How the Monaco Grand Prix was won

We went to Monaco amid concerns about the durability of Pirelli's super soft rubber, which even the Italian company described as a qualifying tyre that would last only a few laps. Some feared the race could be a farce, but instead we were treated to a superb and utterly compelling contest that resulted in three drivers running nose-to-tail as the laps ticked away.

Having run one, two and three stop strategies respectively, they had ended up in the same place at the same time, but with tyres of widely varying age and thus potential performance. Then the red flag robbed of us of a proper conclusion to the race, and gave Sebastian Vettel a 'get out of jail free' card.

A stoppage had also turned qualifying on its head, generating a grid made up of times set by first Q3 runs, and leaving Lewis Hamilton stranded down the field. Had he started from his rightful position - which surely wouldn't have been any lower than second - we might have had an even more dramatic encounter.

Vettel loves his trophies, and there's no doubt that he'll enjoy making space for the distinctive track sculpture that the Automobile Club de Monaco presented him with.

"They all have the same amount of points, but to win in Monte Carlo is very special for Sebastian. His first grand prix victory here is something very special and very unique," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said after the race. "He's just been unbelievable so far this year. He's only seven points off a maximum score. This race here I think was probably one of the Monaco classics, it was excitement from start to finish. His engineer was talking to him like he's on a Sunday drive about brake balance and KERS and everything else. You forget how pressured he is."

Vettel did a brilliant job over the course of the weekend, but given the unique nature of the track and the lottery conditions that the race provides, it was always going to be his to lose. And a rare foul-up in the pits by the normally meticulous Red Bull crew meant that he very nearly did. But when you're on a roll like Vettel is right now, things tend to go your way.

Vettel: The perfect start

Pole is normally a pretty secure place to start at Monaco, and Vettel probably felt a little more comfortable about having Jenson Button right behind him than Hamilton or Fernando Alonso, guys who are not shy about going for it on the first lap. In fact, his biggest concern was probably the presence of Mark Webber in third. Many times in the past, the guy who starts there has slipped into second by Ste Devote, and indeed when asked how frustrating he found it to be beaten into second in such a situation last year, Robert Kubica said it would be a miracle if the second-placed qualifier at Monaco held on to his position.

Vettel was out of sight while the rest entered Turn 1 © LAT

But this time it happened, so Vettel didn't have to worry about having Webber on his tail in the opening stint - and more importantly, the team didn't have to worry about how to run the race while balancing the interests of both its drivers.

Even better for Vettel was that Button slipped back in the early laps, and with no immediate pressure in his mirror, the German was able to find a good rhythm, putting in quick times while protecting his super softs as best as he could.

The gap grew to 4.3 seconds by lap four, and it looked like the fans might in for a demonstration run. But then it stabilised. Vettel then lost a bit of time lapping Vitantonio Liuzzi and, as of lap 14, the gap was 3.7s. On the next lap he encountered Narain Karthikeyan and again lost over 1s.

Perhaps spurred on by that handy gain, Button dived into the pits to take on super softs, the deficit to Vettel having now been cut to less than 3s. Given that Red Bull was bound to respond, there still was no way he was going to jump ahead, and neither Vettel nor his crew should have been under any undue pressure for what should have been a routine covering operation.

Red Bull gets it wrong

But that's where it all went wrong. For reasons the team couldn't explain in the immediate aftermath, the request to fit super soft tyres, to shadow what Jenson was doing, didn't get through to the pit crew.

Communications are more complicated at Monaco than anywhere else for the simple reason that the engineers on the pitstand are in the building above the garage rather than on the pitwall, from where they can simply turn around and see what's happening. That almost certainly didn't help in this situation, and McLaren had an even more costly faux pas with Hamilton later in the race, when no tyres were ready when he came in.

"We had an issue at the first stop where the radio seemed to get jammed," said Horner. "And the communication from the pitwall guys upstairs didn't reach the guys downstairs, so there was some confusion. We were looking at going on to another set of options [super softs] and he drove out of the pitlane with another set of primes [softs] on that went to the car late, so not only did he lose time, we didn't get the tyre of choice."

