The Monaco Grand Prix Formula 1

Good afternoon from Monte Carlo, in The Monte Carlo Grand Prix...

Probably the best race in Europe to win. One of the most demanding

circuits in Europe. A great test, not only of car but also of driver.

No doubt, the atmosphere is electric. This is the greatest race.

I could never understand what it is like to drive around here. Watch

The crowd are going absolutely mad! Into Casino Square, again. This is

the most exciting place in Grand Prix racing. All of the grip in the

world. But then this is Monaco. chances of finishing are very

Player wins. That is the new race leader. Right on his tail! Look at

that! Ayrton Sanai -- Ayrton Senna goes out of the Grand Prix.

Everybody around the circuit is going mad. He will never have been

more determined to get past anybody. You can see for yourself what the

situation is. This is absolutely sensational! Damon Hill has got

ahead on the right. The rider again, the left. This is absolutely

crucial! Ayrton Senna wins at If anyone is imagining what it

would be like... Just don't waste your time a. This afternoon, the

glamorous life of a Formula One tyre comes to an abrupt, aggressive

end, sacrificed in the name of speed around the streets of Monaco.

Pushed to the limits until it loses its grip on the race. Alongside me,

as ever, two men that have burnt plenty of rubber, Eddie Jordan who

has been raising here for 20 years, and David Coulthard, a double

winner around the streets. Where does that rank in your career?

Right at the top. Winning the British Grand Prix, you are very

proud as a Brit, but around the streets of Monaco where you cannot

make one mistake, it is the ultimate reward for the ultimate

challenge. The ultimate challenge involves this corner, the

penultimate corner, this is La Rascasse. It's a perfect example of

how it can be racetrack by day, party venue by night, there is the

bar. Everybody is absolutely trashed, this is a nightclub,

buzzing like you cannot imagine that my time. Then we had everybody

under control, the marshals, and it is a real racecourse. Eddie has had

quite a few nights to Remember in Nakba, clearly. There have been

some moments to remember as we look forward towards the final corner,

Anthony Noghes. Of course, Schumacher received a penalty here.

You can see the images of that moment, when he parked the car.

Some questioned if it was too slow at the people down at the end of

qualifying. What a great performance yesterday, but off the

back of his penalty from Barcelona he gets a five place grid drop and

Before we walk into the pit lane, a little wave from the fans. Enjoy

the Grand Prix. The Brits and the Aussies out in force. Sometimes it

is a bit sterile, but not here. That man with a megaphone, he gets

a bit tiresome eventually! In here you have 24 of the most expensive

cars in the world. But what do we # We are beautiful and dirty rich...

# We are beautiful and dirty rich. There he is, with the microphone.

And Lewis Hamilton, you would think he would have better things to do.

The most popular thing to do out here is a game of look-at-me on

your boat, but not out there. No surprise that the hill is full this

year, but we have had the closest and most dramatic start to a season

that anyone can remember? Sebastian Vettel came here last year with a

40 point lead. He's tied with Fernando Alonso, driving a car that

Before we get into what happened in qualifying yesterday, let's put

qualifying into perspective. There were few penalties handed out.

First, Michael Schumacher, in Spain. He received a five place drop in

Monaco for this incident. Was that fair? Yes, I think that was fair.

Then we came here and there was a bit of a naughty moment for Pastor

Maldonado. He received a 10 place grid strap. Was that fair? He could

have been pulled up more. It's not the first time he did some wheel

banging. He did the same last year. The stewards have a lot more data

that there disposal. Despise him pleading innocence, they did think

that a penalty should be applied. As we walk into one of the busiest

pick names -- lanes, I guess that Lewis Hamilton will arrive thinking,

Hanlon, five places for dropping somebody out of the race, 10 places

for banging wheels, I go to the back because of a fuel

irregularity? Will he feel hard done by? He should do, it was far

too severe. We all said so. I think putting him at the back was

nonsense. It was perfectly legal up to Q3. 10th, for me, was the worst

possible penalty he should have received. I agree with you, I think

it was way too severe. But the stewards, I think it is pretty much

written, any technical irregularity which means it has not been run

within regulations, that is the penalty. I think it should be

rewritten. He was the quickest man in the last race and paid a huge

penalty for a small mistake. They do have the right to change their

mind. They have the right to look at the situation, otherwise why

have them there? You seem to have your own security detail, so I will

let you not to sign autographs or have any photographs because these

boys will not let you. I just want to give you some kind of idea as to

how busy the race track is, how tight it is. If I can clamber over

the barrier, I want to show you what is happening on the track.

It's all about getting a good grid position. That is a road car. You

would barely get two of them side by side. What happened yesterday in

qualifying? He did fight to get to the front and why was it a special

Perez hit the barriers for the second time in his Monaco

qualifying career. Button was left scratching his head after he was

put out in Q2, blaming a lack of place -- pace from his McLaren.

Michael Schumacher wowed the crowds, claiming his first pole position

since his comeback. His penalty from Barcelona means that he cannot

take advantage of the clear road ahead. It was good news for his

team-mate, Nico Rosberg. He moves to the front row. Pole man is now

Mark Webber. He put in a stunning lap. He continues to outshine his

team-mate, Sebastian Vettel. Webber starts at the front. Rosberg is

alongside, with Hamilton in third. Romaine Grosjean is 4th, Alonso 5th,

the demoted Schumacher 6th. Massa and Raikonnen are behind. Vettel

did not set a time. Button is 12, with a disappointed Paul Di Resta

behind him. De la Rosa or is in front of Vergne. Sergio Perez has

also changed his gearbox, and he is Look how busy it is in the pit-lane.

This is not the race to come to if you have claustrophobia. Michael

Schumacher was not suffering with a lack of speed yesterday. Let's

still celebrate the fact that at 43 years old he was the fastest man

out there. You are 41, could you imagine still doing that? Well, I

was never as quick as he when I was younger, never mind now. But he was

the most successful driver coming back in the history of the sport.

We should not be surprised. We expect those performances. It may

have taken him a bit longer, but what a place to celebrate it.

will he feel when he walks into this garage? He has won in five

occasions, the last one was in 2001, quite a long time ago. Surely he

will be brimming with confidence? Cloud line. -- 9. He has that

swagger, that so-called arrogance. He believes he can win here. Any

driver that does not think he can win should not be on in the first

place. Irony of ironies, there he is winning in 2001. His team-mate

has actually been moved on to the front row of the grid because of

his penalty. So, Michael was the Prince of the Principality

yesterday. The genuine prints is here, somebody who I am sure is a

close personal friend of yours? Absolutely, I often hang out with a

You would have imagined with Michael being moved back and Webber

starting on pole, he would have been the happiest man in Monaco

last night. Have a look. Congratulations, at the front of

the grid for the 10th time in your career. In your head, does that

count as pole position? No. I think it was a fair battle. I came out in

a position to. The last race, Michael didn't turn out, a bit of a

misdemeanour to be settled in terms of positions. I will take it. We

were a little bit surprised that we were that far WRAP. But it went

smoothly for us, we had enough tyres to fight for the front row.

We have the boats filling the place up, people standing around with

cameras. You are in pole position. Does it take you back to 2010, what

he described as one of your best Formula One moments? It does. A big

part of the jigsaw is qualifying. We had a good day today. But you

never get ahead of yourselves around here. I know what it is like

to win. I know what you need to do to win. You have to be incredibly

composed for two hours. Emotionally, it is worth double. When you win,

it is incredible, but the points are the same. What about being on

pole it wise? You can say, I had one good rent at Monaco, but two,

it's nice? I have a lot of good memories. I don't particularly

enjoy this stuff, to be honest. I enjoy driving in the car, but in

terms of getting around it is a nightmare. A lot of glitz and

glamour. That's not the Aussie grit way? In terms of when you are

competing, it can be a bit of a You jumped into the harbour, an

impressive celebration. If you win this, you have to think of

something more impressive. What would top that? Let's get the seven

laps out of the way first! It would be a good problem to have. Mark

Webber, clearly not looking to curse any particular victory. He

could not only win, he could make history and become the 6th man in

the first six races of any Formula One season to pick up that win.

That would be incredible. Let's make our way towards the Red Bull

garage. The engines are roaring. That is Sebastian Vettel's car. He

will know full well how important pole position is around here?

will indeed. I think it is six out of a last seven here have been won

from pole position. The one thing that will be niggling in his mind

is that the starts have not been very good over this time at Red

Bull. He knows the man beside him in second place, Nico Rosberg, has

made some fantastic starts. He will be working on that with the

engineers. How do you review Mark's season? Super consistent, but not

even a podium. But winning today, he could lead the championship?

That's how amazing this season has been. We don't have a clue how it

is going to unfold. David has just said, Mark starts, they haven't

been great, it could be a fascinating start to the Grand Prix.

