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Rosberg wins crash-delayed GP

May 26, 2013

Nico Rosberg has won the Monaco Grand Prix in a race that had to be suspended and restarted after a crash about halfway through. Sebastian Vettel remains top of the drivers' standings.

https://p.dw.com/p/18eEu
Track marshals clear debris as the car of Williams Formula One driver Pastor Maldonaldo of Venezuela is seen after a crash, during the Monaco F1 Grand Prix May 26, 2013. REUTERS/Robert Pratta
Image: Reuters

Mercedes driver Rosberg, who started from his third successive pole position, kept his cool throughout Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, leading the race from start to finish. It was the German driver's first-ever win at Monaco and gave Mercedes its first win of the 2013 Formula One season.

Another German, last year's drivers' champion, Sebastian Vettel, increased his lead atop this year's drivers' standings by crossing the finish line in second place, 3.888 seconds behind Rosberg.

This made it the first German one-two finish since Michael Schumacher and his brother Ralf Schumacher did so at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2004.

Vettel's Australian Red Bull teammate, Mark Webber, came in third in what was an eventful race.

Race interupted just over halfway through

The event's organizers took the unusual step of issuing a red flag on lap 46 following a collision involving Marussia driver Max Chilton, which sent Williams' Pastor Maldonado into a barrier on Turn 16 (pictured above). Chilton's teammate Julian Bianchi also became involved.

None of the drivers was seriously injured, but the crash resulted in debris being strewn across that area of the course, forcing the race to be stopped. Chilton was assessed a drive-through penalty for causing the crash.

The race was restarted with the drivers lining up in the order they had been when the race was suspended, with Rosberg starting from first, followed by Vettel and Webber.

Earlier, the safety car had been forced out onto the street course following a heavy crash involving Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, who was treated for neck and shoulder injuries. This was just one of three safety-car phases during the race.

Family history

The result saw Vettel open up a 21-point lead over Finnish Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen in the drivers' standings. Vettel and Webber's Red-Bull-Renault team have a commanding 41-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors' table.

For Rosberg, the victory must have been special not only because it was his first on the legendary street circuit, but it also came 30 years after his father had won the same event.

"I've known this for 18 years," a visibly moved father Keke Rosberg told German pay-TV broadcaster Sky just after the race. "I always knew that he would achieve it one day."

pfd/ipj (dpa, SID, Reuters)