| Source: autosport.com | report: lotusf1team.com |
Nico Rosberg finally secured Mercedes’ first Formula 1 win of the 2013 season as he maintained the lead throughout a Monaco Grand Prix interrupted by two safety cars and a red flag. Mercedes was unable to repeat its qualifying one-two, as Lewis Hamilton fell to fourth behind the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.
Force India’s Adrian Sutil pulled off brave passes on Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso into Loews. He then benefited when contact between Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez at the chicane late on left the Lotus with a puncture and caused damage that would ultimately force Perez to park.
Button came through to sixth, having earlier had a spat with his McLaren team-mate Perez when the Mexican cut the chicane to hold him off. Perez was ordered to let Button past, but overtook him cleanly at the same spot later on. He then had another chicane incident with Alonso, and this time it was the Ferrari asked to move aside having cut the corner.
Raikkonen was next on Perez’s list, but on that occasion the chicane move ended in contact. Raikkonen’s recovery drive ultimately earned him a point, as he overtook Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber on the final lap.
Pos Driver Team 1. Rosberg Mercedes 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 3. Webber Red Bull-Renault 4. Hamilton Mercedes 5. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 6. Button McLaren-Mercedes 7. Alonso Ferrari 8. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 9. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes 10. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 11. Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 12. Bottas Williams-Renault 13. Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 14. Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 15. van der Garde Caterham-Renault DNF. Perez McLaren-Mercedes DNF. Grosjean Lotus-Renault DNF. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari DNF. Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth DNF. Maldonado Williams-Renault DNF. Massa Ferrari DNF. Pic Caterham-Renault World Championship standings, round 6: Drivers: Constructors: 1. Vettel 107 1. Red Bull-Renault 164 2. Raikkonen 86 2. Ferrari 123 3. Alonso 78 3. Lotus-Renault 112 4. Hamilton 62 4. Mercedes 109 5. Webber 57 5. Force India-Mercedes 44 6. Rosberg 47 6. McLaren-Mercedes 37 7. Massa 45 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12 8. Di Resta 28 8. Sauber-Ferrari 5 9. Grosjean 26 10. Button 25 11. Sutil 16 12. Perez 12 13. Ricciardo 7 14. Hulkenberg 5 15. Vergne 5
News & Quotes:
Grosjean penalised for Ricciardo clash: Grosjean’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was also called to the Monte Carlo stewards having been caught exceeding the prescribed speed during a safety car period. The Finn escaped with a reprimand. Raikkonen finished 10th in the race, having run fifth until a collision with Sergio Perez’s McLaren resulted in a puncture.
Perez: Raikkonen at fault in collision: “Kimi didn’t give me any room, there was nothing I could do to avoid it. If someone could avoid the accident it was Kimi.”
Kimi Raikkonen – 10th: “It was a really disappointing day. Because of one stupid move from Sergio [Perez] we’ve lost a lot of points to Sebastian [Vettel] in the Championship and you can’t afford to lose ground like that. He hit me from behind and that’s about all there is to it. If he thinks it’s my fault that he came into the corner too fast then he obviously has no idea what he’s talking about. It’s not the first time he’s hit someone in the race; he seems to expect people to be always looking at what he might do, then move over or go straight on if he comes into the corner too quick and isn’t going to make it without running into someone. Not the ideal weekend but there’s nothing we can do about it. At least we got one point back at the end.”
Romain Grosjean – DNF: “Daniel [Ricciardo] seemed to be really struggling with his rear tyres and they looked to have a lot of graining. I’d been following him for almost all of the 61 laps but I was caught out by him braking early in the middle of the circuit and there was nowhere for me to go. It’s a frustrating end to the weekend, but the real damage was done in qualifying when I didn’t get through to Q3. That was Daniel again who I was held up by, but it certainly wasn’t my intention to end my race in the back of his car! Now we just press the reset button and head to Canada hopeful of a better weekend all round.”
Eric Boullier, team principal: “This is certainly not the weekend we wanted. Kimi was impeccable all weekend once more and his race was ruined by another driver making unnecessary contact with his car. This caused a puncture and basically ruined his race. Romain had a difficult weekend, but showed fantastic pace when he had a clear track in front of him. We’ve lost ground in both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships this weekend so we’ll be pushing twice as hard when we get to Canada to make amends. On a more positive note, we were extremely proud to have Daft Punk – making only their third public appearance in twenty years – join the team for the race, and would like to express our gratitude to Columbia Records for helping make this concept a reality. The team has a truly unique brand image, and we’re keen to continue this unorthodox approach moving forwards.”
