The complete 2010 Monaco GP review

PRACTICE

Practice 1 - Thursday AM

Thursday morning set the Monaco weekend up as a battle between Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, star underdog Robert Kubica's Renault, and the Red Bulls.

It was Alonso who emerged in front in the first session, but by only 0.073 seconds over Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull, and with Kubica just 0.016s further back. The 0.4s gap to Mark Webber in fourth was largely due to traffic, too.

The McLarens were back in a low-key seventh and eighth, sandwiched by the Mercedes.

There was little in the way of traffic drama or carnage, despite expectations of both in abundance, though Karun Chandhok spun his Hispania at Massenet and clipped the barriers, and Kamui Kobayashi mangled his Sauber when a wild trip over the Swimming Pool entry kerbs sent him into the wall.

Practice 2 - Thursday PM

Light drizzle caused a few scares and slides in the afternoon, and also meant few changes of position in the second half of the session.

By that time Alonso had again established himself as the benchmark, a tenth clear of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes. Just 0.3s covered the top six, which was completed by Vettel, Felipe Massa, Michael Schumacher and Kubica, while seventh for Lewis Hamilton was McLaren's limit for the afternoon.

With mileage in Monte Carlo so crucial, both Force India and Hispania opted to abandon their recent use of test drivers in practice and kept race pairings Adrian Sutil/Tonio Liuzzi and Karun Chandhok/Bruno Senna in the cars for the full day.

Saturday Practice

As Formula 1 got back on track after the traditional Friday break, Alonso picked up where he left off and soon went fastest.

But then his weekend went dramatically wrong as he crashed heavily at Massenet 21 minutes into the third practice session, damaging his Ferrari's chassis and ruling him out of qualifying.

The rest of the field upped the ante as the session progressed, with ever more traffic issues and near-misses as everyone tried to test their qualifying mettle.

Finally it was Kubica who came out on top, 0.046s clear of Massa, with Webber third and Hamilton beating Vettel and the Mercedes to fourth.

Alonso's crash aside, the other incident of the session saw Adrian Sutil need a new rear wing after reversing his Force India into the barriers at Casino Square.

QUALIFYING

1. Mark Webber, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-3

For the second race in a row, Webber nailed his qualifying laps to grab a sensational pole that was out of everybody's reach. A three-tenth gap showed the Australian and his car were in class apart that not even team-mate Vettel was capable of matching.

2. Robert Kubica, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-0

The Renault driver was 'on it' right from the start of the weekend, probably flattering his car. Whatever, Kubica was one of the stars of the weekend as he continued to demonstrate the special chemistry between himself and his team is working just fine.

3. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-3

Right after the end of qualifying, Vettel seemed to be surprised and short of ideas to explain the gap to Webber - a massive three tenths of a second. The German admitted he was frustrated by the problems with traffic when there were only ten cars on track.

4. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-4

Having struggled with the handling of his car in Spain, the Brazilian was delighted to be able to find his rhythm once again in Monaco. Fourth on the grid was unlikely to be good enough to allow him to fight for victory, but Massa was relieved to be back on song.

5. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-3

Hamilton claimed there was absolutely nothing left to extract from his car following his final flyer, which was only good enough for a distant fifth. He conceded McLaren needed a significant step if it was to catch Red Bull in the upcoming races.

6. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-1

Traffic and a mistake on what should have been his fastest lap left Rosberg frustrated, the Mercedes driver feeling he could have been on pole. It was clear that the shorter wheelbase car meant the German was back to the form he was enjoying before his Spanish GP nightmare.

7. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-5

It was very close between Schumacher and Rosberg during the weekend, even if the younger German felt he should have been a lot faster. Schumacher was left slightly frustrated by the traffic issues in Q3, ironically caused by Rosberg himself after the team 'cocked up', in the words of Ross Brawn.

8. Jenson Button, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-3

The world champion had a disappointing end to the session, as Massa slowed down right in front of him as he was about to complete his penultimate run. The subsequent, and final, lap was also compromised because of that so Button was unable to find out what his real pace was.

