Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished third, but would rue a potential lost victory, as he had been passed by both McLarens at different moments when wrong-footed by others cars.

Red Bull had to settle for fourth and fifth – Sebastian Vettel nursing a car problem for much of the distance, and Mark Webber losing the lead when his strategy of leaving the super soft tyres until the final laps failed to pay off.

It was immediately clear that the softer tyres were going to be very fragile, for while Hamilton held the lead off the start, within a few laps Vettel – on the harder rubber – was all over the back of him. Alonso ran just behind them, with fourth-placed Button fending off an equally menacing Webber until the Red Bull dived past into Turn 8 on lap five, just before Button pitted.

Webber then swiftly caught the Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso train at the front, lining up a move on the Ferrari just as it came in for harder tyres on lap seven. Hamilton pitted from the lead at the same moment, falling behind Alonso in the stop and coming off second best as they charged down the exit road side by side.

That moved Red Bull into one-two formation, but it was clear that even the medium compound tyre was not faring too well, as Alonso, Hamilton and Button started catching the lead duo at up to one second per lap on their fresh rubber.

The Red Bulls came in on laps 12 and 13 and split their strategies – Vettel taking the super soft tyres for his next stint while Webber postponed that task and stuck with mediums.

Fellow medium runner Sebastien Buemi, who had advanced up the order as those ahead stopped, then found himself leading for Toro Rosso for a lap, with the battling Alonso and Hamilton on his tail.

On that lap, Alonso’s failed attempt to pass Buemi down the outside into the hairpin gave Hamilton a chance to draft the Ferrari on the next straight – moving the McLaren from third to first in the space of a few yards as Buemi immediately pitted.

Alonso stayed with Hamilton though, and as their next set of tyres started to wilt, he became ever more threatening. The Ferrari was just lining up a move for the lead on lap 26 when Hamilton decided to stop again, diving straight in to get another set of hard tyres. Alonso, Vettel and Button followed suit in quick succession, while Webber stayed out, assumed the lead and trying to keep his medium tyres intact as long as possible to shorten his stint on the fragile super softs.

At first the plan worked well, Webber pulling out a 10s lead over Hamilton, Alonso, Button and Vettel as they ran in fairly close company in second to fifth positions.

But by lap 39 Webber’s tyres were going off too, and heavy traffic made life even tougher for him. Before long Hamilton was right back on his tail, taking the lead on lap 49 and encouraging Webber to pit next time around to finally take on super softs, dropping him to fifth.

Vettel was unable to keep pace with the McLarens and Alonso, the team speaking over the radio of a ‘problem being managed’, so it became a three-way battle for the lead going into the closing stages as the track rubbered in at last and the tyres gained durability.

Button made it a McLaren one-two with 15 laps to go when Alonso was trapped behind Karun Chandhok’s Hispania and lost momentum. The champion set off after Hamilton and started to chip away at the leader’s advantage, though a new fastest lap by Hamilton nine laps from the end sent a clear message to his team-mate. The top three then spread out, with McLaren cruising to another one-two and Alonso at least getting back on the podium after two tough races.

Nico Rosberg recovered from being pushed back into the midfield during a messy first lap to take sixth for Mercedes, ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica, who had a wheel-banging battle with Michael Schumacher in the early stages that saw both take to the grass.

Schumacher’s tyre troubles were worse than most – the Mercedes pitting three times and still lapping 4s off the pace in the final stint. Buemi passed him for seventh, and he was then caught by Felipe Massa. The Brazilian and Tonio Liuzzi managed to tangle twice during the first two corners of the race, damaging both cars. After pitting for repairs, they charged back towards the points, only for Massa to lose his front wing when Schumacher sternly defended his position with six laps to go.

Liuzzi then took up the challenge of trying to overtake Schumacher, who slid over the final chicane and banged wheels with the Italian more than once as he fought mightily to at least hang on to ninth. He could not though, with a bruising last lap seeing the seven-time champion tumble to 11th behind both Liuzzi and his Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil.

Other drivers hitting trouble on the first lap were both Saubers and Vitaly Petrov. The Renault took to the grass on the run towards the first corner and ended up spinning into Pedro de la Rosa, damaging both cars, with Petrov also receiving a jump-start penalty. The second Sauber was soon heading for the pits too – Kamui Kobayashi sliding into the wall at the final chicane as he jousted with Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams.