Alan Permane, trackside operations director:“A very frustrating race for us. Both of our cars were bottled up in traffic almost all of today, which is what you can expect in Monaco if you’re not leading. Romain was unfortunate to get caught out by the car in front, but he has received a ten-place penalty for Canada which will compound today’s woes. Kimi was running strongly in fifth position, but his race was completely compromised by the late pit stop we were forced to make. That he was able to make back three places in the last two laps shows just how hungry he is. We head to Canada wanted to return to business as usual.”
Videos: Kimi’s team radio after Perez’s first attempt at the chicane, Kimi swears on team radio after crash, Kimi’s last few laps onboard, overtaking moves, interview with MTV3
Speaking to RTL above – Kimi: “He tried to pass me once and I looked in the mirror. He was way too fast and he could have hit me there already, when I would not have avoided it. He has no clue of what would have happened. Driving aggressively is ok, but driving silly not. He cannot even make the corner by himself. He should have realise that people in front of him trying to avoid because he would have hit them otherwise. He relies on people infront to avoid. That is not the first time that it happened and it is very disappointing when there is someone like that, who hits you all the time.
Reporter: Yes, he was responsible for many of such situations. Is that maybe something that all drivers should discuss together with him?
Kimi: It is just… I don´t know. Maybe we should hit him in the face then he’ll understand.”
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPACE 
I was mad when there was contact between Sergio and Kimi, specially when Kimi had to make an unscheduled pitstop. Then I started to cheer when Sergio’s car stopped. Kept on cheering when I saw Kimi was catching up to the cars in front of him and was whooping when I saw he made it into the points at 10th place. I just wished they showed footage of his last laps instead of Nico’s 🙂
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Thanks for that vdeo with last 2 laps! The last overtake was incredible. He was hard on the brakes on the outside of 1st turn where it’s so bumpy and some drivers crashed, and he made so quick corrections with the steering wheel just to prevent a spin! Really scary to watch.
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kimi hunting in the end, valterii perhaps being kind to kimi? but good he remains with the consecutive point finish tally
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F*ck off silly perez. He’s way too silly to drive on such circuit. He dared to blame kimi,unbelievable that bastard. I think he must have a look at what he did to kimi in China, i still cannot undrstand y he was’nt punished. Its high time for Martin to step up and cntrol his driver or he’ll cntinue to drive like a kamikaze. He’ll injure someone if the stewards do not do their job. He would have smashed Alonso’s car had the latter not the chicane. He’s undoubtedly fast but too aggressive,it seems that he doesn’t respect other drivers. Kimi is right,he only rely on other drivers to avoid him. What a shame for the race, 21pts behind Seb, of course it was nice perez retire but its a massive blow for kimi. But i dnt think kimi will be affected by that. Kimi had seemed really furious after the race by judging his comments, i hope he smashed him in his face, Kimi’s got guts to do it. I think drivers will talk among themselver for perez’s case, they must. Jenson won’t be against!
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Kimi needs to qualify better. 5th in Monaco is just not good enough, no matter the Perez incident. He should have driven as he did in those last two laps much earlier.
At this rate the championship is drifting further and further away . . .
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
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I am sure P5 was the best kimi could have done. For me the aim of this race was to lose the least pts possible but perez ruined everything. Quali will always be an issue for Kimi. Its his driving style i suppose. Its the price to pay for his ever-impressive pace. He’s maybe not the best driver in quali but there are not many who can match his race pace. I think the quali-issue results from the fact that his driving style is quite gntle on the tyres, so in quali there’s not sufficient heat in them and he can’t push to the extreme limit, the sufficient heat came in after some laps i guess. It was quite yesterday as Kimi was quite slow in the first 3 laps and was always slow after the SC. Kimi took more time than others to generate heat his tyres, thats y he can make tyres last longer. Kimi should do his best to improve his pace in the opening laps or after a SC. In Bahrain also he got overtaken by the 2 mclarens in the first 2 laps. I’ve also noticed that no improvements were made in the pace on wet track. By the way i watched F1 on french tv and everytime Jacques Villeneuve who’s commenting, had something bad to say about kimi. Yesterday he said that kimi deserved a ‘red card’ when perez hit kimi. I think he’s jealous of him,really. He’s always criticing him
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I think his driving style is ‘gentle’ hence his brilliant tyre management, but we must all remember that as he is ‘gentle’, so Vettel is ‘aggressive’. Out of the two driving styles, Vettel’s will get him to another world title and not Kimi’s.
As for Kimi’s race pace, it may be ever-impressive if seen in isolation, but the results and score board tell another story altogether.
Kimi’s driving style will no doubt be to his detriment. I hope he proves me wrong . . .
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Leonardo, you forget that not all cars must be driven the same way. If that’s the maximum the Lotus is capable of, there’s no point in pushing it more only to have the wheels lock up during braking or when accelerating too early. Vettel’s car is just too good on most circuits and a bad race for him means a 2nd or 3rd place, whereas for Kimi the podium is the maximum that the car is capable of.
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