Now we can go closer. Perhaps you can try and shed light on what is

going on with Sebastian Vettel? The last two races he has been really

quick, and then he has struggled when he had defined the pace in

For whatever reason, his car in 2012 has not been giving him the

feedback that has allowed him to do amazing performances in the last

couple of years. The same can be said of any of these drivers. It

does seem when the car was at its peak last year, he extracted that

bit extra. When it is difficult, it seems that Mark has the upper hand.

That was very unusual qualifying from Sebastian yesterday. In the

end, he threw in the tyre -- Tal. since -- I think his racing has

been difficult. I think the car aerodynamically does not suit him.

The balance of the car is not what he wants. I like the way they still

play the music in here even when things are not going their way in

Formula One. There is actually a potential protest hanging over Red

Bull. There have been some questions about the legality of

their car. But we have been used to that over the last couple of years.

We have been used to seeing Sebastian Vettel at the front. He

is the defending back-to-back world champion. Today he starts from

ninth on the grid. Fair play to Mark Webber and also Lewis Hamilton

who have both gone to great lengths to say how fantastic they think

Michael Schumacher's performance was yesterday. As he told Lee

McKenzie, it is nothing less than When we spoke earlier on in the

week, you told me very assured that you were going to get pole position

and go out and win it. Did you really believe that when you said

that? Certainly, I was putting some sort of optimism in my phrases but

not all of it was optimism. There was certainly a big portion of

belief because the car and the character would naturally fit this

track well. I know I am still capable and therefore I am even

more happy to have proven this. What concerns the race, because

obviously to do a lap to have clear traffic is one thing, but to do a

race result when you have to pass five other people in front of me,

that is another story. But it is a long race. I have a lot of

experience and I hope it will pay out. We have been so close in

certain moments and this year in particular, everything is going

much better, much smoother and I am much more together with the car. I

have not yet had the luck to show that. Unforeseen circumstances

happened but it would be nice to do it here, definitely. Let's just

talk about the penalty. You took the penalty after a clash with

Bruno Senna in Barcelona. After that incident, you did not think it

was your fault, the stewards obviously disagreed. You regret

that decision now because you would be starting from the front? I have

learned and it is probably experience which teaches not to

worry about what you cannot change. There is no point in talking about

it. In a way, I believed in that. I would start from sixth position, I

can just focus on what I can do from sixth position and that is all

I am thinking about. What can you do from sixth position? What

factors can work? It is most likely to be a one-stop strategy so there

are not many positions that you can jump the strategy so you have to

work on track and on the start, my own strategy and then something

from upstairs that pushes us forwards. At the end of the day,

good solid points are the one that I'm going for. Anything more will

be a gift. At the moment it is looking

fantastic. How much would everyone here love to see him pull-out a

fantastic performance if it is a one-stop performance? The fans

would love that? It they would indeed. It was such a shame he had

the penalty and Rules are rules but there is a will to see him after

two years of difficulties really deliver that big result. There is

no question he will deliver it after the great pace yesterday. It

would statistically be against the rub of the bookies but we will see

what happens. Michael Schumacher was no dope here this weekend, I

can tell you. What can he do? He says one stop is the key, can you

agree? He will say that but I am not sure that I believe him. One

stop is what happened here last year but I still think two stops is

the way to go. He has some big names around him, Fernando Alonso

in front of him on the grid and once again, Ferrari showing a

decent turn of speed. He was pushed hard by Felipe Massa yesterday.

was. He is a previous poles are to here. He was pushing Fernando hard.

Fernando always digs deep but he has to dig very deep to be the

number one Ferrari around this racetrack. Eddie, we have spoken

about the struggles which Red Bull have had an also Ferrari have had a

pretty desperate start the season endear we arrive here with Fernando

Alonso and Sebastian Vettel joint leaders in a Formula One world

championship? We have been dealt up such an array of different

surprises this year, it is probably no surprise. Alonso is probably

sitting at home saying, I have done nothing and I am right there at the

top. If I can make this car better, who knows, I might get the

championship? One man we must talk about his Lewis Hamilton. He starts

third and he started third here in 2008 and won the Grand Prix. Surely

he must be on the verge of winning his first Grand Prix of the season.

He has a two pole positions. McLaren have a great record around

Monte Carlo. He is right there, only a couple of tenths from pole

position. He is a good starter. Lewis leads the way in the most

number of overtakes the season and at the same time he says

consistency is the key, he has to take his time and pick up the easy

points. I think that statistic may have some bearing on the fact that

he started at the back a couple of times because of penalties. I think

he's just a great racer. If anyone who turns the tampon in terms of

excitement, for me it is him. -- turned the tap on. We are gearing

up for race which Lewis Hamilton always loves, he is in third.

Jenson Button was struggling in qualifying yesterday. He starts

further back in 12th. A busy afternoon for both those drivers

making our job look easy, right? Thank you for joining us live on

Lights, camera, action! Can you hear me? Yes, I can. One minute to

on air, one minute. Did you hear that? Yes, one minute. Royal title.

Have you got your opening line? have not got a clue. And my

starting? You, you why the presenter. Jenson, I am coming to

you in a second. 5, 4, 3, 2, one. Ku Jenson. Welcome to the pit lane,

I am here with DC and we are back for some more action after a couple

of weeks off on holiday. Where have you been? Just so you know, David

and Jenson cannot hear me but they can hear you. We can chat. This

body work is beautiful. Look at this paint. Jenson, we have got a

surprise guest in the paddock. Keep talking. We have a special guest.

We do? We do have a very special guest. Get the close-up on Mark.

Well done, good direction. That is nice. This is a new thing for me

especially when people are talking in my ear. You have to tell him you

are so proud to be working with the best driver in the paddock, what is

it like for him? What is it like working with the best driver in

Formula One? Excuse me while I just step away! I have never worked with

the best driver! Let me come back. If Jenson, you are clearly sucking

here. We have to wrap it up. But I want to keep talking, I want to

keep talking! Follow me, cameras. You have to close it out! Closes up,

mate. We have just brought you out here to show you it is rare quiet

at this time of night. Martin Whitmarsh, how are you? He has to

use the microphone. Are you excited? Jenson, apologised to the

viewers for the slight break-up on the camera. I have to apologise for

the slight break-up you might have experienced. You have got a full

face of Martin which is always good. 6, 5, 4... That would be a great

answer but we have to go! Walk Shall we go and show you the

drivers'' rooms. This is Lewis's rumour over here. You have ended up

with camera one caught in the shot. That is Lewis's room and that is...

That was the Grand Prix. Exactly. Are there you have it. Good job,

guys, good job. I do not want to do that every game.

Jenson, when you retire in the next year also, will you be taking on

the same job? To be fair, Lewis, this is making me realise I want to

race for longer. Me, too. This is so hard! Jenson, the nicest thing

we did for you is keep Eddie Jordan out of the programme. This is your

worst nightmare, I am back to haunt you. Can we fade-out Eddie Jordan?

I think Eddie will be relieved to know his job is safe for now. It is

loud and Monaco. The cars are making their way out to the grid.

That was Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button leading -- leaving at the

same time. They have had a lot of issues in nice open pit lanes in

recent weeks. They want to make sure they do not have a repeat of

any of the little finger problems they have had in recent races,

particularly on the pit stops. The stops are so important in this race

because you can afford to give nothing away. Every vital second is

so valuable. With 27 minutes to the start of the race we can see the

cars making their way down to the start of the grid. You have been

here for a long time. I think the first thing people have to

understand, as a team, they just want to see the first corner and

the first lap concluded in safety and the cars get around. Then they

settle down and we get the argy- bargy. The journey from the grid to

the first corner is very short and that may well play into Mark's best

hand. There was Nico Rosberg stopping in his pit box. For many

people this is what Monaco is about, a chance to have some fun, have

some drinks and see some decent cars as well. That is what Monaco

is about. Serious racing and the most demanding circuit like you can

ever imagine. Then there is all the glitter. Just down the road we have

the Cannes Film Festival. They'll come for the weekend. It is a

remarkable place. I do not want to keep going on about it but there is

no other place like it. I am standing two feet from Eddie Waring

ear defenders and I'm still struggling to hear what he is

saying. There was Jean Todt, the race director. He had some

difficult questions to answer a couple of weeks ago but no such

questions today. We have seen a fair bit of Nico Rosberg gearing up

for the race, Howard you rate his chances? He is a huge star to. He

won his first race this season. He knows what is required to be done.

He certainly must be one of the favourites getting into the first

corner. If you can just get into the first corner first, it is a

huge egg -- advantage. What did you think of Felipe Massa's

performance? I think everybody, every journalist has written him

off. They do not see him as part of the Ferrari team next year so if he

is going to do something, please make sure you start it here and

make sure you get some good points for your team and yourself, more

How hard is it to operate down there? Everybody is busy. Every

sponsor you have ever had wants to be on the grid, if you don't have a

pass for then you are in trouble. It's a real pecking order. You have

mixed emotion. The driver wants to be so far away from these people.

And yet the people want their piece of the pie. Possibly rightly so.

