Renault's Robert Kubica pleased with third in Monaco

Gamble at start didn't pay-off - Kubica

Renault's Robert Kubica said he was "proud" of his third place in the Monaco Grand Prix despite losing a place at the start of the race.

Starting second, Kubica's attempts to pass pole-man Mark Webber backfired and he lost a place to Sebastian Vettel.

"Everybody is telling me I should be disappointed," the Pole said. "Of course, second is better than third and first is better than second.

"But it's a great achievement for the guys in the factory and on the track."

Kubica came into Sunday's race in Monte Carlo off the back a superb display in qualifying which saw him only narrowly beaten to pole by Red Bull driver Webber.

It was comfortably the Pole's best qualifying performance of the season; his previous best being sixth in Malaysia in early April.

With Monaco's tight street circuit affording limited opportunities for overtaking, Kubica sought to exploit a rare early opportunity to pass the Australian ahead of Sainte Devote.

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"Second place is quite difficult from the start," explained Kubica. "Normally I would be targeting to defend my position but when the red lights went off I saw Mark struggling with the first pull away so I took a big gamble.

"I thought it would be the chance to win the fight into corner one and get position one.

"I was quite early on (the) power but unfortunately I got a lot of wheel spin and then it was too late to close the door to Sebastian."

Kubica remained competitive throughout the race but he could not pass Vettel and was forced to settle for third.

Kubica's performance - his second runners-up spot of the season after a similar result in Australia - takes him to sixth place in the drivers' championship.

He is level on 59 points with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton but is classified ahead of the Englishman on results countback.

The championship is led by Webber on 78 points. Vettel has the same number of points but is classified second because he has only won one race to Webber's two.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso is third, three points adrift.