27 May 2013

Rosberg emulates father with Monaco win

5:49 am on 27 May 2013

Formula One's showcase event, the Monaco Grand Prix, has been won by Nico Rosberg, 30 years after his world champion father Keke's triumph on the streets of the principality.

The pole-to-flag win, after two safety car deployments and a 25-minute stoppage caused by Pastor Maldonado crashing his Williams, was only the second of the German's career.

Red Bull's triple world champion Sebastian Vettel made it a German one-two to extend his championship lead to 21 points over Finland's Kimi Raikkonen - who finished 10th - after six of the 19 races.

Rosberg says it's really special to have won the most glamorous race on the calendar where he's lived virtually all his life.

Australia's Mark Webber was third ahead of England's Lewis Hamilton in the other Mercedes, followed by Force India's German driver Adrian Sutil and another Englishman, Jenson Button, for McLaren.

Vettel has 107 points, Raikkonen 86 and Alonso 78.

The day had started with controversy, with Red Bull making an official protest after discovering that Mercedes had taken part in a secret tyre test with Pirelli in Spain last week, and uncertainty after the German team had failed to convert their previous poles into wins.