Monaco Grand Prix Results:  Red Bull’s Mark Webber underwent trial by safety car in Monte Carlo on Sunday afternoon, but kept his cool throughout four interventions, the last of which was after a late tangle at Rascasse between backmarkers Jarno Trulli and Karun Chandhok which happened right in front of his Red Bull.

That brought out Bernd Maylander and the Mercedes for the last time, the previous three occasions involving two heavy crashes by Williams drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barrichello. On all of those occasions Webber had calmly opened up the gap again over team mate Sebastian Vettel, who had beaten front-row starter Robert Kubica off the line at the start and then trailed Webber throughout.

It was far from a gripping race, with only the accidents providing relief from total Red Bull domination as Kubica drove his heart out to keep them honest but was unable to challenge.

It was the first time an Australian had won in the Principality since Sir Jack Brabham did so for Cooper in 1959, and puts Webber into the lead of the world championship, level with Vettel on 78 points.

Behind the valiant Kubica, Felipe Massa held Lewis Hamilton at bay as Fernando Alonso fought his way up from last place after a pit lane start.

The first safety car came out on the opening lap after Hulkenberg crashed heavily in the tunnel after a front wing component failed. Then team mate Barrichello also shunted hard going up the hill to Massenet on the 31st lap due to a rear-end failure. That brought out the second safety car, and another came on the 43rd lap as a loose drain cover was noted in the vicinity. When Barrichello discarded his shattered car’s steering wheel, an HRT ran it over.

As the safety car pulled in at the end of the 78th after its final appearance, and on the race’s final lap all that remained was for the drivers to cross the line again, but an opportunistic Schumacher dived ahead of Alonso, demoting him to seventh place. That move was subsequently deemed illegal by the stewards, who added 20s to the German’s race time in lieu of a drive-through penalty, dropping him to 12th.

Schumacher’s Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg was thus seventh, and behind him Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi made it a good day for Force India with eighth and ninth places. Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi Buemi inherited the final point for tenth after Schumacher’s penalty and team mate Jaime Alguersuari was the only other finisher.

Besides Chandhok and Trulli, who crashed on the race’s 74th lap, the other non-finishers were Heikki Kovalainen and Bruno Senna, who quit on the 60th with mechanical failures, and Renault’s Vitaly Petrov who called it a day with five laps to go with after a troubled race following an early puncture. It wasn’t a great day for McLaren, with Jenson Button losing ground at the start and becoming the second retirement with suspected engine failure on the third lap. Mechanical problems also accounted for the Virgins of Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi, and the BMW Saubers of Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi.

After Schumacher’s demotion, Alonso leaves Monaco third overall in the driver standings with 75 points, then come Button on 70 from Massa on 61, Kubica and Hamilton on 59 and Rosberg on 56.

For the first time this season Red Bull also lead the constructors’ world championship, with 156 points, Ferrari on 136, McLaren on 129, Mercedes on 78 and Renault on 65.

FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2010

Vettel leads Red Bull one-two at Sepang

Red Bull desperately needed a victory to get back into the world championship chase, and Sebastian Vettel delivered it in fine style in a dry Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday. And to make things even better, Mark Webber brought the sister car home second.

Vettel snatched the lead at the start from his Australian team mate, and apart from a time when McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton ran second for a while before his tyre stop, they were never seriously challenged.

Polesitter Webber stayed close to Vettel until the stops, but lost two and a half seconds in his tyre stop because of a wheel-gun problem, and finally finished 4.8s behind.

Nico Rosberg was Mercedes GP’s sole finisher in third, after Michael Schumacher retired early on, and he headed home Robert Kubica who scored yet again for Renault. The Pole pushed the German hard, but was never able to challenge seriously.

The race up front wasn’t a repeat of Melbourne’s excitement, but the McLaren and Ferrari drivers provided plenty of thrills as they recovered from their lowly grid positions. Hamilton was 12th by the end of the first lap after starting 20th, but having run second, after staying out on hard rubber until the 30th lap, he was unable to pull an overtaking move on Adrian Sutil once he had switched to soft Bridgestones.

The German kept his head and drove a superb race for Force India to take fifth. Hamilton pushed him very hard, but had to be content with another sixth place ahead of Felipe Massa who was Ferrari’s sole finisher after a feisty battle from the back of the grid.

