Mark Webber converted pole into victory on a narrow street circuit that saw several safety car periods, two notable crashes and a penalty that reshaped the top six.
Mark Webber took pole and the win for Red Bull in Monte Carlo on 16 May 2010. The result made him the first Australian to win at Monaco since Jack Brabham in 1959, while Michael Schumacher's 20-second penalty for passing under safety car conditions became the main talking point.
The 2010 Monaco Grand Prix was the sixth round of the Formula One season, run on the streets of Monte Carlo on 16 May 2010. Mark Webber started from pole for Red Bull and took the chequered flag first, yet the afternoon became known for a run of crashes, several safety car periods and a penalty that reshuffled the top six. Webber's victory also put him at the top of the drivers' table.
Why was the Monaco weekend a talking point before the race?
The main worry was that the narrow street circuit would leave quicker cars stuck behind slower ones in qualifying. Several teams rejected a plan to split the first qualifying session into two groups, so the FIA instead set a maximum lap time between the first and last corners. Virgin, Lotus and Hispania had been three to six seconds slower than the established teams over a lap, which made the traffic problem a real concern.
Opinions were divided. Keke Rosberg recalled that the old days had far more cars on track at Monaco, and that half of them were slow. Lotus's Jarno Trulli argued that everyone had had time to propose a fix and none had done so, so complaints came too late.
Pole, a safety car puzzle and a penalty that reshuffled the top six made Monaco 2010 a race about rules as much as speed.
What was at stake in the championship?
Button came to Monte Carlo as reigning champion and the winner of the previous year's race, with a three-point lead over Alonso and a ten-point margin over Vettel. Seven drivers could have taken the championship lead with a win on the Principality's streets, which made the weekend unusually open for a title race.
With the points so close, a single result could reshape the table, which is why every team watched the weekend so closely. Alonso sat only three points off the lead, so the margin left little room for error.
What changed around the circuit?
Organisers made several alterations to discourage drivers from cutting the chicanes. Kerbs were raised at the exit of the Nouvelle Chicane and across the second half of the Swimming Pool complex, and the new kerbs were painted a bright yellow to make them visible. Crews also resurfaced the pit lane and the northern half of the track, from the Place du Casino to the tunnel.
Bruno Senna arrived in Monaco with a problem of his own. He had damaged his Hispania F110 during practice in Barcelona, and the team could not find the flaw in the chassis. Running a compromised car, he was about two seconds a lap slower than his team-mate Karun Chandhok in free practice.
How did free practice shape the weekend?
Thursday's first session saw Alonso set the fastest time, the only driver to dip under 1:16. Vettel was second at exactly 1:16, with Robert Kubica a hundredth of a second further back. Timo Glock was the quickest of the new teams, though he trailed Alonso by three and a half seconds. Karun Chandhok spun at Massanet after six laps, and Kamui Kobayashi ran wide over the chicane at the entry to the Swimming Pool.
The second session was wet but not wet enough to call for intermediate tyres. Alonso was fastest again, and Heikki Kovalainen led the new teams. Felipe Massa impeded Kovalainen during a flying lap, one of several examples of the traffic problem that the teams had feared.
The third session was more costly for Alonso. He crashed heavily at Massanet after only six laps, which left him sixteenth on the timesheet. Glock stopped with hydraulic trouble, while Kubica edged the session ahead of Massa by four hundredths of a second, with Webber third. At the end of the session just half a second separated the top seven.
Why did Alonso start from the pit lane?
Ferrari decided that Alonso's damaged car could not be repaired in time for qualifying. He therefore switched to the team's spare chassis and started the race from the pit lane. That meant he began from the pit lane rather than the grid.
How did the qualifying sessions unfold?
In the first segment many teams sent their drivers out on the harder tyre, and the six drivers from the new teams were the first to be eliminated. Kovalainen was quickest of the new entrants, and it was the first time Trulli had been out-qualified by his team-mate at Monaco. Senna beat Chandhok despite his damaged car, and Massa set the fastest time of the segment.
The second segment was disrupted in its last minutes when Vitaly Petrov slid into the tyre wall at Ste Devote. The session was not stopped, and Petrov still reached 14th. Nico Rosberg was fastest in that part, while Hulkenberg, Sutil and Buemi all made the cut ahead of Petrov, and de la Rosa, Kobayashi and Alguersuari were knocked out.
