Monaco is a challenging track at the best of times but in the wet, it becomes a whole new game. We saw those in the championship race being careful and pushing only when it was safe to do so. We saw those with nothing to lose, like Alonso, throwing everything at the race.

The Ferraris locked out the front row in qualifying with Massa taking pole from Kimi. Massa seemed surprised at his starting position after starting the weekend saying he did not like the circuit. He is certainly on a roll at the moment and I would love to see him continue to out qualify and finish ahead of Kimi so that towards the end of the season when the team decide who they are going to favour, they choose Massa. I would love to see Kimi being told he was number 2! The weekend did not work well for Ferrari despite their qualifying. Normally the team strategy is faultless. However, in this race it failed them, they were too cautious. The rain started as the cars pulled up onto the grid. A decision had to be made at that time as to which tyres to start the race with. The tyres have to be fitted three minutes before the start of the race. Kimi was penalised for not complying with the three minute rule and was given a drive through penalty which he served on lap 13. He was back in the pits on lap 27 for a new nose and a fuel stop. He was helped by a safety car incident on lap 62 which brought the pack together and closed him up behind Sutil in the Force India, who was having the drive of his life in fifth place. He was always going to come under pressure from Kimi but on a track where it is difficult to overtake, it may have been possible for him to hold him off. That would have been the case if Kimi had not lost control coming out of the tunnel, flying into the back of Sutil and destroying his race. Typically, Kimi made it back to the pits, had another new nose and carried on, eventually finishing nineth whereas Sutil’s race was ended.

Massa in the sister Ferrari ran the pace of the race well in difficult circumstances. His race was not without incident as he touched the wall mis-judging braking going into the first corner on lap sixteen. This allowed Kubica to take the lead from him. However, once the pit stops had sorted themselves out, Massa was back in lead until lap 34 when Hamilton stole it from him following his pit stop. Ferrari gambled on there being more rain during the course of the race. They were wrong and this penalised them. Massa eventually came home third.

The real master of the weekend was Lewis in his McLaren. He started in third and seemed genuinely surprised that he should not be on the front row of the grid after his qualifying performance. He had a brilliant start, getting past Kimi on the way into the first corner. It seemed that his race was over when he brushed the barrier on lap six and he came into the pits with his rear right tyre hanging off. The team fuelled him heavily at that time and it is that change in strategy that was pivotal in his race win. Where the conditions allowed, Lewis pushed hard. He was able to build up a big enough lead to enable him to pit and return to the track in the lead on lap 54. He built up a 35 second lead over second place Kubica until the safety car incident on lap 62. Once the safety car retired Hamilton nailed it and took victory. The race was ended after two hours with only 76 laps completed. It was a fantastic victory for Lewis. Poor Kovalainen who just wanted an ordinary race, did not get what he wished for. He qualified fourth alongside his team mate but failed to start on the formation lap when he could not engage a gear. He was pushed to the pits from where he started, at the back of the grid. He finished eighth so managed to score a point but it was a difficult race for him.

A real division in the BMW team is emerging. Once again Kubica out qualified team mate Heidfeld. Kubica started in fifth and finished a brilliant second. He is one of the very few who finished the race without incident. Team mate Heidfeld qualified twelfth and finished fourteenth. He had a good start but was hit by Button on lap 2. He made his way up to fifth when Alonso pulled a ridiculous move on lap 4 and tried to overtake where it was not possible. Heidfeld ended up being t-boned by Alonso. This caused heavy damage to Heidfeld and a puncture so he was forced to pit. Immediately he was back out on the track but due to the damage to the side, was never able to make up positions.