9. Rubens Barrichello, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-2

Monaco disguised the weaknesses of the Williams FW32, and Barrichello made good use of the car with a superb effort during the grid-deciding session. As expected, the Brazilian felt he had extracted pretty much everything out of his car.

10. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-5

The Italian was comfortable around the streets of the principality right after the first wheel turned on Thursday, and he carried his good form into qualifying too. For the first time this season, Liuzzi outqualified team-mate Sutil and set himself perfectly for a strong race.

11. Nico Hulkenberg, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-4

Hulkenberg felt his Williams was quite competitive and was left to blame a less-than-perfect lap for missing the Q3 cut by just a fraction. It was still a decent result that allowed him to think about scoring points on Sunday.

12. Adrian Sutil, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-1

The Force India driver was disappointed after missing Q3, the German saying it had been impossible to get a clean lap. Sutil was also hindered by Petrov's crash in Q2, something that came at the worst time for him.

13. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-1

Another driver who felt he could have made it to Q3, Buemi was not completely happy with his qualifying, where he felt his team had not managed the change of temperature between the morning and the afternoon well.

14. Vitaly Petrov, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 0-6

With his team-mate on fire, it was a not an easy weekend for the Russian rookie. He put on a good performance in Q1, but then was a second off Kubica's pace in Q2, where he was knocked out and left at the bottom of the seventh row.

15. Pedro de la Rosa, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-3

With the Sauber struggling in slow corners, de la Rosa was always going to face a tough time in Monaco. Nonetheless, the Spaniard was pleased with his performance, claiming it had been his best qualifying in the principality and that the session had been a lot of fun for him.

16. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-3

Right from the start of the weekend, Kobayashi knew that he was in for a very difficult time, and so it was in qualifying. The Japanese at least managed to beat one of his direct rivals, but he was left wishing for a race at a track that suited his car better.

17. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-5

The Spaniard was the only driver who failed to improve his Q1 time in the second qualifying segment. In his first visit to Monaco in F1 machinery, Alguersuari said it was impossible to get a clean lap, the Toro Rosso driver finding traffic in all his attempts.

18. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-3

The Finn had a good first run in Q1 and decided to go for it in the second one, seeing that he was less than a second off Q2. His lap, however, was far from clean and he had to settle for 18th, which was still good enough to be the best of the drivers in a new team.

19. Jarno Trulli, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-3

Trulli began his weekend on the back foot after losing valuable track time on Thursday due to an engine problem. So the Italian had to make the best of final practice to get his set-up ready for qualifying. In the end he finished less than a tenth behind Kovalainen so it wasn't a bad effort.

20. Timo Glock, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-0

The German admitted he had to go into qualifying blind after managing just three untimed laps in the final practice session due to a steering rack leak. That meant Glock was surprised by how close he was to the Lotus drivers, as he continued with his perfect qualifying record against di Grassi.

21. Lucas di Grassi, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 0-6

Unlike Glock, di Grassi has a less troubled Saturday and enjoyed problem-free runs both in practice and in qualifying. Even so, he still finished around half a second of his team-mate's pace. The Brazilian was still using the non-updated chassis.

22. Bruno Senna, HRT
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-2

As expected on a track where aero counts for a lot less than usual, HRT was closer to the field around the streets of the principality. That didn't mean, however, that Senna had a chance to put on a fight to try and beat somebody else apart from Chandhok, which he did.

23. Karun Chandhok, HRT
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-4

Not a good qualifying for the Indian, who finished over a full second behind Senna despite managing the same amount of laps. He was baffled about his lack of pace and vowed to work hard to find the missing speed as fast as possible.

24. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-2

There was no qualifying for Alonso, who was forced to miss the session after damaging his car in a crash during final practice. The Spaniard, quickest on Thursday, lost control of his car at Massenet and crashed heavily against the barriers. His chassis was too damaged to be fixed for qualifying and Alonso had to start the race from the pitlane.

