Di Resta storms to ninthposted in F126 | 05 | 2013

BATHGATE'S PAUL DI RESTA stormed through the field from 17th on the grid, after a disastrous qualifying session, to finish ninth in the Monaco Grand Prix.

The 27-year-old Scot (pictured) defied the tight street circuit's reputation as a track where it's near impossible to pass, by blasting past a number of rivals.

"People say it's almost impossible to overtake here, but I actually found myself able to overtake cars quite regularly," Di Resta said today.

"I swept passed the Ferrari and Sauber of Felipe Massa and Esteban Gutierrez on the start-finish straight in basically identical manoeuvres.

"Towards the end of the race, I made a couple of strong moves on Jean-Eric Vergne trying to get eighth place, but he defended well in his Toro Rosso.

"In the end, to finish ninth is a major boost after the problems we suffered on Saturday."

Those problems focused round his Sahara Force India engineers making the wrong call on tyres.

The Scot, who had been in the top 10 throughout free practice and comfortably in the top three during the opening period of qualifying, saw his hopes wrecked by the team's ill-judged call.

"Over the closing few minutes of the session, all the other teams and crews fitted new sets of intermediate tyres to their drivers' cars," Di Resta explained.

"That, of course, gave them more grip and allowed them to go faster. My crew believed we had enough pace left on the old tyres which were still on my car. It was the wrong decision.

"I struggled for grip at the rear all the way through my final lap, and when I crossed the finish line the team had to tell me we'd only managed 17th. I was gutted.

"But we recovered well during the race, and opted to go aggressive on our tyre strategy.

"This time it worked. We made our only stop on lap 10, which meant I had to do the final 68 laps on one set of tyres.

"But even at the end of the race we had pace and performance. We head to Canada for the next race, but before that we'll analyse what went wrong on Saturday and make sure it doesn't happen again.

"After the disappointment of yesterday, the boys did a great job and it’s good to continue my run of finishes in the points.”

The race was won by Nico Rosberg who led from start-to-finish in his Mercedes. His win came 30 years after his dad, former world champ Keke Rosberg, won at Monaco.

Red Bull duo, world championship leader Sebastian Vettel, and team-mate Mark Webber, finished second and third respectively. Rosberg's team-mate Lewis Hamilton was fourth.

The race was punctuated by a two safety car periods, and was stopped for 15 minutes while repairs were made to the protective barriers following a crash involving the Marussia of Max Chilton, and Pastor Maldonado's Williams.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa was also taken to hospital after a heavy crash at Sainte Devote. The Brazilian was allowed home nursing a stiff neck.

F1 Monaco Grand Prix — Result (Provisional):

1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 2h17m52.056s;

2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +3.888s;

3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +6.314s;

4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +13.894s;

5. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +21.477s;

6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +23.103s;

7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +26.734s;

8. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +27.223s;

9. Paul Di Resta Force India-Mercedes +27.608s;

10. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault +36.582s;

11. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari +42.572s;

12. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault +42.691s;

13. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari +43.212s;

14. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth +49.885s;

15. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault +1m02.590s.

Retirements:

Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 72 laps

Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 63 laps

Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 61 laps

Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 58 laps

Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 44 laps

Felipe Massa Ferrari 28 laps

Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 7 laps

World Championship standings (After Rnd 6 of 19):

Drivers:

1. Vettel 107

2. Raikkonen 86

3. Alonso 78

4. Hamilton 62

5. Webber 57

6. Rosberg 47

7. Massa 45

8. Di Resta 28

9. Grosjean 26

10. Button 25

11. Sutil 16

12. Perez 12

13. Ricciardo 7

14. Hulkenberg 5

15. Vergne 5

Constructors:

1. Red Bull-Renault 164

2. Ferrari 123

3. Lotus-Renault 112

4. Mercedes 109

5. Force India-Mercedes 44

6. McLaren-Mercedes 37

7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12

8. Sauber-Ferrari 5

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Jim McGill