Monaco GP

After McLaren’s whitewash in Monte Carlo last season, few were predicting a Ferrari victory in this year’s race. However, all that changed after the red cars locked out the front row on Saturday. What no one could have predicted, however, was how just how unpredictable Sunday’s race would be.

On a day when it all went wrong for Ferrari, with both team and drivers admitting mistakes, McLaren made the best judgement calls. That, allied to some stunningly consistent pace from Lewis Hamilton, was enough to put the Briton back in charge of the championship standings…

McLaren

Lewis Hamilton, 1m 18.510s, P1

Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 17.282s, P8

It all seemed over for Hamilton after he punctured his right rear tyre after hitting the wall exiting Tabac on the sixth lap, but McLaren switched to a one-stop strategy and got him going quickly enough that he only dropped to fifth. He passed Alonso and Raikkonen when both made early stops, then outran Kubica and Massa and was thus able to refuel on lap 54 and stay in the lead. The final safety car could have ruined it for him, but he kept his head for a brilliant triumph which he described as the highlight of his career. Kovalainen’s car wouldn’t engage a gear at the start of the formation lap so he had to start from the pit lane with a new steering wheel. When he got a clear road he flew, but eighth and the final point was the best he could muster on another unlucky day.

BMW Sauber

Robert Kubica, 1m 17.933s, P2

Nick Heidfeld, 1m 20.251s, P14

When Kubica took the lead from spinning Massa on lap 16 it seemed that perhaps this was going to be a really big day for BMW Sauber. But a graining set of rear tyres in his second stint cost him dear, as did Hamilton’s great strategy switch, and only fast pit work when the team changed him from wets to dry tyres late on put him back ahead of the Ferrari. Second, nevertheless, was a great result for the team.Heidfeld had an appalling weekend, but seemed set to make amends as he was up to fifth by lap 12 when Alonso assaulted him at the chicane. The resultant heavy damage sent him tumbling back down the order, on a Sunday he would rather forget.

Ferrari

Felipe Massa, 1m 17.886s, P3

Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 16.689s, P9

Massa looked in control in the wet early stages, but gradually this one slipped away from him. He lost the lead to Kubica after spinning at Ste Devote on lap 16, got back ahead in the early stops, then fell behind again when Ferrari had to switch to dry tyres as the track dried out. Third was a disappointment after the high of his pole position.Things went wrong for Raikkonen even before the start when a wheel location problem put Ferrari beyond the three-minute warning signal on the grid and ultimately resulted in a drive-through penalty that dropped him from second place on the 13th lap. Then he needed a new nose on lap 27 after an off at Ste Devote. Thereafter he was running fifth, a long way behind Sutil, when the second safety car threw him a lifeline. He muffed that by losing control exiting the tunnel when the race went live again on lap 68, and took his nose off again on the Force India. Ninth just about said it all for the Finn, as he lost his championship lead.