The funny thing about speed is that it's relative, at least in a cognitive sense. Sure, you can measure the pace at which a moving object travels over ground, water, air, or even space. But place a Formula One race car on a wide-open track-say, Turkey's Istanbul Park, for example-and it doesn't look or feel like it's going nearly as fast as the same car does along the tight, winding streets of Monte Carlo. That's what makes the Monaco Grand Prix so exciting. This year's especially, packed as it was with nail-biting action. Follow the jump to read how it went down.
After the practice sessions were done, Saturday's qualifying rounds held their own share of action. After qualifying an impressive tenth place on the grid, rookie Sergio Perez crashed his Sauber-Ferrari during the third and final session. After careening sideways into a safety barrier at the end of the high-speed straight, he came away with a concussion and bruised leg – thankfully nothing more serious. Doctors kept him in the hospital for observation, leaving his slot on the starting grid vacant and bumping every driver below him up a spot.
Lewis Hamilton was penalized down to tenth position for illegally cutting a chicane, then bumped back up to ninth after the Perez shunt. Pole position, as usual, went to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who lined up in front of teammate Mark Webber in third. Between them, McLaren's Jenson Button started in second. Fourth place went to Fernando Alonso (who had showed considerable pace in the practice sessions), then Mercedes GP's Michael Schumacher in fifth, Ferrari's Felipe Massa (sixth), Mercedes' Nico Rosberg (seventh), Williams' Pastor Maldonado (eighth), the aforementioned Hamilton (ninth) and Renault's Vitaly Petrov (tenth).
The remaining slots were filled by Barrichello (Williams), Kobayashi (Sauber), di Resta and Sutil (Force India), Heidfeld (Renault), Buemi (STR), Kovalainen and Trulli (Lotus), Alguersuari (STR), Glock and d'Ambrosio (Virgin), Karthikeyan and Liuzzi (HRT).
With the formation lap successfully completed without incident, Vettel made a strong start off the line to fortify his lead. Button followed in hot pursuit, while Alonso squeezed past Webber for third. Rosberg jumped up a couple of positions while Schumacher dropped, subsequently re-taking Hamilton in the famously tight hairpin. It would take another ten laps for the young Brit to pass Schumacher.
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