Monaco, May 29 (IANS) Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won his maiden Monaco Grand Prix Sunday while Adrian Sutil produced the season’s best result for Force India by finishing seventh in an eventful Formula One race.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Jenson Button finished second and third as the top three crossed the chequered flag within 2.5 seconds of each other. Vettel’s win was his fifth of the season.
Vettel started from pole and had to work hard to maintain his position in a race that saw two safety car periods and a brief suspension after Renault’s Vitaly Petrov got stuck on the track following a collision with the barriers.
India’s Narain Karthikeyan, racing for Hispania, managed to complete the race at 17th position behind his team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi. Both the drivers were allowed to race despite not setting time in Saturday’s qualifying.
Force India, courtesy a credible performance by Sutil, finished amongst points for the first time in four races. The Silverstone-based team have now moved to seventh place in the Constructor’s Championship with 10 points and six of them coming from this race. Sutil’s team mate Paul di Resta came 12th in his first Formula One race here.
Sutil, who started from 14th on the grid, was running fourth till the 66th lap of the 78-lap race. But a slight collision with Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi cost him three position before a red flag was ordered on the 72nd lap following Petrov’s accident and the drivers were made to resume the race from the starting grid.
