Monte Carlo, Monaco – Nico Rosberg from Mercedes made history in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix after putting on a flawless performance on the streets of Monte Carlo.
Rosberg's victory in the Monaco GP occurred 30 years after his father, Keke, won in the principality. The Rosbergs became the first father-son duo to win Formula One's most prestigious race of the season. Keke is the 1982 F1 world champion.
Starting on the pole position, Rosberg dominated the race by leading all 78 laps around this tricky 2.075-mile, 19-turn street circuit. Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull challenged him for the lead during the first few laps after Vettel passed Rosberg's teammate, Lewis Hamilton, for second on the opening lap.
Rosberg then held off Vettel after three restarts following accidents that required the deployment of the safety car.
"The whole weekend went perfectly," said Rosberg, who won qualifying and topped the time charts in all three practice sessions for the Monaco GP. "I had a terrible start, and it was close with Sebastian and Lewis, but other than that, it worked out well. I was able to control the pace, and the car was really good. The tires held on okay, and that was really the key to the victory today. So a massive thanks to the team. I'm just ecstatic."
Rosberg, who resides in Monaco, claimed his second career F1 win. His maiden victory came in the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix.
"It's amazing," he said. "(Monaco) is my home. I've grown up here all my life."
A serious accident involving William's Pastor Maldonado took place on lap 46. After colliding with Marussia's Max Chilton, the front end of Maldonado's car lifted up in the air and then came back down before he plowed into the barrier. He walked away from the crash unscathed. The race had to be stopped for more than 20 minutes for repairs on the barrier.
"It was a really big impact," Maldonado said. "I was surprised because I didn't expect Chilton to cross my line."
Felipe Massa also was involved in a hard crash on lap 29, which forced the deployment of the safety car for the first time in the race as well as the 2013 season. Massa locked up on the front of his Ferrari and smashed into the outer barrier. His ricocheted off the barrier and then slid down the track before hitting the inside wall.
Safety personnel put a neck brace on Massa as a precaution. He was later transported to a nearby hospital for further observation. Massa also crashed at almost the exact same location during Saturday's final practice, forcing him to miss qualifying and therefore start from the rear of the field.
Massa was later released from the hospital after undergoing a thorough examination. He posted on his Twitter account, "All Good!!!"
Vettel, the three-time defending F1 world champion, ended up finishing 3.8 seconds behind Rosberg. He won this race from the pole in 2011.
"Overall, I'm very happy and pleased with the result," Vettel said. "We all know it's very difficult to overtake here. Congratulations to Nico. He did a very good job. It was a very controlled race, and he had the pace and the tires. It was a fantastic start to the race, but there was no room. I thought I could have driven past both Mercedes, but I didn't have the room and had to lift."
The pole sitter for the Monaco GP has now won it in nine of the past 10 times, including the previous five.
With his second-place finish, Vettel extended his championship lead to 21 points over Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen, who finished 10th. Raikkonen was running among the top-5 in the closing laps but had to pit unexpectedly after McLaren's Sergio Perez made contact with him.
After the conclusion of the race, Raikkonen received a reprimand from stewards when they determined he exceeded the maximum speed allowed during a safety car period. He did not receive any penalties.
Mark Webber finished third to give Red Bull two of the three podium positions. Webber won the Monaco GP last year to give Red Bull its third consecutive victory in this race.
"Congratulations to Nico; it's a very special place to win," said Webber, who also won this race in 2010 after leading all 78 laps. "It's never easy leading here, and you've got to pull it off."
Hamilton finished fourth, while Adrian Sutil from Force India took the fifth spot. Jenson Button was sixth in his McLaren.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who won the Spanish Grand Prix two weeks ago, Jean- Eric Vergne from Toro Rosso and Force India's Paul di Resta, finished seventh through ninth, respectively. Perez ended up placing 16th.
Romain Grosjean from Lotus received a 10-place grid penalty for the next grand prix on June 9 in Canada following his collision with Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo when they were battling for position on lap 62. Ricciardo immediately retired with damage. Grosjean limped one more lap around the circuit before he had to call it a day.
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