Mark Webber became the 2nd driver to win two races in the 2012 season, as he stormed to the front in a late dash to secure the win from Fernando Alonso.
Mark Webber scuppered the hopes of Fernando Alonso taking his 3rd win of the season, when the Aussie performed a series of brilliant laps towards the end of the 52 lap race. While Fernando Alonso seemed to be gambling a bit on the tyre strategy, pitting 14 laps before the chequered flag and with the softer compounds previously only lasting just that for the Spaniard, Webber was able to conserve his hard compound tyres and by the time he caught up to Alonso, it was a matter of time before Webber overtook Alonso.
After the race Webber was very proud of the team, saying the win was incredible for all of the team.
“It’s a very special victory for the team, just down the road and for all the guys it’s been incredible for them. Also for Renault, again another victory here in the UK so I’m very proud today,” Webber said after the race.
“Fernando looked very good in the first two stints. I was a bit surprised how his last options didn’t work, Ferrari are generally pretty good on those type of compounds – he was very quick here last year as well so it looked like things were going to work out OK. But it just goes to show you never ever give up, you keep pushing. I thought that he was playing with me a little bit in that last stint because he knew that he had the range, he could just wait a little bit after his stop and go quite slow on the tyre then if I arrived on him pick the pace up. But he couldn’t react and that was good for me, I smelt a little bit of blood and then I could put the pressure on him and get the move done.”
Webber has had no less than five 4th place finishes this season, collecting important points in the overall standings. After Bahrain he moved up to 3rd place, then dropped to 5th after a brilliant surprise win from Pastor Maldonado in Spain, a race where Webber finished outside the points. But his win in Monaco and his 4th place from the European GP, combined with his win today, secures his place as second in the championship for now, 13 points behind Alonso.
