Monaco Massacre

After the incidents in yesterday's qualifying, no-one could guess what on earth would happen in today's Monaco grand prix. Before the race had even started there was drama as a suspicious package caused a bomb scare, luckily nothing came of it and the race was able to start as normal. After his big crash yesterday, Perez was unable to participate in the race but both Hispanias were allowed to race despite not setting any times in qualifying.

From the start, Alonso again pipped Webber to the first corner making it to fourth place. The big battle early on was between Hamilton and Schumacher and lap ten saw Hamilton over-take Schumacher into ninth place. Red Bull were slow with the initial pit stops as a sticky blanket meant Vettel couldn't get a rear tyre on quickly. This meant that Button had taken the lead after lap eighteen with the all the pit stops taken care of.

The first incident of the race came in lap 27 when Di Resta tried to overtake Buemi around the tightest corner in F1. The Force India had no room to manoeuvre and caused front wing damage as he cut across the kerb, Di Resta was given a drive through penalty for causing a collision. The first retirement saw Glock suffer rear-suspension collapse on lap 33, Button pitted in anticipation of the Safety Car but it didn't arrive until a lap later and it cost him dear.

A lap later Hamilton caused a collision with Massa in an exact incident to Di Resta's, however the two continued to squabble and Hamilton tried to over-take in the infamous tunnel. This forced Massa onto the dirty side of the track causing the Ferrari to lose control and crash into the side barrier. Also in that lap Michael Schuamcher had broken down just outside the pit lane meaning the Safety Car had to come out.

The incident between Hamilton and Massa was investigated and Hamilton received a drive through for the collision on the bend. The biggest incident of the race saw Sutil lose control and crash into the barrier which resulted in a loss of a rear tyre, this caused Alguersuari to go up the back of Hamilton and cause rear-wing damage to the McLaren, Petrov also crashed into the barrier and was supposedly knocked unconscious. Right behind the incident was the leader Vettel who was being closely chased by Alonso and Button because Vettel didn't stop again and his tyres were degrading. The crash caused an initial Safety Car before the race was red flagged due to Petrov's injury as he complained of back problems. Fortunately Petrov is okay and just has bruising to his legs.

The red flag was shown on lap 72 which meant a result could have been called there and then. However the officials decided the race would continue once given the all clear, this meant that all the drivers had to wait on the grid but car repairs are allowed up until three minutes before the restart. This worked perfectly for Vettel as he had no intention of pitting before the crash despite his tyres reaching 'the cliff', the leader was now able to change his tyres which would win him the race. The first lap after the restart was led by the Safety Car before racing resumed for the final five laps. Hamilton caused a second crash just a lap later when he undercut Maldonado, Hamilton was behind the kerb for the first corner and sent Maldonado into the barrier, the latest news was that the incident was under investigation. The results are as follows, pending that investigation:

1.Vettel (Red Bull), 2.Alonso (Ferrari), 3.Button (McLaren), 4.Webber (Red Bull), 5. Kobayashi (Sauber), 6.Hamilton (McLaren), 7.Sutil (Force India), 8. Heidfeld (Renault), 9.Barrichello (Williams), 10.Buemi (Toro Rosso), 11.Rosberg (Mercedes), 12.Di Resta (Force India), 13.Trulli (Lotus), 14. Kovalainen (Lotus), 15.D'Ambrosio (Virgin), 16.Liuzzi (Hispania), 17.Karthikeyan (Hispania) DNS: Perez (Sauber) DNF: Glock (Virgin), Massa (Ferrari), Schumacher (Mercedes), Petrov (Renault), Alguersuari (Toro Rosso)