In the confusion, the stop had dragged out. He spent 3.2s longer in the pitlane than Button had at his stop. When he emerged, Jenson had gone past, having also banged in a superb out lap on his fresh ex-qualifying super softs.

Button and Alonso slipped back initially © LAT

On lap 14 Vettel had been 3.7s ahead of Button. By the time he completed lap 17, the first out of the pits on the less favourable softs, he was 4.1s behind. A remarkable turnaround, and a massive headache for Red Bull. It wasn't even a case of going to Plan B or C; this was something totally unexpected and which set the team strategists scrambling. The only positive was that having used both kinds of tyre, Vettel could - in theory - now get to the finish without another stop.

Initially it looked like an impossible task, given that the tyres would have to do 62 laps; way, way more than anybody in the paddock had anticipated. The only real hope was that if some safety car interludes calmed things down, there was a tiny chance that he could do it.

"We then said 'okay, this isn't a disaster, we need to change our strategy here and work our way out of it'," said Horner. "So then there were a whole load of different permutations that we were looking at, whether to stop again, whether to go on the super soft at the end or whether to go on another set of softs.

"Suddenly you have to regroup, gather your thoughts, and the great thing is there was no panic. This was the hand we've [been] dealt, now how do we deal our way out of it? It's testimony to where the team's come from that even with a situation like that, we managed to navigate our way out of it."

The long way home for Vettel

The key thing was that Vettel couldn't allow Button to get far enough ahead that the McLaren could make a second stop and come out still in front. If he did that and put on the softs, it would be game over - they would now be on the same tyres, both in a position to get to the end, but Jenson's would have been that much fresher.

For a while, it looked like Jenson might do it. By lap 26 the gap was as high as 14.9s. But then traffic began to trip him up, and with his super softs past their best, he couldn't make any more progress. Vettel hung in there, keeping the margin at 13-14s.

This was a tricky one for McLaren, as Jenson had lost momentum. The team had to do something, choosing to bring him in on lap 33. The McLaren strategists knew he would come out still behind Vettel, but it was a question of either A) putting him onto softs and creating a potential race to the flag with Jenson on tyres that were 17 laps younger, or B) taking another set of super softs and giving Jenson some pace and overtaking potential. With the latter strategy Jenson would have to stop again for softs while pretty much relying on Vettel having to make another one - even though he didn't have to.

Whitmarsh believes Button would have won without the safety car appearing © LAT

In the end Button went for Plan B. And no sooner had he made the stop than the safety car came out for the Felipe Massa accident, precipitated of course by Button's own team-mate.

This was a fascinating development. It was crunch time for Vettel - he could pit under the safety car and drop back behind Button, or stay out and try to get the tyres to the end. There were still 44 laps to run, and it looked like a daunting task, but he chose to go for it.

Button meanwhile, was behind him in the safety car queue, albeit with the lapped Nick Heidfeld, Sebastien Buemi and Rubens Barrichello in the way and preventing him from being in a position to immediately attack Vettel at the restart.

By lap 41, just three laps after the green, Button was right on Vettel's tail. This was truly fascinating stuff. The McLaren driver could absolutely go for it because he knew could use up his tyres. Indeed he had to go for it, because he had to find a way to squeeze in a stop for soft tyres and that meant getting past Vettel. The world champion, meanwhile just had to focus on the long game and somehow stay ahead while preserving his rubber.

"We believed that we had a quick race car here," said McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh. "But a quick race car without track position isn't good enough, so you had to get track position. So we were trying hard to get that, and trying hard to find a way through."

However, Button couldn't find a way by, and McLaren's attention had by now been diverted to Alonso.

Ferrari had made a great call to pit the Spaniard under the Massa-induced safety car. Having watched Button take super softs on lap 34, the team put Alonso onto softs on the basis that a 44-lap run to the finish was feasible. It was clear also that at least the first few would be run under safety car conditions, which would give a little extra respite. With Button stuck behind Vettel, Alonso was closing in.