It's just a complicated situation. I think the crowds, the closed

lists, it is a cacophony. I have a sneaking suspicion you never

struggled for passes? You might be surprised. They are like gold dust

in this principality. How much was that man vindicated after

qualifying? Because he had his critics. Including David Coulthard,

I notice. But he, David, I and everybody were hugely impressed.

All of the places that you have to drag the car around, there is no

compromise here. For him to get that, I was used to be impressed.

Monaco is a magical and special place, but we are about to get down

to the serious side of things. David is going to head to degrade.

There he is, the boss of Mercedes. All of the talk at the moment is

about what is happening between Mercedes, what is happening with,

indeed, the Concorde Agreement, that remains to be seen. They are

the people that are basically holding things up. The Concorde

Agreement is what holds everybody together. Mercedes have been

questioning it and they have not signed it. McLaren are happy. The

chairman of the Formula One Teams' Association, today he has his eyes

on Lewis Hamilton. A fantastic lap yesterday. He's not driving in the

way he was a couple of years ago, an all-out full effort. But he's

still getting good lap times and showing that consistency can pay

off. In his mind, he must be thinking, I can start my season

with a big flourish. I can get to the top of the championship. As far

as he is concerned, he is a brilliant starter. He will be

looking to try to squeeze on the inside of Mark Webber. If he can

get away without a crash or without damaging his car, he could be gone.

Away from everybody else. The Force India car struggled slightly. We

were expecting something a bit better. Paul Dorest there is

accompanied by Nico Hulkenberg, who starts 14th? Hulkenberg was top of

the list for a while, I'm disappointed with their qualifying.

Nico Rosberg, being pushed onto the grid. He had a pole position and

managed to turn it into a win. How hard it is it from second place, to

take the lead at the first corner? Believe it or not, he is on the

good side. When people come to do their qualifying lap, they are

often near to where they are about to start now. Not quite, but near

to it. He will have the side with more grip, and he has better vision

going into the first corner. Madness of Monaco, there is nowhere

like it. Throughout that crowd, remarkably, they managed to get 24

Formula One cars into the right place, get the drivers out of the

cars and get ready for the race. Somewhere amongst it all, somewhere

near the Red Bull team, is David Coulthard. Back on the grid in

Monaco? I thought I was going to have to fill the pole position.

Mark Webber is one of the last cars to arrive. You can see he is in the

car, and doing his head restraints. He is one of the taller drivers,

big shoulders, he's not able to get out of the car without removing it.

A wonderful setting for him. If we could bring you around here, as

Mark is getting out of the car, just put the camera over the

shoulder of that lady. Can you focus down there? It's an

incredibly short run to the first corner. Mark has historically not

made great starts with a scowl. But he doesn't have to run at all the

way to the corner. He just needs to get into first gear, get seconded

here and then have track position. He will be focused. I'm hoping to

get a word with him. There he is, over the back of these engineers.

We will get a word before he gets too far into it. We will give him a

moment to catch his breath. It's quite quiet down here? Yeah, it's a

busy Grand Prix grid. It's always the same. We are looking forward to

the race. A short run to the first corner, I've just been explaining.

You need to be in a good position when you hit second gear? That's it,

we've had a referendum in Short starts over the time. But I'm

looking forward to repeating 2010, get a good run and then control the

race. He seems pretty calm. I do remember my heart rate used to go

off the scale as I prepared for the start of the Monaco Grand Prix.

It's especially important at the start. If you drop it there, you

are in trouble. The second man on the grid, Nico Rosberg. I don't see

him anywhere. Let's have a good luck. Nick Fry, he is the managing

director of the team. Here is a man we don't hear from often. He's

doing some man hugs. Sorry to interrupt. We don't get many words

from you. You have been part of the McLaren team as an owner for how

many years? 24 years, more now. must be so proud of the driver

line-up, that you have? At the review. McLaren are the most

winning team around here, any party is planned for later? Anything can

happen, but we have a chance. see if we can see any of the

drivers. It's so busy. Give her as Spin around and come back with me.

I have just spotted someone I would like to have a word with. Whether

they start in pole position or not, it absolutely was pole position for

the Mercedes Grand Prix team. We have the motorsport boss of

Mercedes Benz. We were just saying, you might not get to start on pole

position, but it was the fastest driver, car and engine combination

yesterday. You must feel vindicated in your decision to bring him back.

People expected so much because of his amazing results in the past?

took a while. The car was good enough, then Michael delivered. Of

course it is a shame that he has been put five places back. But that

is what we have to accept. But it was great, a great pleasure for the

team, well deserved from everybody. Your starts have been pretty handy.

We know that Mark has been a little bit tardy sometimes. What does your

simulation say? Can Nico Rosberg lead us into the first corner?

we normally start good. But everything is different in Monaco,

of course. I hope we can get him at the start and then control the race.

This is the plan. I'm not sure if we can achieve it. Good stuff. All

of the best. We know this is a crazy grid. The bold and beautiful.

I am losing Ian, stay with me. Do you ever get the feeling that you

are swimming against the stream? My whole career, I have felt like

that! Look at this, we are going down past... There is a popular boy,

romaine Grosjean. A quick word in French? I am very happy to be here,

I have a good car. I'm sure I can Here his Ferrari. I think we might

find somebody with the name of Eddie Jordan. He has a fan taking a

picture. Who is it? It is Mr Ron Howard! You could say we are on the

grid in Monaco, who says Happy Days Like This? You are making this

movie about a motor racing story, what made you change from that side

of the camera to weigh one now? I never really had the actor

personality, I always wanted to tell the whole story. It has the

racing, it has fantastic characters and I get to go into orbit, as the

director, not just concentrate on one thing. You have won two Oscars.

This is a real life part, a great story. Why this one? The characters,

again. They offer so many surprises. It's a great screenplay. When I

read it, I didn't know much about Formula One and I was knocked out

by the script. He's a great rider. You get drama, surprises and then

there is the unbelievable cinematic possibility, capturing your role,

Catrin Formula One. Particularly in the 70s, a pretty reckless and sexy

time. Well, Apollo 13, how much did you know about going into outer

space? I know more about Formula One! What are you trying to achieve

for the fans? Often you cannot transfer a sporting story onto

cinema? It's a huge challenge. I want people who love Formula One to

know that we respected it, we captured it, we used every tool at

our disposal to try to put you in 1976. But I also want people that

don't know much about it to really appreciate these characters, look

at the sport and say, well, I think I have been missing something. If I

can accomplish those two things, I think I have done my job. Maybe you

might tell us when it is likely to be released? We are looking for

spring of next year. We finished three days ago, this is my first

weekend off. Well, what a place to come to afford it. Thank you very

much. The great, the one and only, Ron Howard. Thank you so much.

Thrilled, really. I'm a fan. will always be Richie Cunningham

today, just like Will Smith will always be the fresh Prince Of Bel-

Air. It was a fantastic idea for somebody to make sure that it

happens at the same time as the Cannes film festival. This could be

a blockbuster movie of a race. This is how you can see it on the BBC.

As well as on television, there are all kinds of options, including the

circuit tracker. You can see how they get on. There is the on-board

feed. You can ride on board with various drivers. Through the tunnel,

down past the harbour. There is also the pit lane feed. That is

just team radio and drivers going in and out of the pits. It's a

different way to watch, but equally fun. There are all kinds of things

happening on the website. Of course, the iPlayer as well. There is the

grid. David Coulthard has come to join me. Amazing, you even rocked

out a bit of French? I did. I panicked, thinking he was not going

to talk to me, I asked for some words in French and he answered in

English. After 18 years, I should speak a little bit. Here he is,

romaine Grosjean. If he wants to move forward, he has to do some

overtaking. We have a DRS, is it conceivable that they can use it?

It is, just as you exit there chicane, that's a good place to

activate it. Just before La Rascasse you can deploy it. The

finishing straight, of course it is not actually straight, but it will

give them a chance. If you can get your car alongside, left or right,

the other driver is obliged to maintain his position, it is not

safe otherwise. If you ban him into the barrier, it will bounce back

into you and your race is over. goes the helmet of the seven-times

Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher, who starts in sixth

after a five plays penalty. A bit of a lottery last time. Are we

expecting a similar race? The big difference is that overtaking is so

difficult. In Barcelona, if you had a 1.5 second of setting performance,

you could overtake full stops here they are predicting at least three

seconds. That's a lot of laughter time advantage before you can

easily overtake. Anyone that remembers the great battles here,

you can be a lot faster than the car in front, if he positions

himself carefully it makes it tricky. Fernando Alonso even looks

cool in the sun, with red sunglasses on. That is not easy.

It's not, but he is such a cool character. His commitment, I said

it before, the double world champion already in his earlier

career with Renault, but he is relentless. All credit for Felipe

Massa for pushing him so hard in qualifying, it's not easy to drive

a quick lap around here. Let's find out how the drivers are feeling.

