Schumacher: David deserved it

"I think our car was fast enough to have stayed in front if we had got there, but David had built a good lead over Montoya," said Schumacher. "If there had not been some traffic after the pitstop, it might have been closer, but McLaren did a good job and deserve the win.

"I kept pushing right to the end because in Monaco you never know what can happen, but David drove well and never gave me a chance. It was typical Monaco in that even if you know you are faster you just have to be patient. Actually it was quite entertaining watching Juan Pablo. The car was good today and the backmarkers did a good job of keeping out of the way."

Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello had a torrid race, losing ground and the start and dropping out of the points after hitting Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren. When Barrichello pitted for a new nose his task was made even harder after he was caught speeding in the pitlane and handed a drive-through penalty.

In the closing stages he set the quickest lap of the race as he homed in on Heinz-Harald Frentzen for sixth place, but there was no enough time for him to make a move on the Arrows and he finished the race empty-handed in seventh.

"When you have a car which you know is capable of winning and you are stuck behind slower cars it is frustrating," he said. "At one point, I spotted an opportunity to pass Raikkonen. I went from the outside to the inside and as he braked, he closed the door on me. There was nothing I could do and I ran into him."