Monaco Grand Prix Review

Button has the confidence of a winner at the moment which allows him to scale greater heights each weekend. He was having trouble with set-up in Q2, but when it mattered in Q3, he pulled out another mesmerising lap for pole. It comes down to Jenson telling himself that he's done it before, and he can do it again. Then, in the race, he made the super-softs work for him much better than Sebastian Vettel and Rubens Barrichello, pulled out a 15 second lead over his team-mate in the first stint, and it was game over.

Jenson's dominance has led some on the F1 Rejects forum to discuss whether Button is a genuinely great driver whose ability as been hidden by mediocre cars, or if he happens to be an average driver who just happens to be in the right car at the right time. The answer probably lies somewhere in between. Jenson has always been regarded as a talented pilot, but the truly great shine through in poor machinery. Two 'Reject of the Year' awards in 2001 and 2008 show that he hasn't always done that.

However, his stranglehold over this year's championship is not just attributable to having the best car. He himself has undoubtedly stepped up with fast, faultless driving. Just as Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill were very good drivers but not amongst the all-time greats, but no one begrudges them their titles in 1992 and 1996 when they had the best car in the field but they also stepped up in their own performance level. Both of them fully deserved their titles, just as Button will if he goes on to clinch this year's prize.

Brawn's closest challengers were Ferrari, continuing the upward trend that had begun in Spain. This was all the more encouraging because they proved that they were on the pace on an aero-dependent circuit like Catalunya, but now also on a mechanical grip-dependent circuit like Monaco. Given that Red Bull were noticeably slightly off here, one might even say that Ferrari have the second-best all-round package, even if Red Bull will have the edge again once the circus returns to more aero-dependent tracks.

Had Raikkonen got a better start and utilised his KERS, he could have led and the race could have been different. But he didn't, so it wasn't. Nevertheless this was a welcome return to form for The Iceman. Felipe Massa's impatience served him poorly in the early stages behind Vettel. He kept ducking outside going into the chicane when he could have tried diving inside and hanging the Red Bull out to dry. It lost him a spot to Nico Rosberg which he regained in the pits, and from there he kept it going for a credible 4th.

Red Bull brought a double-deck diffuser to Monaco but this was not the place where its effect could be felt. Even though they had ultimate one-lap pace, generally they had some difficulties getting enough heat into their tyres. Vettel had his least impressive weekend of the year to date. Way shorter on fuel than his rivals in Q3, he got caught behind Kazuki Nakajima on his final lap. With only ten cars on the track, you wonder if Red Bull could have avoided that. But without pole, Sebastian's strategy was shot.

His chances were further destroyed when he became the first to have his super-softs go off to the tune of some three seconds a lap, and that was before he chucked his RB5 into the infamous Ste Devote outside wall whilst trying to make up for lost time. Even before then, any prospects of decent points had already evaporated. For another weekend of unfulfilled potential culminating in too many mishaps, we award the young German the 'Reject of the Race' award this time around.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Sebastian Vettel
Missed pole, destroyed tyres, then crashed!

Before the weekend, Sir Frank Williams had admitted that his team had been showboating a bit too much in free practice, but that did not stop Rosberg from yet again topping one of the Friday sessions. But the FW31s were genuinely showing better form here, with Nakajima also making it into Q3 for the first time this season. After losing out at the first stops, Rosberg ran a slowish second stint and completely lost contact with Webber, but was able to hang on for 6th.

Nakajima ran a heavy late-two-stop fuel load in Q3, but it was a no-man's-land strategy. It meant that he was never going to qualify higher than 10th, but it was also not a one-stop strategy, which meant he was always going to be at the mercy of those who were only stopping once, and so it proved. Kazuki's season thus far was then epitomised as he crashed at the Mirabeau on the last lap. He has to start threatening the points soon if he is to have any chance of securing an F1 future beyond this season.

The other team that should have been right up there this weekend was McLaren. Both Lewis Hamilton and Kovalainen were competitive in free practice which proved that whilst the car's mechanical grip is fine, its aero package must be fundamentally flawed. Hamilton believed this to be his best chance of the year to give the podium and even the win a shake, until he pushed too hard in Q1, crashed at Mirabeau instead of going down the escape road, and started from the back of the grid after a gearbox change.

Renault are, comparatively speaking, neither improving nor slowing down. They are turning into this year's version of Toyota - this season's anonymous midfielders. Fernando Alonso had the speed to get into Q3, but by being at the tail end of the points he found himself having to battle the one-stoppers but finished comfortably enough in 7th. Nelson Piquet Jr, despite having a wild and woolly Q2, surprisingly avoided the barriers but was taken out in the race by Sebastien Buemi instead.

Piquet's criticism of the Swiss driver afterwards was laughable, in effect accusing Buemi of being an inexperienced kid. This, of course, coming from Piquet the old hand veteran. Therein lies Piquet's attitude problem and complete lack of humility which is why he can't shake off the arrogant tag and why he isn't improving as an F1 driver. How many points has Buemi scored compared to him? How many times has Buemi out-qualified him this year? Put it down as another rookie error, but on balance Buemi continued to impress.

However, from the Toro Rosso point of view, it was Sebastien Bourdais who quietly came home with the last point in 8th. His race was made by a one-stop strategy which meant that he didn't pit until lap 50, and a good start which put him ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella who was on the same strategy. Bourdais' performance was not entirely surprising given his familiarity with street racing in the States, but he needs to use this boost to start regularly matching and beating Buemi.

Like last year, it was a case of so near and yet so far for Force India, but in different and less heartbreaking circumstances. The VJM02s were going well here - or was it just that BMW and Toyota were struggling so much? For the first time ever both cars got into Q2, and it was also the first time that Adrian Sutil had progressed past Q1, having held the record for the longest Q1 elimination streak. But being on a two-stop strategy, and losing positions in his first stint, meant he was always going to fall back to the back.

The tribulations of BMW continued, with a double Q1 exit as they struggled to generate enough heat in their tyres. Nick Heidfeld was fairly anonymous in a one-stop drive to 11th, but Robert Kubica remains pointless. The Pole is losing his lustre fast, having been out-qualified by Heidfeld and with regular reliability issues, having already used four (and blown two) engines and retiring with brake problems in the race. For the sake of his career he simply can't afford to sleepwalk through the rest of the season.

But the big shock in Monaco was the form of Toyota, which locked out the front row in Bahrain but were the two slowest cars in Q1. They are traditionally weak at Monaco but this was appalling - and it showed their reliance on aero grip as opposed to mechanical grip. It was a huge letdown for Jarno Trulli, the 2004 pole-sitter and race winner, and renowned qualifying specialist. His de-motivation showed in the race, where a two-stop strategy also left him languishing in 14th by race end.

Timo Glock, on the other hand, was humiliated by being 20th in Q1, and starting from the pit lane he drove with purpose on a good one-stop strategy to finish 10th. Interestingly, both Toyotas recorded faster race lap times than they did in Q1. They need to bounce back quickly in Istanbul, although that elusive first win looks as far away as ever, especially with the Brawns so supreme, Red Bull still up the front, and with Ferrari now starting to show ominous form as well.