Qualifying Results

Pos  Driver         Team                    Q1        Q2        Q3   
 1.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:15.035   1:14.462  1:13.826
 2.  Kubica         Renault                1:15.045   1:14.549  1:14.120
 3.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:15.110   1:14.568  1:14.227
 4.  Massa          Ferrari                1:14.757   1:14.405  1:14.283
 5.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:15.676   1:14.527  1:14.432
 6.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1:15.188   1:14.375  1:14.544
 7.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1:15.649   1:14.691  1:14.590
 8.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:15.623   1:15.150  1:14.637
 9.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:15.590   1:15.083  1:14.901
10.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:15.397   1:15:061  1:15.170
11.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:16.030   1:15.317
12.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:15.445   1:15.318
13.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:15.961   1:15.413
14.  Petrov         Renault                1:15.482   1:15.576
15.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari         1:15.908   1:15.692
16.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:16.175   1:15.992
17.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:16.021   1:16.176
18.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1:17.094
19.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:17.134
20.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:17.377
21.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        1:17.864
22.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth           1:18.509
23.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth           1:19.559
24.  Alonso         Ferrari                No time

All Timing Unofficial

THE RACE

Robert Kubica's Renault was angled determinedly in the direction of the Red Bulls as the field lined up for the start. The Pole knew that given Mark Webber's qualifying pace - and the form he had displayed in Spain a week earlier - leaping ahead off the line was pretty much the only chance he was going to have if he was to pull off a shock underdog success for Renault.

But it was Webber who got the better getaway, leaving Kubica to focus on fending off Sebastian Vettel in the second Red Bull into Sainte Devote. He couldn't do that either, and found himself with Felipe Massa's Ferrari drawing level on his outside and Lewis Hamilton's McLaren doing likewise on the inside - though Kubica managed to keep both behind under braking and exit the corner in third.

Behind Hamilton, the Mercedes were duelling too. Michael Schumacher had made a better start than Nico Rosberg, and as the elder German kept his young countryman to the outside, the rapid-starting Rubens Barrichello slipped his Williams down the inside of both and into sixth.

The other Williams of Nico Hulkenberg had already dropped to the back due to a clutch issue, and things got even worse when a front wing problem caused him to crash heavily in the tunnel before the first lap was over.

The level of debris required a safety car, something Alonso surely anticipated as the Williams demolished itself on the barriers a few yards in front of him. Moments after the full course yellow was declared, Alonso was diving into the pits to get rid of his soft tyres in favour of the mediums he hoped would last the rest of the distance. Ferrari said it had always planned to pit at the end of lap one - either way the safety car timing was still handy.

There was more good news for Alonso under yellow too as Jenson Button, the only man ahead of him in the points pre-race, came to a halt with a smoking McLaren. A cover had accidentally been left on the car's sidepod on the way to the grid, causing it to start overheating. The slow laps behind the safety car were the last straw for the McLaren, which started smouldering ominously and was duly parked at Sainte Devote.

To really benefit from his bonus pitstop, Alonso had to stay as close as possible to the top cars and hope to jump them as they stopped for tyres - and he had an awful lot of traffic to get through first.

Bruno Senna had followed the same strategy so was already out of the way. Karun Chandhok was despatched soon after racing resumed on lap seven. But Virgin's Lucas di Grassi proved tougher to pass - making the most of his moment in the spotlight and defending assertively.

"He must have thought the world championship was at stake in Monaco, but that's up to him..." said Alonso, who eventually made it through into the chicane on lap 10 - but only because the Virgin had got scarily sideways in the tunnel exit and had to abruptly back off to avoid a massive accident.

Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock were passed with less drama, and when a neat down-the-outside move into the chicane swept him ahead of Heikki Kovalainen and into 16th on lap 16, he was into clear air. Race leader Webber was 40s ahead, but sixth-placed Barrichello was only 20s in front and slowing the Mercedes' pace - and therefore everyone from the Brazilian back was in Alonso's sights as he started lapping quicker than all bar the dominant Australian in first place.

That Australian's domination was such that even his title favourite team-mate Vettel could not keep up. As Webber churned out fastest lap after fastest lap, the gap between the Red Bulls stretched to 9s prior to their first pitstops on laps 22 and 23.