Paul Dorest death started 14th. -- How are the nervous? All right at

the moment. Everybody had the chance to be one wet start on

Thursday afternoon. We will see. But we have to go very aggressive

to try to go forward. Overtaking here is not the way. It's very

risky. Maybe there is some rain that could play into our hands.

Well, he would like to have a great race. They would like to not stop

to match. It's so hard to overtake you want to spend as little time in

the pits as possible. The quickest way to finish the race is a two-

stop strategy. Anything beyond a grid seven or eight will seriously

consider just one stop. Let's see if he is one of those guys.

only thing for Mark Webber to worry about is being overtaken. Here is

how he ended up at the front for circuit, the jewel in the crown of

the season. We are on board with the pole sitter, Mark Webber.

Maximum acceleration up the steep climb to Casino Square. Threading

through the Armco barriers. Supreme as he drops down the hill towards

Mirabeau. Locks the inside wheel, first gear, short shift to second

and then again, maximum lock on the steering as he goes round the old

Loews Hairpin. Nice and steady and then even better on the exit of

Portier. He disappears into the darkness of the tunnel. And let's

just say, blinded by the light as he approaches the braking point to

the chicane. All most cases the barrier at the apex. Then down to

one of the most challenging corners, Tabac. Coming back towards the wall

as he approaches the last chicane. Chums the kerb on the exit. Then

the run down to the famous Rascasse corner, scene of many a party. The

last tone, Anthony Noghes. Open the D ers, look at the lap delta

improving. He may not be the fastest man but he ends up in pole

position. Yes, the second fastest man is the man at the front for

this race remember, the last pole he won the race. No podium this

year for Mark Webber. Eddie, can Mark Webber do it? For me, the

start is all-important. For all of them but particularly for Mark

Webber. And Nico Rosberg is the man in the box seat. Do you think it is

Nico or Lewis who will give mark the biggest threat? It is a matter

of toss a coin here. You do not know how they will emerge at the

first corner or how they will complete the first lap. That will

be the great indicator. My guess is that Mark will be quite lucky

because it is a short run to the first corner. Should we keep our

eye on the Lotuses? I think the first three habit in the back,

myself, but we have been served up all sorts this year, there should

be no exception. The grid girls are leaving the great. Nico Rosberg is

calming himself down. He came into this season having never won a race

in Formula One. He has won one now. Here we go, live, in high-

definition with David Coulthard and Ben Edwards, the 2012 Monaco Grand

Prix. For us, a reminder of how this place is so special. For the

24 men on the track, a reminder of a lifetime of dedication, effort

Do you like the cars money has Coup d'etat wins the Monaco Grand

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 82 seconds

driver to win at Monaco, the most prestigious Grand Prix on the

calendar and the ultimate test of skill and concentration. Round 6 at

the Formula One world championship takes place amid the apartment

blocks, hotels, restaurants and shops of Monte Carlo, a track which

has changed very little since the first event here back in 1929. Even

then, because -- circuit was considered to tight and small for

Grand Prix cars. Now, it remains the slowest, tightest, least

forgiving circuit on the calendar. 78 laps of absolute accuracy

required and perhaps the odd slice of luck as well. Remember, Hamilton

won this race back in 2008, despite hitting the barrier and getting a

puncture. It has always been a race of drama and it is likely to be the

same, David? Yes, if anyone manages to complete the race without

touching the barrier, he was probably not trying hard enough. Or

there is a management will shunt up the first corner. -- a monumental

shunt. Eventually, as the cars are changing and especially now with

the huge challenge of the changing fuel load, you will inevitably make

a small misjudgment somewhere. One saving grace is despite this being

one of the longest races in terms of time, the actual fuel

requirement being such a small lap will be a lot less. They will only

go off the grid with one hand and 30 kilos rather than the peak which

would be 160. That gives 30 kilos less mass to move around the

racetrack. That makes the Cardle easier to move and also low gear

ratios improving acceleration. Fernando Alonso has a different

crash helmet this weekend with gold on it. It is to be auctioned off

after the event. It records various parts of his career, the number of

victories and pole positions and the fact this is the 70th Monaco

Grand Prix this weekend. Two-times winner on this circuit, Fernando

Alonso. Nico Rosberg, he not only lives in Monaco, he grew up here.

He went to school and Monaco and he finds himself on the front row of

the race for the first time for him. It is very much his best-ever

qualifying performance. Only his third over front row start. He had

pole position in China and went on to take the victory there. It is

Mark Webber who starts on pole position. His second pole position

here in Monaco. He absolutely loves this place and he would dearly

wished to take another victory. He managed it back in his earlier

career, in the junior category is, for Miller 3,000. He won in 2001

from pole position with fastest lap. We will see if he can do it again

this time. The grid line-up does see Mark Webber on pole position in

the Red Bull. Alongside him is Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes. Lewis

Hamilton starts and third where he was in 2008. Romain Grosjean is

next. Then the heavy weights, up. We will see some action down on

the grid now. There has been some controversy this weekend already on

a technical feature. Let's bring Gary in on this. There is a bit of

a story, I believe, about the Red Bull car and the aerodynamics at

the rear? Yes, they have a little ducked in front of the rear tyre.

It is a hole which allows some air through. The question is, does it

constitute an impervious surface? The underfloor of the car is not

supposed to have any holes in it. They have a whole. There is a bit

of a question mark about it. Ferrari have something very similar

but they have a slot to the side of it so it is not a whole, it is a

continuous Profile, as such, as do Sauber. There is a bit of

controversy which will not be over until late tonight. We will see.

Cars move away on the formation lap. A bit slow moving away was Romain

Grosjean. Kimi Raikkonen is wearing a different crash helmet today, a

James Hunt style crash helmet so black colours. The tyres being used

are the soft and the super soft. The yellow writing indicates the

soft which is the heart of the two compounds. Then intermediates and

wet. Talking of which, we have heard there could be rain half-an-

hour or more into the race. There is a bit of cloud around. Track

temperature is 36 degrees. Sebastian Vettel and Fernando

Alonso are tied at the top of the championship. Hamilton is not far

behind. Jenson Button will need to do something special if he is to

move up from 12th on the grid. Down at the tail-end of the points, a

certain Michael Schumacher, only two points. He could desperately do

with a good result. As we know, he was fastest in qualifying yesterday

but he starts in sixth place. Just riding on board the Lotus here. In

the Constructors' Championship, it is Red Bull who lead with McLaren

not bar -- not far behind and Lotus in third. Gary, presumably most of

the frontrunners are on the softer tyre? Yes, the super soft tyre. The

guy who leads into the first corner has the best opportunity because

they will have clean air. If you are behind somebody else with so

much turbulence going on, it really does affect your car. You have to

struggle with that to begin with. It will be a lottery. It is all

about a clean start. They are all on the softer tyre but Sebastian

Vettel has decided to go for the harder tyre to start the race. He

had that option because he did not run in the top 10 in qualifying. He

has gone on the prime tyres and Button doing the same thing, the

harder of the two compounds being chosen by Sebastian Vettel and

Jenson Button. Mark Webber has his car in place. It is only 140 metres

to the first corner here. They will do that in 4.5 seconds, getting up

to 110 mph before getting up on the under way! Webber gets off the line

beautifully this time. We have a shunt, Grosjean got hit by somebody.

He was hit by Michael Schumacher. He spun around. The rest of the

field have successfully negotiated their way round. Let's see if they

will put out the safety car. It looks like he can recover. Up front

is Mark Webber who leads Rosberg in second, Hamilton third and then the

two Ferraris bearing down on the McLaren of Hamilton. Massa is

behind Alonso, then it is Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Michael

Schumacher with that contact with Grosjean losing out on some ground.

Jenson Button his way down in 14th place. He is behind Kovalainen in

the Caterham. In the confusion of the first corner, Jenson Button's

poor qualifying position has seen him drop further back. But Mark

Webber will be breathing a sigh of relief. He got the start hook up

completely. This is the point where the drivers will start to breed.

Yes, Mark Webber has made a perfect getaway on a circuit which he loves

so much. He leads this race. Second place for Rosberg. Hamilton in

third. We have a car of already. It is Maldonado. He has had a horrible

weekend. The star of Barcelona is out of the race already by the

looks of things. That is Grosjean's car at the first turn being

manhandled out of the way as the leader comes through and the safety

car is on the track. Everybody will have to back it off. The safety car

is a regular feature of the Monaco circuit. Into the pits is de la

Rosa with no rear wing. It looks like he may have been the man hit

by a Maldonado. But safety car is for the Maldonado incident. The

marshals were successfully recovering Grosjean's car. We get a

replay of the start. Mark Webber breathe a sigh of relief. Grosjean

is touching wheels with the Ferrari. those things in Monte Carlo. The

barrier funnels the cars in. Romain Grosjean moves in front of Michael,

there was nowhere for him to go. That is the hazard. Kamui Kobayashi

jumped into the air, that will not have that his suspension any good.

He bounced into Jenson Button. explains Jenson Button's poor start.