The final segment belonged to Kubica for much of its length. He led by a comfortable second for over half the session before Webber found a lap of 1:13.826 to take pole, extending Red Bull's run of pole positions to six in a row. Kubica finished second on the grid, with Vettel third and Massa fourth.
| Grid | Driver | Note from qualifying |
|---|---|---|
| First | Mark Webber | 1:13.826, Red Bull's sixth straight pole |
| Second | Robert Kubica | Led much of the final segment |
| Third | Sebastian Vettel | Behind Kubica on the final lap |
| Fourth | Felipe Massa | Ahead of Hamilton's fifth place |
| Fifth | Lewis Hamilton | Ahead of Rosberg and Schumacher |
| Sixth | Nico Rosberg | Blocked his team-mate during the final run |
| Seventh | Michael Schumacher | Behind Rosberg and Hamilton |
| Eighth | Jenson Button | Part of the top ten group |
| Ninth | Rubens Barrichello | Completed the top ten |
| Tenth | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Completed the top ten |
How did the race open?
Vettel kept his line into Ste Devote and took the lead ahead of Kubica, who had tried to shield the position. Barrichello climbed to sixth as the field funnelled through the first corners, and Schumacher passed his Ferrari team-mate.
Hulkenberg's race ended almost immediately. His warm-up lap had been aborted because of a clutch problem, so he started from the back. On the first lap he crashed in the tunnel after a front wing mounting gave way, and the resulting safety car lasted several laps. Alonso used the period to pit early and fit the harder compound, a move that most of the field then had to copy.
Button retired on the second lap with an overheating engine. An engineer had left a bung in an air intake on the grid, and Button parked his McLaren at the pit exit, forcing Bruno Senna to cross a yellow line to avoid it. Senna was not penalised.
Why did Rosberg's strategy fail?
Rosberg stayed out on track when the other frontrunners began their stops, aiming to build a gap over Alonso. The gamble failed because he rejoined behind Alonso and a queue of cars that had just left the pits. Pit strategy largely set the running order from there, and both Saubers and both Virgins retired from the race.
What happened to Barrichello?
As Webber began to pull clear, Barrichello's Williams suffered a suspension failure after a loose drain cover at the top of Beau Rivage lifted under the car. The car spun and stopped facing the wrong way in the middle of the track at Massanet. Chandhok then ran over Barrichello's steering wheel, which the Brazilian had thrown out of the car.
That brought out the safety car for a second time. A marshal reported a loose manhole cover at Massanet, and race control decided to keep the field behind the car while the risk was assessed. The cover was judged safe and the race resumed within three laps, but it was later established that the same cover had caused Barrichello's accident.
How did the final laps play out?
Senna and Kovalainen retired on the same lap with mechanical trouble. The safety car returned on the 75th lap and stayed out until the final corner, where Trulli's Lotus climbed onto the rear of Chandhok's car. Both drivers walked away, and the incident happened just in front of Webber, who avoided it and kept his lead. Petrov, who had been running with brake problems, retired shortly afterwards.
Webber crossed the line 5.7 seconds clear of Schumacher, who had passed Alonso at the final corner while the field was still behind the safety car. Schumacher finished sixth on the road, and his manoeuvre would dominate the post-race conversation.
Why was Schumacher penalised?
Schumacher was penalised because he passed Alonso under safety car conditions. Ferrari argued that the Monaco rules did not allow overtaking on the last lap, pointing to rule 40.13. Mercedes principal Ross Brawn countered with documents showing that the restart had already happened, and that Schumacher had moved past the white line before he overtook.
The stewards, who included former champion Damon Hill, gave Schumacher a 20-second penalty for the pass and dropped him to 12th. Mercedes planned to appeal, but a drive-through or time penalty of this kind cannot be appealed, so the team dropped the idea after the FIA agreed to talks on the safety car rules.
What did the result mean for the championship?
Webber's win made him the first Australian to win the Monaco Grand Prix since Jack Brabham in 1959. He led the drivers' championship on seventy-eight points, level with Vettel, but he was still classed as the sole leader because he had two wins to Vettel's one. Alonso moved up to third in the standings, just ahead of Button, whose retirement had cost him a finish.
In the constructors' standings Red Bull finished one-two and moved twenty-two points clear of Ferrari. McLaren, which had led before the race, fell from first to third after Button's retirement.
How do Formula One's safety car rules differ?
Formula One handles the last lap of a race under the safety car differently from most other series. In many championships the safety car leads the leader across the line on the final lap when a yellow chequered flag is shown. In Formula One the safety car peels into the pit lane before the finish, so the cars take the chequered flag without it.
The rule book also requires drivers to pass the white line before overtaking once the safety car has returned to the pits. The FIA later accepted that the wording lacked clarity, and it moved to rewrite the rules to remove the ambiguity that had caused the Monaco argument.
