More woe for Raikkonen

Raikkonen was told to retire to the garage on lap 28 because of a problem with the engine's pneumatic system. He had been running fifth at the time, and was otherwise on course for a podium finish behind Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button.

"The engineers could see that there was a problem with the engine's pneumatic system and the team told me to come in and retire," Raikkonen reported. "I think we could have done well here today. Obviously I'm disappointed, as we have had a good and reasonably competitive weekend until today."

Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug explained: "The telemetry indicated a failure in the pneumatic system - the reason for which we still have to investigate. A bad result for a Monaco weekend that had begun better than the five races before and showed some progress in our competitiveness."

Raikkonen's team-mate, David Coulthard, was forced out after three laps when he was involved in a heavy crash with Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella.