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Mark Webber produced a superb display to claim victory for Red Bull in an incident-packed Monaco Grand Prix.For the second consecutive race, Webber won from pole, keeping his cool through four safety car periods to win ahead of team-mate Sebastien Vettel.
Renault's Robert Kubica took third, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa fourth, ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.
Fernando Alonso made huge strides from the back of the grid but was pipped to sixth by Michael Schumacher.
However, race stewards immediately indicated that they will review the Mercedes driver's overtaking move which happened when they accelerated towards the last corner as the safety car pulled into the pits.
Article 40.13 of the sporting regulations states: "If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking."
Alonso had driven a superb race to edge himself into the top 10 after a crash in final practice on Saturday meant he missed qualifying and thus began from last on the grid. Schumacher's team-mate Nico Rosberg was eighth, falling two places from his grid position.
Another German, Adrian Sutil took ninth, 0.3 seconds ahead of team-mate Vitantonio Luizzi.
The only other drivers to finish were Toro Rosso pair Sebastien Buemi, who took 11th, and Jaime Alguesuari in 12th.
Jenson Button - last year's Monaco winner - had his race ended early as lap three after he was forced to stop at Sainte Devote with smoke billowing from his car.
Webber's victory, his second in succession following last weekend's win from pole in Spain, sees him surpass previous championship leader Button in the standings to take a lead in the standings.
The Australian is now on 78 points, where he is joined by Vettel -but has won two grands prix to his team-mate's one - with Alonso on 73 points (pending the aforementioned steward's enquiry) and Button fourth, having added nothing to his pre-race total of 70.
"It is absolutely incredible," said Webber. "It's the greatest day of my life today, to win here is very, very special.
"This place is such a test. I knew what I had a lot to do and I'm absolutely elated to join the winners around here. It's the blue riband event."
Webber made a clean start and held his lead into Sainte Devote but the race momentum was soon halted by Williams' Nico Hulkenburg crashing into the barriers in the tunnel, ending the German's race and prompting the safety car until lap six.
This was the first of four times that the safety car was required - Rubens Barrichello crashing out in lap 31, a suspected loose drain cover on lap 44 and a collision between Jarno Trulli's Lotus and Karun Chanhok's Hispania in lap 74 which eliminated both at La Rascasse being the others - but each time Webber picked up where he had left off.
Vettel seized second place from Kubica before the first corner and, from then on, was always in the box seat to finish in the position.
"I wasn't able to keep up with Mark, there was a big difference," said Vettel. "By the time I got my grip sorted he was too far in front. "It's very difficult to overtake here in the end so I decided there was no point chasing and I spent a lot of time looking in my mirrors."
Kubica was only just pipped to pole by Webber after the Polish driver had put in a superb display in qualifying but despite his best efforts was unable to pass Vettel decisively.
"Normally I would defend the position but I saw Mark pulled away quite slow," explained Kubica.
"However, I went on the power too early, the wheel span and it was too late to close the door to Sebastian.
"We have to be positive. Nobody expected us to finish on the podium. We have been challenging all weekend and the teams should be really happy." Massa has endured a difficult season so far, playing second fiddle to Alonso, but the Brazilian demonstrated here why he remains a class act to keep himself ahead of 2008 Monaco winner Hamilton.
The McLaren driver came into the pits early on lap 17 to ensure that he remained ahead of Alonso as he continued to make moves through the field and it was a shrewd decision as he held onto fifth relatively comfortably.
"I got quite a good start and I was challenging for third at turn one," said Hamilton. "But it was impossible as those guys are quite aggressive and it is virtually impossible to overtake here especially when the guys are as quick as you.
"So I decided to concentrate on getting the car home and getting the points in the bag, it's a bit of a shame that I am 18 points behind as that's how many I lost last week."
Webber's display though outshone all as he claimed his fourth career victory.
And he is now the second Australian after Jack Brabham to win at the iconic Monaco circuit.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.