There couldn't be two bigger contrasts in the respective race weekends of Mark Webber and Karun Chandhok. Yet both claimed it was among the best of their careers.
As in Barcelona, Mark Webber's drive to victory began with his qualifying lap on Saturday. It was sublime, prompting teammate Vettel to comment that there was nothing wrong with his own qualifying lap, except that Mark was faster!
Come the race, a flawless start ensured Webber kept his pole position advantage. Meanwhile Vettel bundled the gutsy Robert Kubica back to third on the run into Saint Devote corner and that - as far as any change in the top three order -was that.
Or was it? Although Webber had a race pace superiority equivalent to his qualifying, there was always the expectation that safety cars would play a part. We didn't have to wait long, Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg was pitched into the barriers in the Monaco tunnel on the opening lap after a front wing support failure.
Williams will be worried that mechanical failures caused crashes for both their drivers. Just before half distance Rubens Barrichello played a terrifying game of pinball with the barriers when a suspension component failed on his car.
Thankfully the strength of modern Formula One cars ensured that neither driver was hurt. But on both occasions, plus another when a loose manhole cover brought out the safety car, Mark Webber's hard-earned advantage was lost as the rest of the field was allowed to close up behind him.
Webber though was undaunted. Each time he was released from behind the safety car he extended his advantage once again. It was an exhibition of peerless pace that was truly spectacular.
In fact Webber's biggest scare of the day almost came just three laps from the chequered flag, when tail-enders Karun Chandhok and Jarno Trulli clashed just as he was coming up to lap them.
"I saw Jarno doing a lunge down at Rascasse and thought *what the heck is going on here?'. They interlocked wheels and I hoped I would have some room to go" said Webber. "I worried if Karun was okay because it all looked like it was around his head."
For Chandhok ironically, the clash with Trulli's Lotus marked an end to his best race of the season so far. Disappointment after qualifying was changed to a mood of optimism when a faulty differential was diagnosed and the Hispania Racing car proved capable of battling with its fellow "newbie" team rivals.
"Jarno hit me out of nowhere but he has apologized for the incident" said Karun. "I had a good start and managed to jump both Di Grassi and Trulli during the pitstop. After that I was catching Senna until he retired, "We were looking good to finish in thirteenth position, the best of the new teams. It has been my strongest race of the season".
Meanwhile there was still one final twist. As the safety car pulled into the pitlane, Michael Schumacher sprung a surprise overtaking move on Fernando Alonso to snatch sixth place. Or had he? The rulebook is surprisingly nebulous.
Ferrari believes that as the safety car had been on the road during the last lap, overtaking was banned until the chequered flag. Mercedes point out that as the safety car was back in the pitlane and green flags were being shown on the run to the line, Schumacher's move was legitimate.
Three hours after the race, the FIA stewards including Schumacher's former arch-rival Damon Hill, found that Schumi's move was against the rules and gave the German a 20 second penalty, dropping him out of the points. Mercedes promptly appealed against the ruling and the results now remain provisional until a meeting of the FIA Court of Appeal.
Webber though was already in party mood, celebrating by leaping from the Red Bull hospitality area into Monaco harbour. "A special day" said Webber. "Up with the best. Now to find something to wear at the Monaco ball!"
Catch F1 race commentator Steve Slater on STAR Sports' coverage of the Formula One
