Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were both held up badly by a spun Minardi during Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix which left them a lowly seventh and eighth at the chequered flag, in an exciting race dominated by Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren-Mercedes. On an idyllic day on the Cote d’Azur, the McLaren driver beat Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber’s Williams-BMWs, as Renault suffered badly from tyre problems, leaving championship leader Fernando Alonso fourth.

With the Ferraris starting eighth ( Schumacher) and tenth (Barrichello), it would be a waiting game for the team. At the front, poleman Raikkonen led front row neighbour Alonso, while his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella leaped up to third, with Trulli coming into fourth as Webber dropped back from third to fifth. Heidfeld was next from Coulthard, then came Michael Schumacher followed by the Saubers.

During the opening stages, Raikkonen eased away in spite of a heavy fuel load, while a gap began to open up slightly between the Renaults, although a bigger one was appearing between Fisichella and Trulli. Trulli was slowly being caught by the Williams pair behind, but they were leaving Coulthard behind as he was being tailed by Michael Schumacher.

By lap 20, Raikkonen’s lead was 5.4s over Alonso, who had a gap of 3.6s back to Fisichella, but the gap back to Trulli was now 13s, the Italian being pushed by the two Williamses. But on lap 24, backmarker Christijan Albers spun his Minardi out of Mirabeau. First on the scene was Coulthard who missed the Minardi, but was clipped by the following Ferrari of Schumacher, necessitating a pit stop for both, Coulthard to retire, Michael for a new nose.

The safety car was deployed and Massa, the Renaults and Williamses all made pit stops for fuel on lap 25, although Raikkonen would later admit that he missed the opportunity. When the safety car went in at the end of lap 28, Raikkonen led from Trulli and soon pulled away. The Toyota was easing away from Alonso who was being closely challenged by Webber. Heidfeld was close behind with a gap to the Sauber pairing, then Fisichella ahead of Barrichello and Montoya.

At around half distance, Villeneuve pitted and so did Trulli, dropping to eleventh. Raikkonen had a 32s lead over Alonso now being pushed hard by the Williams pair. Raikkonen pitted on lap 42, but still emerged with a 13s lead over the on-going battle with Alonso, Webber and Heidfeld. Massa pitted on lap 50, leaving Fisichella in fifth, but like his teammate, he was in increasing trouble with tyre wear and was soon caught by Trulli. Massa, Montoya, Villeneuve, Ralf and Michael Schumacher were close behind, but Barrichello had dropped to 13th after stalling at his pit stop and then suffering a pit lane drive-through penalty for speeding. The Williams pair made a second stop on laps 57 and 58, with Heidfeld coming in first and emerging ahead of the delayed Webber. Behind, though, came a massive queue, bunched up behind Fisichella: Trulli, Massa, Montoya, Ralf Schumacher and Barrichello – being caught by Michael Schumacher.

This all came to end on lap 64 when Fisichella was eased off-line at the hairpin and Montoya and Ralf nipped though as did the Ferraris, leaving Trulli and Fisichella at the back of the queue, with Trulli having to pit. At the same time, a great battle was evolving behind Alonso for the last 14 laps, the pace being so slow that Montoya, Ralf Schumacher and the Ferraris were closing as well.
 

On lap 71, Heidfeld managed to overtake Alonso at the chicane, and on lap 74, Webber got through too. Alonso slipped back into Montoya’s clutches, but sealed fourth place, while behind Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher deposed his team mate on the very last lap. It was that kind of a race.

Jean Todt: “This weekend ended much as we expected. Although we had a car-tyre package that was very quick in the race, the characteristics of this circuit meant that neither of our drivers was able to overtake slower cars which would have allowed them to exploit the potential of the car. On the track, Michael’s race was conditioned by what happened during the incident behind the Minardi. He could not avoid colliding with Coulthard, which broke the front wing. Michael therefore had to pit earlier than expected. Rubens also had some troubles. As he was about to leave the pits after his stop, his engine stalled and, as he rejoined the track he broke the pit lane speed limit and had to return for a penalty. The outcome of the race shows once again we have to work very hard on improving the performance of our package in qualifying. Our rivals have built the basis of their success on the one flying lap which leaves us to fight an uphill battle in the race.”

Michael Schumacher: “Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong at the beginning. I got stuck behind the Minardi that blocked the track and then I had to pit to change the nose on the car. It is clear when you look at the times that we had a very competitive race pace. It is a shame that we were not able to get the most out of it. But, given everything that happened, I have to be reasonably happy with my two points. As for my move on Rubens, we are all here to race and I did not think there was much risk involved in the move.”

Rubens Barrichello: “All sorts of thing happened in this race. My car stalled in the pits unfortunately, which cost me a lot of time, but I had a really good car. The tyres were excellent throughout and meant I had a good pace, but here there is so little space to overtake, I could not make the most of the tyres. I lost a position to Michael right at the end, as I was trying to overtake Ralf. Michael took a gamble for the extra point. The most important thing we can take away from here is that the car was very good in the race.”

Ross Brawn: “It was a bit of a frustrating afternoon, because you could see in the middle of the race that our car had huge potential. Michael set the fastest lap when he still had a lot of fuel in the car. But this was typical of the type of race you can expect to have at this circuit if you do not qualify well. Basically, we had to follow other cars and were not able to use our pace. The tyres were perfect for the race, but we were not able to qualify well and here we paid very heavily for that. Things might have been different if Michael had not got caught up in the mess behind the Minardi, while Rubens stalled in the pits which cost him a lot of time. So, a lot of potential, but we could not use it.”

Michael Schumacher: 7th + 37.223 78 laps chassis 245; Rubens Barrichello: 8th +37.570 78 laps chassis 246; Temperatures: air 23°C, track 36°C