The hit had already happened between Pastor Maldonado and Pedro

de la Rosa. Pastor Maldonado hoisted into the air. We can see

the clouds they are talking about! Apparently, it is raining slightly.

There will be a little further action this afternoon. The first

safety car did not take long. The Ferrari cars were side by side, but

they just about gave each of the room. Fernando Alonso just about

stayed in front. It must be a huge sigh of relief if you never get

that. RADIO: What happened? I did not go anywhere. Lewis Hamilton

inquiring what went wrong with the launch. He feels he prepared

everything well, and when he has gone through the sequence, he feels

he did not go anywhere. Clearly, his focus was on improving his

third row quits lot. He knows the importance of trying to get the

jump at the start. Right now, this changes the strategy. You lose less

fuel around here, so they have a low level of fuel. They are saving

even more now. Gary, how will this affect strategy in terms of the

number of laps they can do? RADIO: A lot of debris, reset my tyre

pressures. They are looking good, we are looking at them constantly.

Gary, give us your thoughts on how this affects the strategy. These

super soft tyres, it is easy to overheat them. If you have to keep

pushing, that increases. This will give them an opportunity to balance

the temperatures. We could see a longer run on them than would have

been happening Norman A. Lewis Hamilton is defending from Fernando

Alonso. Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, fully paid --

Fernando Alonso. The DRS is enabled. I was caught out by that restart. I

did not see the fact that the safety car had turned its light off.

But we are racing. Sebastian Vettel, up to sixth place. He could be

attempting to do a one stop. He has the advantage of the more durable

tyre. He has benefited from the difficulties at the start.

other driver who has started well, Paul di Resta, 11th place. His

team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg, has gained one place. They are in the

group that is behind Michael Schumacher, the Ferrari cars.

Fernando Alonso is chasing Kimi Raikkonen, apologies, Lewis

Hamilton. Kimi Raikkonen is behind them and Sebastian Vettel. He has

got work to do. Mark Webber leads the race. He is trying to stretch

out an advantage over Nico Rosberg. Michael Schumacher still in eighth

place, Nico Hulkenberg in ninth place, Bruno Senna in tenth place.

He also got through the debris of the first corner. Paul di Resta,

11th place. You mentioned Heikki Kovalainen, a great first lap.

they were trying to make two stops, and they need to make the tyres

last until lap 25. We could expect that to be a bit later now, because

they have not put the energy in, following the safety car. If they

are trying one stop, we expect that to be around lap 40. Daniel

Ricciardo did not lose places. He came up to 12 place. He is doing

well. You are watching Kimi Raikkonen, with the James Hunt, a

crash helmet. -- James Hunt come at crash helmet to. Sebastian Vettel

and Kimi Raikkonen were having a chat earlier, they get on well, but

they raced hard in Bahrain. Kimi Raikkonen will look for any

opportunity to get past the double world champion. Mark Webber is

looking good at front, but Nico Rosberg is holding on to him.

in the dirty air, 0.8 seconds behind. He needs to put the

pressure on Mark Webber. The wonderful thing about being the

leader of this Grand Prix, you do not need to worry about dancing in

your mirrors, apart from the run into Sainte Devote and the Chicane.

Apart from that, you can focus on rhythm and consistency. Once you

get out of the rhythm, it affects your next corner. Ayrton Senna

crashed here when he had a huge lead, because he relaxed for a

moment. That concentration is total. The fastest section here. Weaving

it left and right, and then along towards the back. Still, Nico

Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, then the Ferrari cars, then Sebastian Vettel.

It looks like Felipe Massa is getting a hurry up. RADIO: We are

only the third runner on prime tyres. They can make this work, we

need to look after the tyres. can see the yellow writing, a

different strategy being used by Red Bull for Sebastian Vettel and

Pat McLaren for Jenson Button. Being out in front, as we have seen

so far, it is even more important on the perennial tyres, because

when you are behind another car, it is easy to overwork them and troppo

way. Pastor Maldonado used it to great effect. Statistically, over

the first five races, three of the winners have come from the front

row. Clean air is always an advantage. It is an amazing

statistic when we consider how unpredictable it seems they have

been. But what is sure at the moment, Mark Webber has converted

the inherited poor position into a comfortable lead. They are going

through the management phase, they know they have got to try and get

as far as they possibly can without going off the cliff. If they hit

the cliff after Sainte Devote, it is a long black. The drivers will

be communicating with their engineers. Car number one,... It

does not specify him, but some cars are being investigated for short

cuts and... Look at the movement! Most of the suspension of the cars

is in the side wall of the tyre. Hopefully there will not be any

changes to drivers who and made the short cut. If they were avoiding

the accident, hopefully they will get away with it. We have lost a

few cars as a result of the accidents at the first corner,

Romain Grosjean, a potential race winner, fast in practice, did not

quite qualify as well as they thought, but no chance now,

likewise Pastor Maldonado, Pedro de la Rosa, with his damaged, and

Kamui Kobayashi, I am not sure he will be doing any more. That is the

typical scenario in Monaco, safety cast in nearly every Grand Prix. A

tight line for Kimi Raikkonen, not wanting to risk sliding the Castle.

-- sliding the car at all. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, 0.4

seconds. Felipe Massa is in the zone, he will be losing core Lind,

working for tyres, he does not look under pressure from Sebastian

Vettel, so perhaps he is saying it, I am quicker, perhaps you should

move Fernando Alonso to one side. wonder if that will happen!

Fernando Alonso is the joint championship leader. His main

thoughts are staying in front of Sebastian Vettel and keeping in

in qualifying, so you can imagine what it is like for the drivers to

be so much slower when they run with the heavy tanks. They have to

manage it. Michael Schumacher was critical of the tyres in Bahrain.

He was not saying too much negative yesterday! But that is just one of

the challenges. It has always been an inherent part of the scale a

driver needs in Formula One. Sebastian Vettel, on the yellow

wall tyres, he is maintaining the pace. He is a bit back from the

Ferrari cars, but he is not punching them up behind. He has

been helped by Fernando Alonso. You have got the distinct top three,

and they are just starting to break cars that made the short cut on the

first corner. Sebastian Vettel was one of those, he is not being

penalised. Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo were the others.

And the Marussia cars. I have not had a penalty applied, they

continue racing. This is Michael Schumacher. He had the tremendous

pace yesterday. He knows this is a long race, he has won this five

times. That great -- that matches Graham Hill. Michael Schumacher has

been Mr Monaco in the modern era, but Ayrton Senna has six wins.

Michael Schumacher is biding his time. Nico Hulkenberg is behind him.

Then, Bruno Senna, Paul di Resta, Daniel Ricciardo. It will be one of

the only statistics that Michael Schumacher does not come out best

on. Ayrton Senna rewrote the history books. Michael Schumacher

is a seven-times world champion. What a miserable weekend it has

been after Pastor Maldonado, after being the start of Barcelona.

not approach a driver in a bad mood! You are taking your life into

your hands if you interview him! He is out of the race. Up front, Mark

Webber leads, as we go on to the 12th lap, 1.4 seconds the advantage

Heikki Kovalainen in 13th place, a great performance from hemp. He is

opening out a cap to Jenson Button in the McLaren. -- opening out a

gap. Jenson Button is on the Prime tyre. In qualifying, that. To 0.8

seconds. Sergio Perez past Jean- Eric Vergne. Generic gives himself

just enough space, and he cuts the inside of the chicane -- Jean-Eric

Vergne gives himself just enough space. The mist apex, he will

probably get a warning on this lap, but he cannot systematically do

that. If there was a barrier there, he would have hit it. You have to

he wants to be after that tremendous getaway. Mark Webber is

controlling this race currently. The on to lap 13 now. We are

expecting pit-stops to come along in the next couple of laps. Gary,

from your vantage point, I used in any action in the pits? We are on

board with Kimi Raikkonen. RADIO: We could get some rain in 15 laps

time. Does that affect the strategy as well, hearing that? It does

really. You have to hang on and drive as far as you can on these.

If you have the wets on, you do not want to pick three of four laps

before it. The super soft tyre is good for probably 25 laps and then

it may fall off at any time. The yellow tyre, the soft one is good

for 30-35 laps. Vettel is leaving a bit of a gap to Massa. I think most

people will be looking closely at the weather forecast. I'm sure

there will be. Certainly, as a driver, you do not want it to rain

if you out in front. May be in the middle of the grid you can take

advantage. If it is in about 15 laps time and that was fairly honed

in on one single number from the Lotus engineer, that would fall

into the window of when you could expect to come in on the super-

softs and go for your two stops. I do not think it scares him too much.