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Mark Webber, who had led until Sebastian Vettel’s lap 41 passing move ended in disaster for Red Bull Racing, recovered to take third, while Jenson Button spectacularly attacked Hamilton for the lead but ultimately had to follow his team-mate home.

Red Bull had briefly moved into one-two formation at the start as both McLarens lost a place off the line – Hamilton falling to third behind Vettel and Button being eased out of fourth by a determined Michael Schumacher (Mercedes).

Neither stayed there long, with Hamilton getting back alongside Vettel on acceleration through Turn 2 and retaking second into the downhill complex at Turns 3 and 4. Button then drafted Schumacher down the back straight and went around the outside of the Mercedes into Turn 12.

The top four left the rest of the field trailing, while tied together in a tense quartet. Hamilton was soon on Webber’s rear wing, and kept pondering moves into Turn 12 without ever quite getting alongside.

It looked like the pitstops would be McLaren’s only chance, but when both Webber and Hamilton came in on lap 15, a very slightly slower wheel change at McLaren not only saw Webber exit first, but Vettel – who had pitted a lap earlier – get between them again. Hamilton immediately tried to re-pass him on the outside into Turn 12, only to run wide. Button ran two laps further to no avail, rejoining fourth again.

After that the Red Bulls and McLarens settled into close formation again, little more than two seconds covering all four.

The deadlock held until lap 41, when after edging ever closer to Webber, Vettel drafted alongside out of the Turn 11 kink and drew level down the inside approaching the final complex. The pair suddenly made high-speed contact, sending Vettel spinning wildly into retirement with rear end damage, and Webber slewing over the run-off area. The gap back to Schumacher was such that Webber was able to make a precautionary pitstop for a new front wing and tyres, and still rejoin in third.

The McLaren duo then began some close racing of their own. As light drizzle started, Button got a run on Hamilton towards Turn 12 with nine laps to go. With Hamilton defending the inside, Button went right around the outside – giving him the racing line and the lead at Turn 13.

But Button’s lead lasted only the length of the pits straight, with Hamilton diving back to the inside into the first corner and through a narrowing gap to take the lead. With McLaren frantically urging its drivers to conserve fuel thereafter as it kept an eye on some consumption issues, that was the end of the battle.

Schumacher held on to fourth, with his team-mate Nico Rosberg, Renault’s Robert Kubica, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso chasing the seven-time champion home.

A slightly early tyre stop and quick laps thereafter allowed Alonso to at least gain some ground following his disastrous qualifying. He then spent most of the race trying to get around Vitaly Petrov’s Renault, finally succeeding around the outside at Turn 3 in the closing laps – with a brush between giving Petrov a right front puncture. He rejoined to grab fastest lap at the end.

A late pass by Adrian Sutil (Force India) on Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) resolved a race-long battle for what eventually became ninth, and left Kobayashi to fend off his team-mate Pedro de la Rosa.

Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi and Williams’s Nico Hulkenberg were both delayed by first lap damage, while a poor start dropped Rubens Barrichello down among the new teams in the second Williams.

Lotus was comfortably clear of the other new squads until both Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen suffered hydraulic failures within moments of each other, allowing Virgin’s Timo Glock to take unofficial class honours.

Matt Beer – Autosport

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The Australian led home team-mate Sebastian Vettel in a Red Bull one-two that put the duo equal at the head of the standings, but with Webber’s back to back wins edging him ahead on countback. Front row starter Robert Kubica (Renault) had to settle for third.

Pre-race championship leader Jenson Button was an early retirement, but Fernando Alonso kept himself in contention by coming through from last to seventh.

The Red Bulls moved into formation off the line as Vettel immediately accelerated past front row starter Kubica into second. But any thoughts Vettel had of challenging his team-mate for the lead were shortlived, as Webber started churning out fastest laps and established a 10s lead by the time of their pitstops on laps 22 and 23.

Although the race was interrupted by no fewer than four safety car periods – the last of them covering the final three laps of the race – Webber was always able to rebuild his lead and pull away from Vettel, who was shadowed by Kubica all afternoon.

Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) had quiet runs to finish where they had qualified in fourth and fifth, but it was a dreadful day for Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button, who fell to 11th at the start and then retired in a cloud of smoke while running behind the safety car. The team had accidentally left a blanking plate across the car’s sidepod on the way to the grid, which Button suspected had caused overheating.