"Especially in the beginning and the restarts I wasn't able to keep up with him, there was a big difference," Vettel admitted. "Later on when I finally felt the grip I wasn't too far off but by then he was already 10 seconds down the road, so there was no real point to make the effort trying to catch him."

Instead Vettel had to focus on staying far enough ahead of Kubica.

"I was able to keep up with the pace of Sebastian. Actually I think we were a bit quicker," reckoned Kubica, who lurked within a few seconds of the Red Bull's tail at most.

The top three were the only drivers who could be confident they were out of Alonso's range. The Spaniard reckoned that had di Grassi been a bit less combative, he could have got through the traffic quick enough to jump Hamilton too, but instead the McLaren emerged from its pitstop just ahead of the Ferrari. Hamilton was among the first of the frontrunners to pit, but that wasn't quite enough to get him ahead of Massa for fourth, with the Ferrari still in front when it rejoined after its own stop on lap 19.

The Massa, Hamilton and Alonso train then found itself behind Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, who had started on the harder tyres and was trying to gain ground with a uniquely long first stint. That elevated him to fifth as others stopped, but before things could get too intriguing, the Sauber stopped with gearshift problems, freeing up the Ferraris and Hamilton. Pedro de la Rosa had already parked the other Sauber with hydraulic issues.

Rosberg was another man to try something different strategy-wise. Suddenly in clear air after Barrichello and Schumacher pitted on lap 19 (swapping places during their tyre changes), he decided to push and see if he could gain any ground by running longer.

"The soft tyre was quite destroyed already but I had to try and make it happen," he said.

The mission started well with some new fastest laps, but then his charge faltered when he came up behind Webber as the leader rejoined following his own stop and lapped slightly slower at first on his new hard tyres.

So Rosberg rejoined behind Schumacher again - and with both of them behind Alonso - but did at least pass Barrichello, who had started to lose pace.

"The car started to feel really strange after the pitstop," he reported. "The steering wheel, in particular, didn't feel normal. The problem continued to get worse and then I crashed."

The left-rear corner of the Williams appeared to break as it crested the Beau Rivage, leading to a big accident that finally finished at Casino Square. The car lost several wheels in the impact - and then another when Barrichello flung out the steering wheel and it was run over by Chandhok...

The safety car period for this crash failed to ruffle Webber, and another yellow 13 laps later so that a potentially loose drain cover at Massenet could be checked made similarly little difference to the flawless leader - or to the rest of the field, for the Monaco GP was fitting the pattern of dry 2010 races and fizzling out after the pitstops.

Behind Webber, Vettel, Kubica, Massa, Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher and Rosberg in the top eight positions, Adrian Sutil had jumped Force India team-mate Tonio Liuzzi in the pits to move into ninth thanks to a longer first stint and good in-lap speed.

The Toro Rossos were next up, Jaime Alguersuari losing time with a trip down the Sainte Devote escape road but benefiting from the yellows to get back on Sebastien Buemi's tail. Vitaly Petrov's Renault had split them before pitting with a puncture. The Russian would eventually retire with a brake issue a few laps from the end.

The battle between the new teams provided some entertainment, and set up a final twist at the front too. A suspension breakage and a wheel problem respectively took Virgin's Glock and di Grassi out by lap 25. Until then, Glock had been running close behind Kovalainen, who was thrilled to keep Petrov's Renault in sight in the middle of the race. It didn't last, though, as the Finn stopped with gearbox problems on lap 58. Senna pulled in just behind him, hydraulic problems halting the Hispania.

That left just Chandhok and Trulli, the latter having lost a lot of time and fallen to the back of the queue when wheelgun problems caused a slow stop. He was eager to re-pass the Hispania, and just as Webber came up to lap them, Trulli tried a move.

"I saw Jarno going for a lunge down the inside of Rascasse and I thought 'what the hell is going to happen here...'" said Webber.

The two cars became interlocked mid-corner, with Trulli bouncing over the top of the Hispania, narrowly missing Chandhok's head.