Once they get closer to that point. We see a replay of the side wall

movement from the Ferrari as it comes off the high speed chicane at

the swimming pool. They will be trying to go as far as they can on

these tyres. The last thing you want to do is stop, but a new set

of slicks on but then have to come in two laps later for some

intermediates. At the start of the race we saw Grosjean and Michael

Schumacher or make contact. Lee McKenzie is talking to Romain

Grosjean. Tell us about the start. I think we had a terrible start. I

need to see the image. It was quite strange for me to see everybody

facing me or me facing everybody. And very disappointing for not

finishing the home Grand Prix. of the race Grosjean along with

Maldonado, de la Rosa and Kobayashi. Kobayashi jumped over the kerb at

the front corn and did enough damage to put him out. Four

retirements from this race already. RADIO: Race controller asked us to

give the position. Jean-Eric Vergne was a bit upset to have to give up

the position. I think at the end of that radio transmission Jean-Eric

Vergne said, what about the first lap? He obviously felt he had

gained and some people were cutting the corner. Once you have opened

the door you cannot decide to just drive straight. You have to keep to

the right of the yellow kerbs. Jean-Eric Vergne wearing a Jean

Alesi coloured crash helmet for the weekend losing out and he is down

in 17th position at the moment. Michael Schumacher is chasing after

Kimi Raikkonen. The youngster Nico Hulkenberg is behind them. Only the

second Grand Prix for him in Monaco. Another one we have seen out of the

race is Pastor Maldonado. He started right at the back of the

grid but only got to the first corner. Lee McKenzie is talking to

him. What a difference two weeks can make, tell us what happened.

was on the dirty side of the truck and Summerbee crossed my line and

it was a difficult moment. -- somebody crossed my line. It sounds

like he drove into the back of Pedro de la Rosa. Maldonado, sadly

he has had a few bits of contact this weekend. Yes, it has been a

scruffy weekend. Is this giving us the sign of inconsistency in his

performance race to race. It looked like he had made day break through

in Barcelona. He controlled that race superbly. We will follow him

in the rest of the season. We on board with Michael Schumacher.

Running into the limiter before coming down to the chicane.

Raikkonen went to a bit wide there. Michael Starks to sense that the

Lotus ahead -- Michael Starks to sense about the latest ahead. If. I

was going to say German engineering is renowned to be very strong but

the car was 100 % built in Britain. Karthikeyan had an oversteer moment.

The Mercedes engine built in Brixworth in the UK, the car built

in Brackley. It is a German parent company but British engineering

behind it. Let's run through the order. It is Webber leading by two

seconds from Nico Rosberg. And Hamilton, Alonso, Massa, Sebastian

Vettel sixth. In the pits is Vitaly Petrov in the Caterham. This is not

looking like a normal pit stop. There is obviously a problem on

that car. That is a great shame for Vitaly Petrov. Not a great weekend.

He had a KERS failure during qualifying. Nico Hulkenberg in the

Force India, he is keeping Michael on us. Force India are finding a

bit of form at this early stage of the race. They are running ninth

and 11th. It looks like we have lost a fifth car in this race

unless they sent him out later on. But his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen

is running in 13th place. That could be crucial as we go through

this race. That is Jean-Eric Vergne making his first pit stop.

Relatively early. He has put the harder compound tyre on so he goes

out on the yellow tyre now. Gary, it looks like we are into pit stops

now. Is that simply because he was right at the back of the field so

nothing to lose by coming in now? think obviously he has to do it

some time and he might as well do it without being held up. We are

starting to see the lap time stripping away of -- a little bit.

-- the lap times are dropping away a little bit. We have to look

carefully at the times. Right, keep an eye on that. Meanwhile, Lee

McKenzie has caught up with Kamui Kobayashi. That look like an

uncomfortable jump that he did in the start, did you damage your car?

Is, had a problem with the suspension. It was very dangerous

to continue to drive. I did not expect it to happen like that. The

tyres were damaged. Sergio Perez has gained another place in the

same style. He has got past T- Mobile Glock. Yes, Glock did not

pace with the guys in front but he has shown a new maturity in his

driving. We are going to keep an eye on the pit lane. It is early

for any of the top teams to do a stop but he will be the first to

blame? Where there are still leads, 1.8 seconds, his advantage. They

really have to manage their tyres. Hamilton did it beautifully in

Spain having to start from the back. The team were constantly up dating

him about this dyke -- state of the tyres. They are constantly talking

to the drivers this year, telling them what to do with the tyres.

Normally on high-speed circuits, it is natural load which is the main

issue with the tyre but on the streets of Monaco it is all about

traction so long a Tudor and will load -- longitudinal load. It is

leaving rubber behind and put the surface temperature into an area

which is not comfortable said that is why you see them driving so

precisely, so smoothly and trying to burn the fuel. Alonso is

starting to come back at Hamilton. Nothing wrong with the way the

his team-mate. You're looking here at Nico Rosberg who is in second

place, remember. 2.2 seconds the gap between himself and Webber.

Pickard just floats over the kerbs as you go through the high-speed

chicane. It is that fantastic feeling. Your eyes will be on

stalks as you go round that corner. Is there any debris there? Where

are the marbles on the track? This track is constantly evolving lap

after lap. The fastest lap of the race will potentially be at the

very end when there is as much rubber down on the tarmac as much

as possible. They open the streets every night. This was the scene of

a party last night. You have a series of bars and restaurants and

this was just packed with people last evening. When we filmed the

opener there was still confetti which has been embedded into the

tarmac from someone's celebration last night. It is party town at

night time here but it is race time now. Webber is still looking at the

moment. Last year, the Mercedes were among the first to make a pit

stop, coming in as early as lap 12. No sign of that on this occasion.

We have had a safety car period. That has pushed us deeper into the

race. The teams will be happy with the way the tyres are holding up.

Gary, I think everybody up front will be relieved they have been

able to go this far already. Yes, they will be. The safety car

enabled them to get the temperatures down and balance the

car better. Lap 22 of the race, the tyres are really hanging on well.

They will have to go until lap 30- 35 if they are looking at doing a

one-stop. The first pit stop will be a view of whether they eat goat

one or two stops. The do you think that Red Bull might be frustrated

from Vettel's point of year because he is on those harder tyres but

maybe it will not work as well for him doing that? I still think it

looks pretty good for him. He is 10.9 seconds behind Webber. He

should take the lead as well -- as long as he can keep the gap. It is

working out OK for him. It is going to be a bit of cat-and-mouse on

this one. Mark Webber still leading this race. Car one missed the apex

of turn ten. That is interesting. That is Sebastian Vettel they are

talking about. We have already heard that if you gain a place

they're doing that then you are in trouble but he might just get a

warning on this occasion. What they have realised his, Michael

Schumacher gets up to Kimi Raikkonen. He is sizing up

Raikkonen. Raikkonen, the pressure builds. You know, you glance in

your mirror as you can hear the echo of the other engine behind you.

You have to start driving more defensively which will open up the

gap to Beth -- Vettel in front. Coming back to the chicane, as they

have improved the run-off there because we have seen some big

crashes, it means the drivers can have a get out of jail free card.

It was brought up in the drivers' meeting to keep an eye on someone

deliberately missing the chicane on the in lap. We have just seen a

replay of Vettel's incident. What the stewards will look at is

whether he gained any lap time almost pulling off the rim. A great

run from Heikki Kovalainen, he is still in 13th place. The battle

between the back markers, Marussia lead. None of them have scored

points, but they have had a 40 place. At the moment, cuter run

would go ahead, -- Caterham would go ahead. It makes a difference as

to how the money will be handed out at the end of the year. We are

still waiting for any of the front runners to make the move into the

pits. When you talk about the great job Heikki Kovalainen is the wind,

Jenson Button is just behind him, he will be managing and

concentrating to see if he can get away with one stop. He is 27

seconds behind the leader. If he can do Wandless stop, he will

benefit 20 seconds. That is what it costs you to do a normal pit-stop

and rejoined the race track. Russia both still running it. --

Marussia. RADIO: Some of the option runners ahead are starting to

struggle. That is an interesting, do. They do not look as though they

are struggling back much. Perhaps some of them further down the order.

Kimi Raikkonen is beginning to drop into the clutches of Michael

Schumacher. It is about keeping your man motivated and focused, not

that Jenson Button struggles with that. But when you are on your own,

you cannot watch all of the big screens. But I used to look at the

exit of Sainte Devote, there is a huge TV. It was always nice to keep

an eye on what is happening, what the viewers are seeing. Lewis

Hamilton holding on to third place. Fernando Alonso, 1.1 seconds behind.

Bruno Senna is quietly holding on to the top 10. RADIO: Possible

light rain in four minutes. wonder nobody is going to come into

the pits just yet. Even if the Times drop-offs. You want to stay

out until the rain comes, and go for intermediate tyres. Jenson

Button is still in 14th place. Sergio Perez behind him. Then, Timo

Glock and Charles Pic. Jean-Eric Vergne has just set the fastest lap.

He has gone into the pits. Interestingly, we are just opposite

the pit lane, we have the McLaren mechanics standing up, and the

Ferrari mechanics. You have got Mercedes and pit-bull sitting down.

-- Red Bull. We are back on board with Michael Schumacher, up the

gearbox of Kimi Raikkonen. He is very close behind him. It is

difficult to overtake. This is the DRS zone. There is no chance for

Michael Schumacher to even get close to the Lotus on that curve.

