Bruno Senna has written his name into the history books by claiming victory in race one today in Monaco,  holding  on  despite  race  long  pressure  from  Pastor  Maldonado  to  take  the  win,  with teammate Karun Chandhok joining the pair on the podium after Mike Conway was tapped into a spin on the final lap.

The  victory  was  set  up  at  the  start  when  the  Venezuelan  made  a  slow  start  while  his  rival  got away perfectly, slotting in front into Ste Devote for a lead that he would hold for the remainder of the race bar one lap for pitstops, while Maldonado forcefully closed the door on Conway as they headed  up  the  hill  ahead  of  Adrian  Valles,  Karun  Chandhok,  Romain  Grosjean  and  Giorgio Pantano. With no one in front of him Senna reeled off a string of fastest laps, and Maldonado was the only man able to deal with his pace as the pair left the rest of the field standing, who had to resort to a variety of different pit strategies and hope for the best. But when the lead pair came in a lap apart, with Senna first on lap 20, any chance of a miracle seemed to have evaporated. But  then  the  mayhem  came. 

Buemi  stuck  his  nose  inside  Pantano  at  Mirabeau,  a  position  into which  it  had  no  right  to  be:  the  pair  collided  and  Pantano  was  spun  around  and  stopped,  with Buemi  retiring  almost  immediately  after  losing  his  rear  wing,  while  Grosjean  and  Ho-Pin  Tung also came together, with the Frenchman breaking his suspension for his troubles.

The resultant traffic  jam  blocked  the  circuit:  Senna  and  Maldonado  were  somehow  able  to  thread  the  needle when they came back around, while everyone else had to try and find their own way through the mess. It  brought  the  battle  for  the  lead  to  a  fever  pitch,  with  the  pair  swapping  fastest  laps  as  they pushed each other to the limit and beyond while the pitlane held its collective breath and waited. And  at  the  end  it  was  Senna  who  came  out  on  top,  taking  the  win  by  just  0.6  seconds  from Maldonado along with the fastest lap of the race, while Conway lost a well deserved third on the last lap when he was tapped into a spin at the chicane by Javier Villa, who was a lap down after the earlier melee.

The spin handed a podium finish to Chandhok, who survived his own fierce battle with Valles to take  the  spot,  ahead  of  Alvaro  Parente,  Roldan  Rodriguez,  Ho-Pin  Tung  and  Conway,  who claimed  the  final  points  position  and  tomorrow's  pole  as  everyone  else  had  lost  a  lap  in  the confusion  at  Mirabeau.  But  back  in  the  pitlane  all  eyes  were  on  Senna,  whose  chest  filled  with pride as the Brazilian national anthem was played before he was allowed to drench his team in champagne.