Happy Kubica laments poor start

But the Renault driver was still happy with his second podium of the season after a very strong weekend from the Pole.

Kubica lost his position at the start, when he was overtaken by Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull.

Despite feeling quicker than the German driver, Kubica had to settle for third, especially after flat-spotting a tyre before the halfway point of the race.

"It was known that starting from the dirty side would be difficult for me," said Kubica. "Normally I would defend but I saw Mark did a slow pull-away so I thought I had a chance to overtake him.

"I just got on the power too early and got wheelspin, so it was too late to close the door on Vettel and then had to defend from Felipe.

"I was able to keep up pace with Seb. I think we were slightly quicker than them. Then with 30 laps to go, I had a big flat spot and big vibration and was really scared I might need to pit again and change tyres.

"I couldn't see the pit board and was surprised about pace. Third place we have to be positive about. No was expecting us to finish on the podium. Congratulations to Renault to have all spots on the podium."

Kubica conceded it was impossible to try to overtake Vettel, and he was fearful that he would crash following his tyre problems.

"Not really, especially when I had the front lock-up I had huge vibrations, so I was looking quite a lot on the tyres.

"I thought the vibration might be quite dangerous for exploding the tyres. When I saw I was able to keep up pace and control the gap to Felipe there was no real chance. I was never really close and in Monaco it is nearly impossible to overtake."