Kimi Raikkonen is holding him up. Michael tried to go down they

inside, Kimi Raikkonen had to get defensive. You have to apply the

brakes so early. Piling on the pressure with Kimi Raikkonen. You

can see how difficulty emerges. Kimi Raikkonen backing up the pack.

There is no doubt he is struggling. Everybody behind him looks

potentially faster. But he is holding the position. It would be

horrible if he let go. RADIO: Rain in the next five laps, we have to

stay out. We have a Mercedes in the pit lane, they have decided to

bring Nico Rosberg end. From second place. Away he goes, a reasonable

stop. We will not see as many pit- stops today as we have seen. Mark

Webber still leads. He has not made his pit stop. Lewis Hamilton moves

up to second place, Fernando Alonso up to third place. That drops Nico

Rosberg into clean air. The next man up the road is Sebastian Vettel.

I wonder if Lotus I just asking a bit too much of Kimi Raikkonen. He

is struggling with the tyres. This is playing into the hands of the

front runners. This is giving the top six breathing space. Gary, this

opens up the question, do you react to what is happening, or do you

react thinking what might happen? am feeling a couple of small spots.

It is quite caught down here. I do not understand why Nicky Wroes

Burke -- Nico Rosberg went in, because he had set the fastest lap.

But Kimi Raikkonen, he is the one that is in trouble. Everybody is

queueing up behind him. I do not understand the logic. If I was Nico

Rosberg, I would really have tried to stay out there. Michael

Schumacher getting ever closer to Kimi Raikkonen. Nico Hulkenberg is

there, Bruno Senna, Paul di Resta. And Daniel Ricciardo. And Heikki

Kovalainen, I think. Kimi Raikkonen is fending them off at the moment.

Then, you can see Jenson Button, right at the back of the group in

14th. Mark Webber is still in control, and in front, but no doubt

keeping a wary eye on the weather. The rear tyres of going off on the

Lotus. Michael has tried a couple of times. Fernando Alonso on the

back of Lewis Hamilton. Only 0.1 seconds difference. We have been so

busy watching the action from seventh place down. Red Bull and

McLaren in the pit lane. The race leader is in the pits. Looking to

come out ahead of Nico Rosberg, of course. Lewis Hamilton in from

second place. The yellow tyre, the harder tyre. They have got to lap

30 on the softer tyre. Mark Webber rejoins in third of Nico Rosberg.

They all have slick tyres on. If it rains, that will change things. But

they have reacted to what is happening now. This could be the

only stop for them. Finally, Kimi Raikkonen comes in. He has also

gone for the harder tyre. Bruno Senna rejoins. All of them coming

cleanly out, but those that were locked up behind Kimi Raikkonen,

Michael has stayed out, and he is now beginning to set some personal

best sector Times, so he is hoping that he is going to be able to get

past Kimi Raikkonen with the pit stop. Look at how close it was to

the Force India! Brave guys. You would not get enough money to make

me fulfil that role! Fernando Alonso has come in. He came in

later than the other guys. Michael Schumacher is still out at the

moment. Fernando Alonso has gained a bit of time. Where is Lewis

Hamilton? He is well in front of Lewis Hamilton. He is still coming

over the finish line first stop Fernando Alonso has taken third

place. He was right behind Lewis Hamilton, he got a good Olap, and

that is great strategy. Gary? one lap he did, he went purple in

the first two sectors. He was only just behind Lewis Hamilton before

the pit stop. He used the one lap in clean air. It was amazing that

he could do that, the tyres had done so many laps, and on the

Ferrari! Yes, you have got to be brave to do something different.

That is what they were doing it, they were reacting to everybody

else. He has got a place out of it. Felipe Massa is in. Was he as quick

as Fernando Alonso? I do not think so. Ferrari have been so slick with

their pit-stops. There have been the team to beat, 3.3 seconds.

Let's look for Fernando Alonso. He will come out behind Lewis Hamilton.

And Michael Schumacher has run- through. Michael Schumacher is

ahead of Felipe Massa. That has worked out well for Michael

Schumacher, splitting the Ferrari cars. That means he is also ahead

of Kimi Raikkonen, who is further back. That has worked very well for

Michael Schumacher. Leading the race, Sebastian Vettel. He is on a

different strategy to all of the others. Did he keep it out of the

barrier? Just about, I think. behind the red-and-white kerb. It

is an unforgiving a yellow lumps of metal. The cars are stiffly sprung

up on a circuit where they try to get a bit more compliance. He is on

the harder compound tyre. Therefore, he is staying out longer than

anybody else before he makes his pit-stop. He merely has a ten-

second advantage over his team-mate. Mark Webber stopped first, but

Sebastian Vettel is the race. Kimi Raikkonen has dropped all the way

to 14th place. Nico Hulkenberg is in 15th, but that is partly because

several others have also stayed out and not made their pit-stops yet.

We are still waiting for Michael to make his pit-stop. He is going very

deep into this race without having made a pit stop. Paul di Resta,

Daniel Ricciardo, Jenson Button, Sergio Perez, they are all running

in front of Kimi Raikkonen. They do not have a big enough gap... RADIO:

Keep doing this. If it rains, that would really work for Sebastian

Vettel! Yes, but he is also the tyres and the fuel, and deliver

the lap times of a stop a very quick lap indeed. 1:19.5. Very fast.

For everything moving around over the bumps of Monaco. That was Mark

Webber a moment or two ago. He was on the yellow tyres. He is still

running in second place. He will get a warning for that. He decided

not to risk making bitter. -- making the turn. Sebastian Vettel

is going more quickly than Mark Webber. He is flying at, he has got

the lead after 13 seconds. Gary, the pace that Sebastian dazzle is

doing it, how is he so fast on these tyres? -- that Sebastian

Vettel is doing it? The others have 48 laps to do on their new set of

tyres. They might be driving conservatively. If they can keep

Sebastian Vettel within the 22nd comes Michael Schumacher. He has

managed to go to lap 35 before changing to be harder compound tyre.

That is good driver management from the driver and team. Where will it

bring him out? It will bring him out behind Button who was ninth. It

will also bring him out into a nice clear bit of track. Jean-Eric

Vergne is in the background. Regained their we thought he had

made, not quite the same. Raikkonen was his initial target. No longer

is he up there with the Ferraris. It is Vettel who leads this race

from his team-mate Mark Webber. Teams are wondering whether Red

Bull are going to work this one together and effectively slow

everyone else down and give Vettel the chance to make a gap. I wonder

if that would occur or whether it is a question those are looking

after their tyres. Karthikeyan got out of the way there. It is

certainly allowed. You can play the team order situation. It is not

against the rules but it is the early stage of the season. Both

Mark and Vettel are in the championship along with Alonso. We

see a bitter squabbling for position. Raikkonen was caught out

completely. I think we have just seen the Force India of di Resta

make his pit stop. He was running in ninth place. He is back on the

circuit now. Mark Webber comes through in second place. Rosberg is

trying to get past the traffic, past Narain Karthikeyan. He has the

Ferrari behind him. If he gets blocked by the HRT that could allow

Alonso to have a little look, not on this lap. Karthikeyan doing the

sensible thing and getting out of the way. Alonso was not able to

take advantage. Hamilton was going to go past the HRT as well. Ferrari

are doing a good job on strategy today. Perhaps they did not get it

right in Barcelona. They could have won the race perhaps if they had

called their pit stop strategy differently. Remember, in terms of

the battle for the championship, Alonso is very wary about Hamilton.

He was quoted yesterday as saying he sees Hamilton has perhaps the

biggest threat for the outright title. Four Alonso to have jumped

among those pit stops, he will be very pleased about that. Sebastian

Vettel is a second quicker than Mark Webber. Nico Rosberg has that

gap up to 15.8 seconds. If he can get it over 20 he can make an extra

pit stop and still come out in the lead. I am not really understanding

any strategy to preserve too much the tyres now from Webber and

Rosberg. That is quite a sizable gap in that town. Gary, do you have

any further thoughts on it? It looks that Vettel is in an

operating window with the old tyres which is allowing him to have the

confidence to push. Just looking there is an incident involving

Raikkonen and Perez which is under investigation by the stewards. Gary,

your thoughts? As far as I can see, I think Webber is doing whatever

that team was telling the driver, back the other guys up a little

bit,. That allow Vettel to stop and he will come out hope fully behind

Webber, that will be the plan. The thing that will throw that is the

rain is starting. There are a few drops. Not heavy yet. We will watch

that very closely. The track temperature has dropped a little

bit, 33 degrees now. Any rain here and the place turns into a skating

rink. It rained here during Thursday practice and the

difference in speed as the cars tried to get back to the pits when

they were on slick tyres was incredible. Any rain on this

circuit is almost impossible on slicks. You can see all the white

lines. They tried to grind them down. RADIO: It is starting to spit

with rain. That is nice information from his engineer but I assure you

Jenson will be aware of it before the engineer sitting in comfort of

the engineering office above the pit lane. You see tiny drops on

your visor. You are super-sensitive to any information that you see. A

drive-through penalty for car number 15, Sergio Perez, for

impeding Kimi Raikkonen. He has been penalised for cutting across

the locus of Kimi Raikkonen. No surprise. We have McLaren out in

the pit lane. Presumably it will be for Jenson Button. What tyres will

they put on? If there is moisture in the air, do they send him out on

slicks or intermediates? He is putting the super-softs on, getting

back phase-out of the way. So the softer tyre. If it does get wet,

then you do not have to run both of the dry compound tyres. But clearly

McLaren decided to get him out there on those tyres now. Even if

it is the last durable tyre. Heikki Kovalainen has got in front of the

McLaren. Button has not been able to get the place on the pit stop.