The early safety car was the lucky break Alonso needed after the practice crash that left him starting last. It was prompted when Williams’s Nico Hulkenberg – who had already dropped to the back with a clutch problem – slammed into the wall in the tunnel on the opening lap, and while everyone else formed up behind the safety car, Alonso took advantage of a ‘free’ pitstop and came in to switch to medium tyres for the rest of the race.

He then carved through the new team pack, despite determined resistance from Virgin’s Lucas di Grassi in particular, and stayed close enough to the rest of the field to vault to sixth when all those ahead pitted.

Alonso looked set to finish there until the final yards of the race, when he got sideways out of Rascasse as the safety car came in to allow a final sprint to the line, and accidentally let Michael Schumacher slip through.

Schumacher got in front of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg at the start, although the fast-starting Rubens Barrichello was able to slip his Williams ahead of both as they battled. Despite Rosberg staying out until lap 28 on soft tyres and setting several fastest laps, he was unable to get back ahead in the stops.

Stopping later worked for Adrian Sutil as he jumped past Force India team-mate Tonio Liuzzi to take ninth as the duo gave the team its first double points finish. Barrichello lost ground in the pits and was running 10th until a problem at the left rear of his car caused him to crash at Massenet on lap 31, prompting the second caution. The third followed 12 laps later while a suspected loose drain cover at the same location was swiftly checked.

All the new teams’ cars retired, the last of them when Lotus’s Jarno Trulli, who had been delayed by a slow pitstop, vaulted over Hispania’s Karun Chandhok at Rascasse near the finish. The crash, which happened right in front of leader Webber, prompted the final safety car.

Heikki Kovalainen had comfortably led the group of new cars until gearbox problems on his Lotus.

Both Saubers dropped out early too, in Kamui Kobayashi’s case while running fifth having stayed out on medium tyres and moved up as others pitted.

Matt Beer – Autosport

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The Australian was never troubled at the head of the field, while behind him Fernando Alonso capitalised on Vettel’s troubles and a late-race crash for Lewis Hamilton to take second.

Webber’s only challenge had come at the start, where he made up for his mistake in Malaysia and fiercely defended from Vettel on the run to the first corner.

After that he was able to gradually ease away from the field, while Vettel could not shake off the attentions of Hamilton.

The McLaren driver then got ahead of the German at the pit stops, where Vettel was delayed. Hamilton, who pitted a lap later, rejoined as the Red Bull arrived at Turn 1, but Vettel was forced off the track as he tried to retain his position around the outside.

Hamilton briefly set about getting after Webber, but a relentless set of laps from the race leader extended his lead to more than 16 seconds by lap 49, after which he started to back off.

Hamilton kept up the pursuit as Webber eased his pace, but the 2008 world champion crashed at Turn 3 as he suffered a broken rim on the penultimate lap.

That handed second to Alonso and moved Vettel back onto the podium, after the second Red Bull endured a torrid final third of the race.

Vettel had been unable to do anything about Hamilton ahead of him, and he hit trouble on lap 53 when he went through the gravel at Turn 7 and pitted with an apparent loose wheel.

When he rejoined he was then instructed to look after his brakes, with his team fearing that they were on the brink of failing as the race came to an end.

The German was able to coast to the finish because of the huge gap between the leaders and the rest of the field, which was led home by Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes.

While the seven-time world champion had enjoyed his most impressive weekend in comparison to team-mate Nico Rosberg, he was still a long way adrift of frontrunning pace.

However, he eventually came home fourth after jumping Jenson Button during the pitstops, and then frantically defending from the reigning world champion for several laps before the Briton dropped back slightly.

Their battle enabled Felipe Massa to close up, although the Brazilian’s charge nearly came to an early conclusion when he tagged the back of Karun Chandhok’s HRT car as the Indian was being lapped.

Adrian Sutil took an impressive seventh for Force India ahead of Robert Kubica – who was unable to make up for a poor first lap and had to settle for eighth behind him.

Rubens Barrichello made up most of his ground on at the start to eventually sneak into the points in ninth, while Jamie Alguersuari was promoted into the top 10 by Hamilton’s crash.

Outside of the points, it was a disappointing race for Rosberg and the two Sauber drivers in particular.

The Mercedes driver, who came into this race second in the championship, was forced onto the grass at the start and dropped back, and then suffered a problem at his pitstop which cost him even more time.

Both Saubers had incidents on the opening lap which dropped Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa out of contention straight away. While the Spaniard retired early on with a damaged car, his Japanese team-mate eventually recovered to 12th.

Glenn Freeman – Autosport

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