That led to a fourth safety car period, and the weekend's biggest controversy. The track was only cleared once the last lap was underway, and in keeping with current practice, the safety car pulled in at the pit entry and let Webber lead the field over the line to clinch victory.

As far as Ferrari was concerned, the race was still effectively 'under yellow', the rules stipulating that "if the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pitlane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking."

Mercedes felt differently, seeing the notice on the computer that the safety car was coming in as clearance for racing to resume for one final sprint - and under this interpretation, the overtaking could begin from the 'restart line' at the pit entry after Rascasse.

So when Alonso slid sideways as he accelerated out of the corner, the opportunistic Schumacher pounced down the inside into Anthony Noghes. Alonso tried to close the door but the Mercedes was through and into sixth... at least for a couple of hours before the stewards, ironically assisted by Schumacher's one-time arch-rival Damon Hill, decided that Ferrari's reading of the rules was the correct one. Alonso was restored to sixth, Schumacher was given a 20s penalty and fell to 12th - though Mercedes has declared its intention to appeal.

This incident dominated post-race conversation, and rather overshadowed the incredible turnaround that had taken place at the top of the standings.

Just a week earlier, Red Bull had been the team that turned squandering potential into an art form - on pole everywhere but with just one win to show for it. Now Webber and Vettel sat atop the championship standings together.

And eight days ago Webber was languishing in eighth in the world championship, 32 points off the lead and already looking set for another luckless year in Vettel's shadow. Now he was the man of the moment, the championship leader on countback, and - deservedly - the happiest man in Monaco.

"Absolutely incredible and for sure the greatest day of my life today," said Webber, but had it set him up for an even greater achievement - his first world title?

"For sure I'm not low on confidence at the moment," he said. "We were on the back foot in Shanghai, it wasn't a good race for us, so you can look back at that and say we really needed the result in Barcelona and then this one was a very unique challenge for us in terms of a very specific circuit.

"Things can change very quickly in this game. I've been round the block long enough to know that as well, so feet on the ground...

RACE RESULTS

The Monaco Grand Prix
Monte Carlo, Monaco, Monaco;
78 laps; 260.520km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           1h50:13.355
 2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +     0.448
 3.  Kubica        Renault                    +     1.675
 4.  Massa         Ferrari                    +     2.666
 5.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +     4.363
 6.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +     6.341
 7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +     6.651
 8.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     6.970
 9.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +     7.305
10.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     8.199
11.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     9.135
12.  Schumacher    Mercedes *                 +    25.712
13.  Petrov        Renault                    +    4 laps

* 20 second time penalty for breach of article 40.13

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:15.192

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Chandhok      HRT-Cosworth                 71
Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth               71
Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth               59
Senna         HRT-Cosworth                 59
Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth            28
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               27
Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth              26
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              23
De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari               22
Button        McLaren-Mercedes             3
Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth            1


World Championship standings, round 6:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             

 1.  Webber        78        1.  Red Bull-Renault          156
 2.  Vettel        78        2.  Ferrari                   136
 3.  Alonso        75        3.  McLaren-Mercedes          129
 4.  Button        70        4.  Mercedes                   78
 5.  Massa         61        5.  Renault                    65
 6.  Kubica        59        6.  Force India-Mercedes       30
 7.  Hamilton      59        7.  Williams-Cosworth           8
 8.  Rosberg       56        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          4
 9.  Schumacher    22       
10.  Sutil         20       
11.  Liuzzi        10       
12.  Barrichello    7       
13.  Petrov         6       
14.  Alguersuari    3       
15.  Hulkenberg     1 
16.  Buemi          1      

All timing unofficial

Lap-by-lap as it happened on AUTOSPORT Live

TEAM BY TEAM

McLaren

Slightly off the pace all weekend, Hamilton and Button qualify fifth and eighth.

That's exactly where Hamilton stays in the race, chasing Massa all afternoon without making progress, but things go horribly wrong for Button as a cooling cover is left on his sidepod on the way to the grid, which ultimately leads to his car overheating and starting to catch fire during the first safety car.