McLaren’s Jenson Button took eighth, after making an early stop to switch from his soft tyres and having to make the hard replacements last a long time. He was overtaken briefly on the 55th lap by a challenging Fernando Alonso, but as the Ferrari slid wide in Turn One after braking too late Button repassed, and then immediately the Spaniard’s engine broke, dropping him back to a 13th-place finish.

Jaime Alguersuari again drove an excellent race for Toro Rosso and was rewarded with two points for ninth, with Nico Hulkenberg taking the final one for Williams thanks to Alonso’s misfortune.

Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi was 11th from Rubens Barrichello, whose Williams bogged down so badly at the start that Alonso had to make a phenomenal avoidance.

Despite a wing-damaging brush with Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus, Lucas di Grassi brought his Virgin home 14th and best of the newcomers after a strong drive, while Karun Chandhok also beat the Lotuses on their home ground to bring his HRT home 15th ahead of team mate Bruno Senna. Jarno Trulli was 17th as Lotus’s better finisher, with Kovalainen taking 18th after a long pit stop for mechanical attention.

Vitaly Petrov ran well initially, earning Hamilton a stewards’ warning after the Briton weaved too much keeping him at bay down the pit straight, but retired his Renault with mechanical trouble. Vitantonio Liuzzi also ran well, ahead of the Russian, before his Force €ndia retired. He was classified 20th ahead of Schumacher and Kamui Kobayashi, who also suffered engine trouble in his BMW Sauber.

Virgin’s Timo Glock also failed to finish after a spin which put him into Trulli, spinning the Lotus. And Pedro de la Rosa did not take the start after his BMW Sauber stopped out on the circuit on the grid formation lap.

The result dramatically closes the championship points battle. Massa now leads with 39 from Alonso and Vettel on 37, Button on 35, Hamilton on 31 and Kubica on 30. €n the constructors’ stakes Ferrari still lead with 76, but McLaren now have 66, Red Bull 61, Mercedes 44 and Renault 30.

2010 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX

Button wins Down Under

Formula One world champion Jenson Button’s won his first race of the season at the Australian Grand Prix.

Button finished 12 seconds ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica, with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in third.

Fernando Alonso finished fourth for Ferrari ahead of Mercedes Nico Rosberg, while Button’s McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton finished sixth after being involved in a collision with Mark Webber near the end of the race.

1. Jenson Button 1:33:36.531 5. Nico Rosberg +5633.2 sec 2. Robert Kubica +5628.6 sec 6. Lewis Hamilton +5646.4 sec 3. Felipe Massa +5631.0 sec 7. Vitantonio Liuzzi +5676.4 sec 4. Fernando Alonso +5632.8 sec 8. Rubens Barrichello +5674.1 sec

2010 FORMULA 1 QANTAS AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

Overall Drivers Points:

Constructors Championship:

The new formula 1 season kicked off in Bahrain with an impressive win for Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso
Final positions and points

2010 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX

ALL DRIVERS

• ALL DRIVERS
• ALGUERSUARI, JAIME
• ALONSO, FERNANDO
• BARRICHELLO, RUBENS
• BUEMI, SEBASTIEN
• BUTTON, JENSON
• DI GRASSI, LUCAS
• GLOCK, TIMO
• HAMILTON, LEWIS
• HULKENBERG, NICO
• KOVALAINEN, HEIKKI
• KUBICA, ROBERT
• LIUZZI, VITANTONIO
• LOPEZ, JOSE MARIA
• MASSA, FELIPE
• PETROV, VITALY
• ROSBERG, NICO
• SCHUMACHER, MICHAEL
• SENNA, BRUNO
• SUTIL, ADRIAN
• TRULLI, JARNO
• VETTEL, SEBASTIAN
• WEBBER, MARK

• 1 Jenson Button McLaren
• 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren
• 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP
• 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
• 5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull
• 6 Mark Webber Red Bull
• 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari
• 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari
• 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams
• 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams
• 11 Robert Kubica Renault
• 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault
• 14 Adrian Sutil Force India
• 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India
• 16 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso
• 17 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso
• 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus
• 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus
• 21 Bruno Senna Campos
• 22 Jose Maria Lopez US
• 24 Timo Glock Virgin
• 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin