Sebastian Vettel claimed the victory in Monaco, beating Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button...
Red Bull:
Sebastian Vettel: "It's difficult to describe today; it's a great feeling. I've seen what it takes to win here. Today it was a crazy race. It's difficult to imagine you can one-stop at this race, but that's more or less what we did. Our first pit stop was not spot on and we lost the position to Jenson. I was surprised when Jenson came in and we had to react, he was pulling away on the soft tyres while I was on the hard tyres. I thought 'don't give up' and kept pushing to close the gap. The safety car helped us, but it was no walk in the park to do roughly 60 laps on the same set of tyres - our estimation was not allowing that! We took a lot of risks, but that made today's win even sweeter. Towards the end of the race the tyres I had were nowhere close to fresh - but I saw the only way to win the race was to stay out. I had 20 laps where I was under pressure from Fernando and Jenson, it would have been a difficult final six laps, but there was another safety car and a suspended race, so we were able to change the tyres. I'm extremely happy. At some stage I was in P2 and 15 seconds behind Jenson, so victory seemed far away, but it's a crazy place here. I think the roulette was spun last night and kept on spinning during this race. I'm really, really happy. A fantastic result and a huge honour to put my name on the list of Monaco race winners. We fully deserved this win, we took the risk and we got the reward."
Mark Webber: "We didn't really go long enough on the first stint, which is normal for me on these tyres, so that compromised me. When I arrived in the pits we didn't have any tyres out, I arrived and sat there, but the boys were still getting them ready. There was a radio communication problem within the team and so they weren't properly prepared. When you wait here, you lose track position and you have to wait behind people, so it was not bad to get fourth from there. I don't know why we restarted the race when there were only five laps left - but that was the decision and it turned out okay. I hope Vitaly (Petrov) is okay."
Ferrari:
Fernando Alonso: "This is my best result of the year and I think it is very important, especially for the team. A podium was needed, we needed to be fighting to the end for the win. Sure, this is not a typical circuit and we should not draw conclusions from a race that always produces its own story. We must close down the distance that separates us from the best: in Canada, we will have some updates on the car and we hope they will prove useful. I got a good start: if there had been a bit more room, maybe I could have done the same as in Spain. Then I tried to look after the tyres, before attacking Vettel at the very end, but then came the red flag and that meant it was over, because on new tyres, he was impossible to beat. Unfortunately, these sort of things can always happen here and they are part of the character of this Grand Prix. We must be pleased with this result and look to Montreal and Valencia, two races where we went well last year, with confidence. The gap in the championship is very big, but there is still a long way to go."
Felipe Massa: "I am very disappointed with the way my race ended. After Hamilton had tried to pass me at Loews, which is an impossible place to do it, hitting me and pushing me into Webber, the car was no longer right and I could not drive it properly, which is why he got on the inside of me inside the tunnel. That put me on the dirt and then I ended up in the barrier. At the start, I got away well, but at the first corner I found Webber and Fernando in front of me: I was on the outside and Rosberg managed to get inside me. That meant I missed out on the train that would have kept me up with the leaders, as I spent too much time behind the German's Mercedes. Today, we were competitive and, given how things went, I could have finished fourth. Now, we head for Canada, where we hope to have a car capable of fighting, as was the case here. The fact we will have the same two types of tyre, the soft and supersoft, is definitely positive for us."
McLaren:
Jenson Button: "First of all, I'm pleased to hear that Vitaly [Petrov] is okay after we saw another big shunt this weekend. As for my race, I didn't put a foot wrong out there, pulled away into a good lead... but came away with 'only' 15 points in the end. But that's Monte-Carlo. We jumped Sebastian [Vettel] at the first stop and I then pushed like crazy on the Super-Soft, even tapping the wall a couple of times. The car was good and I pulled out a big lead, about 15 seconds, so it was all looking great at that point. Then we made another tyre stop - just moments before the Safety Car was deployed. By that stage, we still hadn't run the Prime, which meant we still had to fit another set of tyres to finish the race. With 10 laps to go, it was looking like either myself, Sebastian or Fernando [Alonso] could win the race: Sebastian's tyres were going off and Fernando was pushing him really hard. I could tell that Fernando was getting ready to have a go into Turn One - it was fun to watch because they were either going to crash or there was going to be an opportunity for me to try and get through as they battled each other. Any of us could have won at that point. But after the red flag for Vitaly's big accident, all the teams were able to fit fresh tyres - which meant we couldn't do anything because the three of us were all on the same pace and I'd lost my advantage. The team did a great job this weekend and I'm very happy. We really went for it and had to try something different in order to beat Sebastian here. It was looking good, but it didn't work out in the end..."
Lewis Hamilton: "It's been a disappointing weekend, really. This afternoon, in the race itself, I made some strong moves on three drivers - Michael [Schumacher], Felipe [Massa] and Pastor [Maldonado] - and I got penalised for two of them. With Felipe, I went up the inside at the hairpin, he turned in early and we touched. With Pastor, again, he turned in and I was pushed over the kerb. The penalties were frustrating: it's really tough to overtake around here, and you rarely get an opportunity to do so. I was racing my heart out and just wanted to put on a good show for everyone."
Sauber:
Kamui Kobayashi: "I am very happy. I was struggling a lot in qualifying, but the team did a great job with the pit stop strategy today. The call for the tyre change came at a perfect time. It was no problem to go for such a long stint with the super soft tyres, and I think they would have lasted even longer. After the start I had problems with traffic, but then one after the other they stopped and it became better for me. After my one and only pit stop I was stuck behind Adrian Sutil, and at the same time I had to defend against Mark Webber. In this situation it was a bit difficult to manage the tyres. Without the restart I obviously could have finished fourth. But when Mark was so close behind me on the final laps there was nothing I could do to defend that place. However, I think fifth is a great achievement at the end of what was a difficult weekend."