Mercedes

Rosberg is adamant that his is among the fastest cars in Monaco, so he is painfully frustrated when he fails to put a perfect lap together in qualifying and takes only sixth place rather than the front row spot he had expected.

He loses out to Schumacher (who had started one place behind) and Barrichello on the first lap so runs eighth. Both pass Barichello in the pits, although Rosberg's decision to stay out for a longer first stint doesn't gain him any more ground.

Schumacher surges past Alonso for sixth on the last lap but is given a penalty for effecting passing under safety car conditions so falls to 12th. Rosberg comes home seventh.

Red Bull

Webber takes a second pole and a second victory in the space of a week, utterly dominating the race from the front.

Vettel isn't quite on his pace and starts third, but jumps Kubica off the line and is able to resist the Renault for second all the way.

Ferrari

Alonso tops both Thursday sessions and looks set for his most competitive weekend since Bahrain, only to crash heavily on Saturday morning and rule himself out of qualifying with chassis damage.

He therefore starts from the pitlane, but an immediate change to medium tyres when the safety car comes out and then a brisk charge past the new teams' cars means he is up to sixth by the time everyone has pitted. Schumacher passes him at the final corner of the race, but is deemed to have done so illegally under the special final lap safety car rules, so Alonso gets the place back.

Massa is back on the pace after several low-key races. He qualifies and finishes fourth, not quick enough to challenge for the podium but able to fend off Hamilton.

New parts bring a much-needed step forward, with Barrichello happy to be ninth on the grid and Hulkenberg taking 11th.

Their race is a destructive one, though. Hulkenberg drops to the back with a clutch problem then crashes heavily in the tunnel on lap one due to a front wing fault.

Barrichello passes several cars at the start and holds off the Mercedes in a battle for sixth at first, but loses places during the pit sequence and then has his own accident due to a problem at the left rear of the car.

Kubica is the star of the weekend, flying from the start of practice and only just missing out on pole to Webber. He loses second to Vettel off the line, but holds third for the rest of the race, chasing the second Red Bull all the way.

Petrov crashes in Q2 and starts 14th for his Monaco F1 debut. He runs just outside the top ten until having to pit with a puncture, and then parks near the end with brake problems.

Sutil damages his rear wing in an incident in final practice and is disappointed with 12th on the grid, while Liuzzi puts his recent qualifying issues behind him by taking 10th.

They swap places in the race as Sutil runs longer before his stop and produces some strong in-laps, and end up with eighth and ninth places following Schumacher's penalty.

A low-key weekend for STR sees Buemi and Alguersuari 13th and 17th on the grid. They make progress in the race as others falter, with Alguersuari getting away with a visit to the Sainte Devote escape road, and cross the line in 11th and 12th - with Buemi then inheriting a point once Schumacher is demoted.

Kovalainen thoroughly enjoys himself in the Lotus in Monaco and gives it everything to try and break into Q2, although spins on consecutive laps at the end of Q1 mean he has to settle for topping the new teams pack.

He heads this group in the race too, and stays close to Petrov's Renault, until his gearbox breaks.

Trulli is not on Kovalainen's pace and then falls to last in the race when wheelgun issues ruin his pitstop. He chases Chandhok into the closing stages and then mounts the Hispania when a late-race pass goes awry.

Chandhok is the first to hit the wall when he spins and brushes the Massenet barrier on Thursday morning, and then suffers mechanical problems that leave him a long way off Senna's pace in qualifying as both trail the field again.

Senna retires from the race with hydraulic problems but Chandhok gets up to 13th and is the best-placed of the new teams' cars until Trulli crashes into him with four laps to go.

Glock qualifies just behind the Lotus duo and ahead of di Grassi despite losing most of final practice to a steering rack problem. He chases Kovalainen in the race until his rear suspension fails.

Di Grassi puts up more of a fight against Alonso then anyone else, but is also an early retirement, this time thanks to a wheel issue.

After the encouragement of Spain, it's back to rather unhappy business as usual in Monaco for Sauber.

The drivers share row eight and are both early retirements, de la Rosa with hydraulic problems and Kobayashi with gearbox issues when running fifth on an alternative long-first-stint strategy.