Our predictions for GP Spain’s Ones to Watch were a little wide of the mark (or Mark), but now we head to Monaco, where everything is impossible to predict. But let’s try anyway…
Mark Webber (AUS), Red Bull Racing – 4th, 53pts
A stunning pole lap ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel meant that once the first corner had this time been successfully negotiated, and the lead held, Mark just had to drive into the clean air in front of him. He said he wanted a boring race if it meant victory, and he got one. He was so far ahead of the competition that the TV coverage barely captured him. Fernando Alonso’s second place at the expense of the desperately unlucky Lewis Hamilton, who suffered a penultimate-lap tyre failure, sent the Spanish fans wild and took away the limelight from Mark, not for the first time, but will he care? He jumps to fourth in the standings and right back into the title mix.
Sebastian Vettel (GER), Red Bull Racing – 3rd, 60pts
He was possibly seconds away from being forced to retire in Spain as his brakes reached, well, breaking point, but Seb pulled through for a podium, and it says much that he spent longer in the drivers’ press conference explaining what had gone wrong with his race than winner Webber and second-placed Alonso spoke about how right theirs had turned out. Seb’s Monaco race ended in the barriers early on last year as the RB5 slipped and slid around on the supersoft tyres. If, as expected, the Red Bulls keep their momentum going and the RB6 holds firm this time, and if Seb gets on pole on a circuit where overtaking is nigh-on-impossible, you feel it should be his time to win the most prestigious race in world motorsport.
Michael Schumacher (GER), Mercedes – 9th, 22pts
First he was the biggest news of the pre-season, then he was brought back down to earth by those that had put him back up on a pedestal, but at last, after five races, Michael Schumacher outqualified team-mate Nico Rosberg, then beat him in the race with fourth place, too (while Nico might as well have been driving backwards in 13th). It might still be an unfamiliar sight to see Schumacher being harried by Jenson Button and causing a traffic jam behind him, but he defended well in Spain. Schumi’s record of five victories in Monaco is only bettered by one driver, Ayrton Senna with six wins, and equalled by one other, Graham Hill. With a decent qualifying performance again here, maybe a respectable return to F1 is back on the cards.
Jaime Alguersuari (SPA), Scuderia Toro Rosso – 14th, 3pts
A great start from 15th up to ninth in front of his home crowd showed that he is developing the necessary aggression to succeed, but then swiping the front wing of the distinctly unimpressed Karun Chandhok in the HRT as he swept past to lap the Indian suggested he is still learning when to use it. The consequent drive-through penalty wasn’t enough to douse the Toro Rosso driver’s spirit, however, and Hamilton’s late exit meant that Jaime scored his third point of the season. This is his first visit to the principality in F1 (he finished sixth here in the Formula Renault 3.5 series in 2009), but if he stays out of trouble, points are a distinct possibility on Monaco’s unpredictable streets.
Adrian Sutil (GER), Force India – 10th, 16pts
He hasn’t yet quite lived up to expectations in the improved VJM03, but after just a fifth place in Malaysia to show for this season’s efforts, a solid seventh in Spain after starting 11th at least got Adrian back in the points. Monaco, of course, was the scene of tears and heartache for the German when he had driven the much-less-fancied VJM01 into fourth here two years ago only for an apologetic Kimi Räikkönen to punt him off the track behind the safety car. With reserve driver Paul di Resta waiting in the wings, it seems it’s Sutil’s team-mate Tonio Liuzzi who’s feeling the current heat, but Adrian could do with another fourth place or two to calm the nerves.
Read Sebastian Vettel's own post-race thoughts in his blog from Spain, here
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