Vettel’s Monte Carlo gamble pays off

SEBASTIAN VETTEL described it as “an extreme honour” to add his name to the roll call of legends to have won the Monaco Grand Prix which was chaotic and captivating in equal measure.

Vettel took the chequered flag for the 15th time in his Formula One career, but undoubtedly this victory meant the most to the reigning world champion.

The 23-year-old has now won five of this season’s six grands prix, that figure equalling his number of successes last year en route to taking his maiden crown. There is currently no stopping Vettel, even when there are times, as this weekend, it appears that might have been the case.

Luck is on his side. Sergio Perez’s crash in qualifying on Saturday denied Lewis Hamilton a crack at pole after the McLaren star had been quickest in Q1 and Q2.

Then yesterday, with McLaren’s pit-stop strategists seeming to finally have the edge on their Red Bull counterparts, Vettel was aided by two safety cars.

The first, for Felipe Massa’s smash in the tunnel following an incident with Hamilton at the Loews Hairpin, came a lap after leader Jenson Button had pitted for a second time.

If that pit stop had happened beforehand then McLaren may have been better placed to make it work to their advantage.

The second, after mayhem ensued 10 laps from home when Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari hit a kerb and then a barrier that collected the Renault of Vitaly Petrov in the process, brought out a red flag as an ambulance was required to tend to the Russian who was subsequently given the all-clear.

At that stage, on tyres that were 55 laps old, Vettel found himself in pursuit by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Button and with the race poised for a grandstand finish. But the teams were allowed to change their drivers’ tyres, and that was it for the final five laps because there was no way through for either Alonso or Button.

“The roulette wheel will have spun a lot last night and it kept on spinning during this race. Crazy,” said Vettel, who has now built up a 58-point cushion over Hamilton in the standings. “I am really, really happy. It is a fantastic result and an extreme honour to put my name down on the list of previous winners here, so a perfect day I guess.

“Winning here still feels a bit like a rush, so maybe I’ll go to the casino here and get lucky again.”

Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton has “made peace” with the Monaco Grand Prix stewards after launching a blistering attack against them in the wake of a penalty-hit race.

Hamilton received two drive-through penalties relating to separate incidents with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado in his Williams. Immediately after the race, after a visit to the stewards regarding the crash with Maldonado, Hamilton vented his emotions as he said: “It’s an absolute frickin’ joke. I’ve been to see the stewards five times out of six this season.”

Asked as to why he felt the stewards, with British sportscar driver Allan McNish on the four-man panel, were picking on him, Hamilton retorted: “Maybe it’s because I’m black.” Hamilton then added, as if to make light of his previous remark: “That’s what Ali G says”, referring to the fictional television character portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen.

However, in an attempt to ensure the racial reference was not blown out of proportion, the 26-year-old opted to revisit the stewards to clear the air.

Hamilton said: “I’ve just been to the stewards to make peace. What I said was a bit of a joke, which wasn’t funny at the time. I made them aware that when emotions are high, you don’t always say the right thing, and the joke didn’t come at the most appropriate time. So I made that clear to them.’’