Alonso drove like a maniac! It was one of those weekends that if he had pulled it off, he would have been classed as brilliant but unfortunately for those around him, he did nothing but cause damage. As the team are not racing for championship points, they could afford to take chances but I don’t think they should be allowed to do that at the cost of others. Alonso qualified seventh and somehow managed to finish tenth. On lap eight Alonso touched the barrier and punctured his right rear tyre. He got back to the pit and gambled by taking extreme wets. On lap 14 he tried to get inside of Heidfeld at Loews and that is when they had their coming together. On lap 15 Alonso returned to the pits for repairs. On lap 46 Alonso pitted from fifteenth place to take dry tyres which was a gamble as more rain was forecast. Although that rain did not come, the track was only dry in certain places. Fortunately as a brilliant driver, Alonso was able to do his best on these tyres in the conditions and kept out of trouble for the rest of the race. His team mate Piquet who is not so good, crashed into the barriers the minute he changed onto dry tyres. Having qualified seventeenth he failed to finish. Another disaster!

Rosberg once again showed what a brilliant driver he is, taking out of his car more than it is capable of giving. He had a fantastic qualifying lap, starting the race in sixth. On lap three Rosberg came back into the pits to repair his front wing after he touched the back of Alonso in the opening lap. He was keeping out of trouble until being caught up in the Alonso and Heidfeld incident. At Monaco when there is an incident, other drivers come across it very quickly and there is very little room to get past. Rosberg was forced to pit after clipping his nose when the traffic piled up behind Alonso and Heidfeld. He was making his way through the field until lap 62 when he got his line coming into the swimming pool wrong, hit the barrier to the right and then to the left sending debris across the track. This caused the safety car to come out. It is a shame because he was on for some well deserved points. Team mate Nakajima however did score points finishing in seventh, having started thirteenth. He had a problem in his pit stop which did delay him but this was probably the best he could have achieved in the conditions.

A disastrous weekend for DC. He got through to the final part of qualifying but then had a massive accident. When the car was rebuilt, they had to change the gear box and he took a five place grid penalty starting in fifteenth. He got caught out on the entry to Casino and corrected and corrected until he ran out of road and hit the barrier. He was sitting there collecting his thoughts when Bourdais did exactly the same thing as him and piled into the back of him. Webber on the other hand had a fantastic race qualifying nineth and finishing fourth. There was never really a chance for him getting on the podium so it was fantastic for him to come out top of the rest. He is starting to show up DC and prove what this car is capable of doing. The team have made massive steps forward during the course of the season and whilst I have never been a fan of Webber, he is beginning to win me round.

The Toyotas had an unremarkable race. We saw the Trulli Train reappear which we have not seen this season. He qualified eighth but finished thirteenth. He never had the pace and held up Barrichello, Nakajimi and Kovalainen who all wanted to get past him. Team mate Glock qualified tenth and finished twelfth having made a number of mistakes. On lap three he was back in the pits having lost his front wing. On lap four he was back in the pits having spun into the barrier. On lap 39 he slid and scattered the track with more debris at the entrance to Mirabeau and after that his race was nothing more than keeping going and coming home in once piece.

It was a dreadful race for Bourdais in his Toro Rosso. He parked it in the barrier on lap 8 ending his race. Vettel on the other hand had a brilliant race having qualified nineteenth. He kept out of trouble and finished fifth. These were his first points of the season and in the new car, he was extremely happy.

There was a big disparity in the performance between the two Honda drivers. Barricello qualified fourteenth and finished sixth earning his first points since 2006. He was stuck behind Trulli for a long time and there was nothing more he could do. He was out qualified by Button who started in eleventh, but on lap two he was back in the pits after running into the back of Heidfeld’s BMW coming out of the swimming pool complex. He broke his front wing and damaged the barge board which compromised his race.

What a race for the Force India team! Neither driver finished the race but they had shown so much promise. Fisichella starting his two hundredth race, started twentieth having had to take a penalty on the grid. However, he lost first, second and fourth gear and at that time his race was over. Sutil qualified eighteenth but was running fifth until he was taken out by Kimi just eight laps from the end. It was a tragedy for him.

So we leave Monaco with a new leader of the world championship. Lewis is now three points clear of Kimi. I still feel the Ferraris have the edge over the season as a whole, however, it is always good to have a close championship race.