You would never think we would be seeing a McLaren battling a

Caterham but that is exactly what is happening here. Jenson putting

on the super-softs. If they do think there will be some rain and

they have to stop for intermediates later, that will only be a short

window. Heikki can cut across the yellow line as he comes into the

first corner. Jenson is held to being to the right to the LN9 in

the interests of safety. He has a view of the back of that Caterham.

It has Renault power, it has KERS. In the next lap or two with the

fresher tyres, Jenson has got to get on with it and try and pull a

pass. That is quite something, the patron of Heikki Kovalainen having

a brilliant run here at the moment. -- the Caterham. Let's just quickly

run you through what is happening here in Monaco. We are just over

half distance. Sebastian Vettel leads in the Red Bull by 15.8

seconds over his team-mate Mark Webber. But there are different

higher strategies so we are not sure how it will workout yet.

Rosberg is third in the Mercedes, Alonso 44 Ferrari. -- Alonso fourth

for Ferrari. Perez was doing his drive-through penalty there. Webber

has started to reel in Vettel a little bit. Vettel is 21 seconds up

the road from Hamilton. If they were to pick now then he would come

out in fifth place just in front of Hamilton. You are meant to be to

the right of the yellow line on pit-lane entry. That has cost him a

drive through. That will add 16 seconds or so to his race time.

serves that and get on his way. A quick reminder that we lost several

cars in the early stage of the race. You are on board with Lewis

Hamilton currently fifth. Ricciardo in at last. A very late stop by

Daniel Ricciardo. Lewis was talking about the tyres. He was sane at

this pace they will not last very long. He has obviously been given a

hurry up from the team. Just to correct myself from earlier, if

Vettel came out in front of Hamilton he would be in fourth

place, not Fifth. Whether Red Bull could get back stop done or not.

Another 1:19.4 from Vettel on the last lap. Webber is 1:19.6. The

cars that that out of the race, we saw a couple of accidents in the

first corner. Romain Grosjean is out of the race. Then Pastor

Maldonado ran into the back of Pedro de la Rosa taking them both

that. Kobayashi made contact with another car and we have also lost

Petrov. Vettel has done four-to-one laps on the set of tyres. -- 41

laps. He has made these tyres go a long way. RADIO: You need to close

upon Hamilton. Vettel going a little bit slower and it you guys

are going a bit quicker than him. You need to close upon him because

there could be some point where he needs to pit. That is what they are

working on. Even if Felipe Massa cannot pass Hamilton, he has got

the right on his gearbox because that is where Vettel is likely to

come out after he makes his pit stop. A good lap from Vettel. 19.2.

Gary, sorry, David. 19.24 Vettel, - - 19.2 for Vettel. Hamilton has

responded and is on 19.1. Again, Vettel is managing to open out the

gap to the cars behind. Gary, what is the weather report in the pit

lane? Still a few light spots, nothing to worry about at the

moment but it is getting cooler and blacker. I think we will see enough

rain to cause confusion before the end. The 1982 race was a famous

race when it rained towards the end. Prost was winning, he spun and then

it was absolute chaos. One of the most dramatic finale is to a Monaco

Grand Prix. I don't know if we are in for that. At the moment it is

Sebastian Vettel still leading. He has not made a pit stop yet. He

started on the harder, compound tyre and he is driving beautifully.

Vettel at his best at the moment. This is why he is double world

champion. Will it be enough? That is the question. Meanwhile, Jenson

Button cannot get past that Caterham. Heikki Kovalainen having

the race of his season. They are battling over 13th place. UCB drive

the Caterham have. -- you see the drive. The Caterham is working

superbly on traction. It just shows you this year. RADIO: They keep

dropping. Did he just say they were dropping things and it hit him on

the head? Yes, they keep dropping things from the pit wall and

something hit him on the head. is one of the peculiarities of the

track that the pit lane looks out to the commentary box and the

signalling boards are on the start- finish straight. It would be a

brave man to hang back Bourdais in the winds in front of the cars. --

hang that bald in the wind. The director loves this slow-motion

through the high-speed chicane. Lewis was in one of the Cars movies.

Having a three-year-old child, I watch a lot of films like that now!

Are the guys behind Mark Webber and Rosberg are picking up the pace a

bit. Vettel is still having to work at it. How much longer before he

comes into the pits? No doubt keeping an eye on the weather as we

are to see if it will rain. Michael Schumacher is in seventh. Jean-Eric

Vergne is currently in eighth place. That is interesting. Di Resta his

ninth, Hulkenberg in tenth place. Ben Kimi Raikkonen in 11th. Jean-

Eric Vergne made an early pit stop. Gary, what are your thoughts on the

Toro Rosso being in eighth place? Is there any chance he can keep it

going from there? I would have thought it would be very, very

difficult. Anything could happen. These tyres seem to have a mind of

their own. They will be looking at Vettel's laps. We will have to see

what happens. You have to honestly react to when the tyre falls off.

No one will know, to be honest. That moment might be with us

because Vettel's last lap he did if it was because he made a mistake

or if he is approaching the cliff. He has done 45 laps, and he started

on a full tank of fuel. Red Bull are coming out. He will be in this

lap. He has reached the cliff in terms of performance. Sebastian

Vettel will be coming into the pits. Where will he come back out? Behind

Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa? Will he be fighting with Michael

Schumacher? Forget Michael Schumacher, he is 22 seconds behind.

It will be in the Battle of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

They will be going around La Rascasse. He gets out ahead of

Lewis Hamilton. But will he? They will battle out of the first corner.

He just gets cut off by Sebastian Vettel! The McLaren is all over the

back of the Red Bull! Surely Lewis Hamilton cannot find a way through.

Sebastian battle has got the tyres working, he is on the softer

compound -- Sebastian Vettel. He has got to make it work until the

end. That was close. Will Lewis Hamilton be able to position

himself? It does not not like it. - - does not look like it. He has got

himself up into third place, Sebastian Vettel. When you consider

he started in ninth place, the strategy has worked very

effectively. It is a huge gain at a track like Monaco. It is fourth

place. Apologies. There is so much going on! Mark Webber, 1.2 seconds

advantage over Nico Rosberg. Felipe Massa is still in there. Michael

Schumacher is some way back in seventh place. At the moment, the

Force India cars are both running inside the points. The accuracy is

so crucial, and we are still keeping an eye on the weather

conditions. Gary, how are things? Traffic ahead. Let's keep an eye on

that. That could have allowed Felipe Massa and opportunities.

Back to Derry. What have you got there? The spots of rain had

stopped. Sebastian Vettel has got to do 31 laps on the soft tyres.

RADIO: We can expect no rain, we have got to go till the end.

rain has moved away. The 31 laps, that is what the others did at the

beginning. And the others have got to do what Sebastian Vettel did

after a stop everything it's OK for one stop. -- what Sebastian Vettel

did after one stop. There are only five seconds covering of Red Bull,

a Mercedes, a Ferrari, a McLaren. It is incredibly open. Mark Webber

in control at the moment, by 1.4 seconds. Lewis Hamilton is not far

behind, but he will be disappointed, because he started in third place.

He got beaten by Ferrari at the pit stop, and he has lost another one

to Sebastian Vettel. We have got the two championship leaders tied

on 61., remained virtually together on the track, and the mad second to

them, running just. -- running just behind. All of them know how

crucial it will be. RADIO: The leaders went 29 laps on the first

stint. That has got to make him feel good. A confidence boost. He

is not able to slow the car down, so he looks the front left wheel.

As long as he does not gain any time from that, they should not be

anything other than a gentle reminder. The crucial thing in that

information to Sebastian Vettel, the point at which their leaders

did 29 laps, the car was happier -- heavier, but now, there is less

Mass, so the tyres have an easier time. Mark Webber is in control,

from pole position. He made a beautiful better way. He has had a

few problems at the start of races, but he did today, he got a great

start. Fernando Alonso has gained some ground through the course of

the race so far. Narain Karthikeyan is about to be lapped by Jean-Eric

Vergne. Sergio Perez is the fastest man on the track, 1:17.2. That is

2.5 seconds faster than the leaders! It shows how the leaders

are trying to look after the tyres. Sergio Perez is showing off! He to