Button had to stop at some point, and McLaren brought him in for softs on lap 48, after he'd run 15, 18 and 15 lap stints on his three sets of super softs. At the end of lap 49, Button's out lap on the new tyres, Vettel was 5.9s clear of Alonso, and the British driver was a further 14s behind the Ferrari.

Now it was simply a question of maths, with everyone's tyres losing performance by the lap. Vettel's were 33 laps old, Alonso's had done 15, and Button's just the one.

Vettel knew they would catch him, and that he really had to use his head. It was pointless to go flat out - he had to keep some life in the tyres and save some performance for when his rivals appeared in his mirrors. Alonso was within striking distance by lap 57 and Button joined the party on lap 62. With 16 laps to go it was now all about survival for Vettel.

"We were trying it as we went along really," Adrian Newey said. "It was unexplored territory, put it that way. We knew that they would last a lot longer than the options, but we didn't know exactly how much longer. It worked, that's the main thing."

Button had closed up on Vettel and Alonso with 10 laps left to run © LAT

"Every lap Seb was making it go longer and longer and longer," added Horner. "And he's saying 'the tyres are okay, I'm okay, I'm okay'. He made the strategy work today. So in the end we decided 'okay, we'll roll the dice. Worst case we're going to be third, and we'll try to make it work'."

"It's a tough call, because you're heading into the unknown. China wasn't that long ago where he didn't quite get to the end. But it worked. It wasn't a situation that we wanted to find ourselves in, but we worked our way out of it, which was phenomenal."

It wasn't just luck. Under the most intense pressure Vettel gave his more experienced pursuers a masterclass in defensive driving.

"Alonso made it even more complicated, because that throws another dynamic in," said Horner. "You can cover one, but you can't cover both. In the end he was putting a huge amount of pressure on Seb. Seb was working very, very hard on the exit into the tunnel, [and] onto the pit straight."

Newey confirmed how smart Vettel was at ensuring he came out of the key corners in a position to get a good run: "He had to try and keep the tyre slip really low, and once he was caught obviously what he was doing was being very careful at keeping his minimum speed down, and getting as good an exit as possible. He was driving it like a dragster over the last laps."

Alonso was saving himself for a late attack, and added mischievously that he had a lot less to lose than Vettel and that he was willing to risk a crash. Button was also being patient and had a feeling that his rivals would take care of each other. It was a great stuff.

"At the end you've got to say Fernando's and Sebastian's tyres were very old," said Whitmarsh. "And we were lot quicker than them. If anybody was going to be able to pull off an overtake at the end, it would have been Jenson on much fresher rubber."

Vettel gets a break

Sadly we'll never know what would have happened, for we were robbed of potentially the most exciting finish in years when the red flags came out, all three drivers having somehow slipped through the carnage as Hamilton, Jaime Alguersuari and Vitaly Petrov tangled at the Swimming Pool.

The FIA tried to do the right thing. Believing he was hurt, Petrov stayed in the car and shouted "hospital, hospital," into his radio, which was a little alarming for the team. Told by the medical crew at the scene that the extraction might take 20 minutes, race director Charlie Whiting suspended the race rather than let it run to the flag behind the safety car, which he could easily have chosen to do. His reasoning was simply that everyone around the world deserved a chance to see a proper finish.

Unfortunately, we didn't get the finish we really deserved. Since race suspensions - rather than stoppages - have been in the rulebook, teams have been allowed to work on their cars during the interval, and that means they are also allowed to change tyres. The way the FIA sees it, it's as if the safety car is out but not moving, and in effect everyone is entitled to a free pitstop on the grid.

The fact that teams could fit new tyres came as a surprise to many and has caused some uproar since, but there is some logic to it. Bear in mind that there's a chance that cars have run over debris, and also that interruptions are highly likely to involve rain, and a change of tyres before a restart is a logical concession.

