Coulthard takes victor’s spoils at Monaco

This was always going to be Michael Schumacher's race. After a thoroughly convincing show in qualifying, the German looked supremely confident going into today's race. He carried this confidence into the race and after two restarts, the grid finally got away without incident, third time lucky.

The first restart was caused by Wurz who stalled on the grid after the first formation lap. The second start looked to have been successful as the cars filed up the hill to Casino Square. This was all to change as Button lunged up the inside of De La Rosa at the Grand Hairpin causing the Arrows to slide across the bow of the Williams, completely blocking the track and bringing out the red flags.

Schumacher was suitably unphased at having to start the race three times and immediately began mounting a sizeable lead with some rapidity. Gaining almost a second a lap, the Ferrari driver headed off into the distance running a race off his own.

In his wake a battle mounted for second place between Trulli, who was running second and Coulthard, Frentzen and Hakkinen completing the top five. It was unfortunately less of a battle and more of a procession as the Jordans held up the clearly much quicker McLaren duo. While Coulthard struggled with the view of Trulli's rear wing, Schumacher's lead began to reach unassailable proportions.

What had been a relatively successful weekend for Monaco new-boy Jenson Button, turned into an early bath after retiring on lap 16 with suspected throttle failure. The luck of the Williams team was not to improve after Ralf Schumacher went straight on at Ste Devote and into the barrier, a move that was to become increasingly popular during the course of the afternoon. Diniz, Frentzen and Zonta also fell foul to the clear lack of grip at the end of the pit straight. Unfortunately Ralf came off worst, cutting his leg as the suspension arm came through the monocoque. He was fortunate to escape with no broken bones, unlike brother Michael at Silverstone last year.

As Schumacher consistently posted fastest lap times, a sudden spate of retirements considerably reduced the field as the race of attrition one expects from Monaco began to take shape. The two Minardis exited the race on consecutive laps with Gene succumbing to reliability and Mazzacane following the trend of hitting the Ste Devote barrier.

Alesi's strong sixth place was lost on lap 30 as he was forced to retire due to a mechanical failure. The same fate awaited the unfortunate Jarno Trulli who looked comfortable in second despite hampering David Coulthard. The extent to which the Scot was being held up became plain to see once Trulli slowed and returned to the pits. Coulthard immediately began closing on Schumacher but the gap was to be too big despite Coulthard's blistering pace.

The pair exchanged fastest laps until Schumacher pitted on lap 48. Upon returning to the track the gap between himself and Coulthard was a mere 6.7 seconds, however the prospects for a change of leader remained slim as the McLaren had yet to pit.

Double World Champion Mika Hakkinen meanwhile, was completely removed from contention by an unknown problem forcing the Finn to first slow, then enter the pits. After removing the bulkhead cover of his McLaren and tending to the brake master cylinder, the team sent him out again. He promptly set a fastest lap but had unfortunately been in the pits too long and his chances of a place on the podium were all but gone.

A potential Schumacher white-wash then took a distinct turn for the worse as the left lower rear suspension on the Ferrari failed at the beginning of the start/finish straight. Schumacher then had to limp his Ferrari round an entire lap as he had just missed the pit entrance. An attempt was made to fix the suspension but the frantic efforts of the Ferrari mechanics were all in vain as Technical Director Ross Brawn called time and Schumacher's race was over.

Frentzen was looking a safe bet for second place, leading Rubens Barrichello by almost three seconds. With only eight laps to go a potentially successful afternoon for Jordan ended with their second retirement as Frentzen too hit the barrier at Ste Devote, breaking his rear suspension. This moved Barrichello into second, Fisichella into third and Eddie Irvine into fourth place for Jaguar's first points. Mika Salo managed to stave off attempts from countryman Hakkinen to take fifth leaving the World Champion in sixth place for one point.

Coulthard's nerve and luck held firm, allowing him to take the chequered flag, but as he so rightly pointed out, he had his fair share of bad luck last year and such is the nature of racing. He said: "I've benefited today from problems with Michael and Jarno. I thought there was an opportunity to get past Jarno, it was just a question of how far ahead Michael had got. There is an element of luck but then it's up to the driver to not hit the barrier and the team to build a car that can last a race distance, and that's what we did. It's an excellent day for me and the whole team."

Having completed the fourth of his personal milestones, namely winning the British, Belgian, Italian and now Monaco Grands Prix, Coulthard will head to Canada in a strong position: not so strong however that he won't need luck on his side if he is to continue to take the fight to Schumacher.

For full race results, click here