2011 Monaco Grand Prix Results

For the sixth race of the 2011 F1 season, teams headed from Spain to Monaco. The Monaco Grand Prix remains one of the most difficult races in the season and true to form, six out of the 24 drivers did not manage to finish the race. Sebastian Vettel proved himself yet again, going from pole position to podium – his first Monaco Grand Prix win and his fifth win this season! He was followed by Fernando Alonso in second place and Jenson Button in third place.

The weekend started out with two accidents. Nico Rosberg crashed during the free practice session, but was unhurt and was able to start the race on Sunday. Then Sergio Perez had a bad crash during the qualifying session. Perez suffered a concussion and sprained thigh, but was otherwise unhurt, in an accident that could have turned out much worse. His crash set-back qualifying by more than hour, which meant that little time was left for the remaining seven drivers to improve their times. The two HRT-Cosworth drivers, Narain Karthikeyan and Vitantonio Liuzzi, damaged their cars during the free practice session and ended up without a qualifying lap time. However, race stewards decided that both drivers could start the Grand Prix. Vettel took pole position, followed by Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher.

The Monaco Grand Prix was a thrilling race, with plenty of action. Although Vettel started in pole position, he was overtaken by Button after the first round of pit stops - amazingly the Red Bull messed up on Vettel’s pit-stop, not having the right tyres ready for him and clocking a 30 second pit stop! Button looked strong for a while, stretching out a 13 second lead over Vettel by lap 28. The first big incident happened on lap 35, when Hamilton and Massa head into the tunnel side-by-side, but Hamilton comes out first. He claims Massa cut him off, but Massa ends up hitting the barrier and the safety car is deployed. Hamilton received the first of his two penalties of the Monaco Grand Prix, thanks to this incident. As Button pits, Vettel overtakes him. Until the last 10 laps, Vettel, Button and Alonso were all only a second off and any one of them could have won the race. It all falls apart for many drivers in lap 69, when Vitaly Petrov crashes badly and the safety car is called out again. Jaime Alguersuari also crashes out. Some get stuck behind the safety car, including Button. Lap 72, red flag is out, with on six laps left of the race, as stewards are having trouble getting Petrov out of his car and clearing the track, luckily he was not badly hurt. The race is continued, with all drivers starting behind the safety car – crews were even able to make some repairs, such as to Hamilton’s rear wing. Vettel even gets a set of new tyres. Soon after, Hamilton receives his second penalty (this one post-race), for causing Pastor Maldonado’s accident on lap 74, putting the Venezuelan driver out of the race. The race finish remains pretty much unchanged from the race re-start order: Vettel, Alonso, Button, Webber. Kamui Kobayashi gets his career-best finish of fifth place, as he heads off Hamilton’s overtaking manoeuvres in the last lap. Hamilton ends with a frustrating 6th place finish, even after his 20-second post-race penalty.

In the Driver’s Championship standings, Vettel further solidifies his lead, now with 143 points – an amazing 58 point lead over second place Lewis Hamilton. Mark Webber remains in third place with 79 points, but now only has a 3 point lead over Button with 76 points in fourth place. Alonso remains in fifth place with 69 points.

For the Constructors’ Championship standings, Red Bull takes home a nice set of points from the 1-4 finish in Monaco, putting their total to 222 points. McLaren also had a successful weekend, with a 3-6 finish, bringing their point total to 161. Third place remains Ferrari, with 93 points. Fourth place is Renault with 50 points. Rubens Barrichello’s ninth place finish, finally gives Williams-Cosworth their first two points of the season. This leaves only three teams with zero points: Lotus, Virgin and HRT-Cosworth.

Full Race Results

  1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing-Renault) 2:09:38.373s
  2. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) +1.138s
  3. Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) +2.378s
  4. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +23.101s
  5. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari) +26.916s
  6. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)* +47.210s
  7. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) +1 lap
  8. Nick Heidfeld (Renault) +1 lap
  9. Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth) +1 lap
  10. Sebastian Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1 lap
  11. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) +2 laps
  12. Paul di Resta (Force India-Mercedes) +2 laps
  13. Jarno Trulli (Lotus-Renault) +2 laps
  14. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus-Renault) +2 laps
  15. Jerome d’Ambrosio (Virgin-Cosworth) +3 laps
  16. Vitantonio Liuzzi (HRT-Cosworth) +3 laps
  17. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT-Cosworth) +4 laps
  18. Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Cosworth)** retired, lap 73

Vitaly Petrov (Renault) retired, lap 67

Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) retired, lap 66

Felipe Massa (Ferrari) retired, lap 32

Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) retired, lap 32

Timo Glock (Virgin-Cosworth) retired, lap 30

Sergio Perez (Sauber-Ferrari) Did Not Start

* Hamilton received a 20-second penalty after the race for causing a collision with Pastor Maldonaldo.

** Maldonaldo was classified as finishing the race, although he crashed and had to retire on lap 73 – he had completed 90% of the race.