Vettel, Raikkonen come 1st, 2nd for Ferrari in 2017 Monaco Grand Prix

It was the first win for Ferrari after 2001 in Monaco as Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished 1^st and 2^nd at the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2017 on May 28, 2017. With his win, Vettel  has pushed his title advantage to 25 points over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who finished a distant seventh. Daniel Ricciardo completed the podium for Red Bull by coming in third.

This is also the first 1-2 for Vettel and Raikkonen as team mates. Out of a field of 20 drivers, only 13 managed to complete the race. Unfortunately, Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez had to be content with 12^th and 13^th positions respectively.

There were crashes galore at Monte Carlo, known for its fine weather and expensive yachts and not to miss, beautiful sun bathers atop buildings around the track.

Till around lap 39, it was the Iceman Raikkonen leading but then a smart strategy led Vettel to lead and there was no turning back for this German driver.  

Lap 60 saw an an ambitious passing attempt from McLaren’s Jenson Button on Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein went awry, leaving the latter’s car on its side against the Portier barriers. The driver escaped unhurt. Button sustained severe suspension damage because of collision. Later Marcus Ericsson’s car went into the barriers at Ste Devote which meant a double DNF for Sauber..

When racing did resume on Lap 67, McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne made the same mistake on the restart. Other retirements were those of Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, victim of a late clash with Force India’s Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll who pulled into the Williams garage late on, and early victim Nico Hulkenberg with a Renault gearbox issue.