Vettel didn't put a wheel out of line, and was rewarded with victory © LAT

For the final six-lap sprint, Vettel and Alonso were able to fit used super softs, while Button faced a double whammy. Not only did he lose the tyre advantage he had before the stoppage, he had no super softs left, so had to take softs, albeit a new set.

"I think we would have [been] very strong from that position," said Whitmarsh. "Because it would have been almost impossible for the others to put temperature back into very old worn tyres. So it was a bit frustrating."

After the restart, the last few laps were a formality for Vettel.

"He drove an absolutely immaculate race," said Horner. "And he made it work - even without the restart he would have held on. It was a straightforward race to the finish, and on the options we were relatively comfortable. The only danger was that he went for the fastest lap on the last lap, which I'm grateful that he didn't!"

"Seb did a great job of managing it," said Newey. "It was obviously a long run on a set of primes. Right at the end having the red flag meant a few less laps on those tyres. Looking at their condition he would probably have made it anyway."

But would he really have held on? The Red Bull guys were confident, but remember there was a long way to go. The Petrov accident happened during lap 69, so when the safety car first emerged, there were actually nine laps left, rather than the six we eventually had at the restart after the safety car interlude. Could Seb really have survived those nine racing laps in front?

Bear in mind that at that stage his tyres were already 53 laps old, and he was shooting for 62. He'd been given a little breathing space when the Massa safety car allowed him to give the tyres a rest, but nobody else came anywhere close to his target (when the safety car came out Alonso's had done 35). The longest stint anyone logged on the softs during the race was 39 laps, by Webber. Talk about a voyage into the unknown...

What might have been

There's no doubt that Alonso put in a great performance, and the man himself was pretty confident that he could have found a way past Vettel and dealt with Button.

"Our strategy with Fernando was to attack in the last laps," said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali. "And then for sure this is what we would have done in case of not a red flag at the end. Who knows what was the outcome in those conditions? But for sure he was keeping the tyres to attack Sebastian in the last couple of laps."

"We were going for the win," said Whitmarsh when asked about Button's prospects. "I think we had a good strategy and I think we were quick. Had we not had the red flag, it may have been a different result, but that's how it is. It's so disappointing, but I don't regret the decisions we made with Jenson. I think that was the right call. It could have paid off, it should have paid off, but it didn't.

Newey could not praise Vettel's driving highly enough © LAT

"Jenson did a great job, and he deserved a podium. I like to think that he could be on a higher step than he was. He's disappointed because he felt he could win this race."

Button's drive was overshadowed by the fuss about his team-mate's wild day on and off the track. Also lost in the excitement was a brilliant performance by Webber. Having harboured hopes of being second by Ste Devote, he lost out to Alonso, and then his race was ruined by Vettel's pitstop.

Red Bull's confidence in its crew was such that the team felt it could service both Vettel and Webber on lap 16. It's not the first time someone has tried that this year, but the margin between the cars on track has to be big enough - in this case it was around 15s.

"There was a call that it was going to be a stacked stop," Horner explained. "And that Mark was going to be in 12s later [allowing for Vettel's 3s stop], and he was going to take the soft. We planned to call Mark in on the same lap because there was a big enough separation between them, and maybe it jammed the airwaves or something. In the end they both had unfortunately poor stops, and it cost Mark as well."

While Vettel had gone by the time Webber arrived, the chaos surrounding the German's stop meant that his tyres were not ready, and he lost a painful 12.5s compared with a normal stop. He tumbled down the order, but a great drive got him back to where he was originally, in fourth. He made a point by setting fastest lap on the last lap.

"Mark is a great racer," said Horner. "And he recovered very, very well. It's a just a shame that at the restart there were so many cars between him and the front three, because otherwise he would have been right in amongst it."

And what a shame too that McLaren's overconfidence in failing to ensure that Hamilton had a banker run in qualifying turned his weekend upside down. If all the aggression seen on Sunday had been channelled into the battle for the lead instead of the minor placings, we would really have had a race.