2012 Monaco Grand Prix – Saturday Qualifying – Schumacher fastest but Webber inherits pole

Michael Schumacher showed he’s still got it as he set the fastest time in Saturday Qualifying for the Grand Prix of Monaco but he doesn’t get to reap the reward of his good work as a five-place grid penalty sees him drop down to sixth on the grid. That means Red Bull’s Mark Webber will start from pole with Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg in second place and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in third.

Lotus’ Romain Grosjean starts fourth with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso on fifth and Schumacher sixth. Felipe Massa makes it to the top ten for the first time this season as he starts seventh ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in eighth, Sebastian Vettel in ninth and Nico Hulkenberg in tenth.

2010 Monaco Grand Prix – Sunday Race – Webber Bulls it around the principality

Mark Webber was untouchable around the principality of Monaco as he aced around the street track and picked up his and Red Bull’s second victory on the trot. It was a perfect race from Webber, as he led from pole-to-finish and took home maximum points. Teammate Sebastian Vettel finished 2nd, making it the second Red Bull 1-2 of the season. Renault’s Robert Kubica finished 3rd, after he was jumped at the start by Vettel. The race finished under the Safety Car, which was brought out as a result of an accident between Lotus’ Jarno Trulli and HRT’s Karun Chandhok.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa finished 4th followed by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in 5th. Fernando Alonso – who started from the pit-lane after sitting out qualifying – drove a solid race and would have finished 6th but on the last lap, just as the Safety Car pulled in, Michael Schumacher passed him into taking the place. Alonso eventually was classified 7th, ahead of Nico Rosberg in 8th places with the two Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi taking home the last of the points in 9th and 10th respectively.

Update: Michael Schumacher’s overtaking move over Fernando Alonso was deemed illegal and he was penalised by adding 20 seconds to his race time, which drops him to 12th and moves up Alonso to 6th place. Rosberg, Sutil and Liuzzi move up a place with Sebastian Buemi moving upto 10th place to take the last point.

It was a right dramatic start for the Monaco Grand Prix as Williams’ rookie Nico Hulkenberg crashed in the tunnel on the very first lap, bringing out the Safety Car. This, after Webber made a clear start and Vettel got the jump on Kubica. Championship leader Jenson Button had a woeful start as his Mercedes Engine gave way on the second lap and he had to retire. At the restart, Webber maintained his lead as at the back of the grid Alonso made his way up the grid after a quick pit stop to get onto the hard tyres. Almost all the teams ran one-stop strategies as they switched onto the second type of tyre compound and nursed them through the race.