completed
15. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Renault 70 laps completed
16. Stoffel Vandoorne BEL McLaren-Honda 66 laps completed
17. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber - Ferrari 64 laps completed
18. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 60 laps completed
19. Pascal Wehrlein GER Sauber - Ferrari 60 laps completed
20. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault - Renault 13 laps completed
Related: Hamilton wins "rawest fight" in Barcelona
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Jim McGill