The Complete 2007 Monaco GP Review

"We were cruising from lap 10, really; it was an effortless race," Ron Dennis declared after watching Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton secure McLaren's 150th Grand Prix win with a breathtaking display of dominance around the streets of Monte Carlo.

"I won't tell you what the true pace was, but it was a lot quicker than we went," he added.

It was precisely the performance McLaren-Mercedes needed at a time when it was starting to look like their Malaysian one-two had been an anomalous blip in a Ferrari-dominated season.

For although the championship battles remained close, Felipe Massa's speed when pulling away from Hamilton in the middle stints in Bahrain and Spain had been ominous for Ferrari's rivals. Throw in Kimi Raikkonen's comfortable run to Melbourne victory and the suspicion that Massa would have won Sepang had he kept his head in the opening laps, and it appeared that it would only be a matter of time before Ferrari took charge of the title chase.

Instead their drivers left Monaco five and 15 points respectively behind the McLaren duo, while the team are now 20 points adrift in the constructors' table. Those deficits can easily be recovered - but not if McLaren start replicating their crushingly superior Monaco form elsewhere.

"McLaren definitely showed incredible pace today," Massa admitted after coming home over a minute behind in third.

"I think that even if I pushed 150 percent on the limit, it would have been the same in the end."

However, one of the primary reasons for Monaco's celebrated status is its sheer uniqueness. There will be other tight tracks to contend with and other slippery surfaces, but nowhere else quite like this tortuous, bumpy, barrier-lined circuit with its constantly mutating grip level. As Ferrari's sporting director Stefano Domenicali put it, "Monte Carlo is a very particular, very peculiar, race."

On this occasion, McLaren's package proved beautifully suited to those peculiar demands, while Ferrari's did not, but the result cannot be taken as a sign that McLaren are about to stride into the distance.

Whatever it augers for the rest of 2007, the race was hugely satisfying for Alonso. The lacklustre display in Bahrain and the huge frustration of being out-muscled at the first corner of his home race - and then out-paced for the rest of distance - not only left him two points behind Hamilton in the championship, but resulted in swathes of media reports about potential discord at McLaren and a crisis of confidence for the world champion.

Alonso played the situation down in the build-up to the race.

"If you do well in two or three races (they say) the championship is over, you will win, it is too easy and things like that," he said.

"If you do two or three bad results (they say) you are completely out of the championship, you will not win anything..."

But a third bad race in a row would have been, if not a crisis, certainly a major problem for the Spaniard.

Instead he disproved reports of his imminent deposition with an immaculate victory, and in the process drew a little of the spotlight away from his teammate - despite the whiff of controversy over how McLaren managed their race tactics - and interrupted Ferrari's championship momentum before it became unstoppable. Hamilton's second place was still a superb result for a Monaco GP debutant and his podium streak remains an astounding achievement, but this was Alonso's day.

"I think it has been a very nice surprise to see how the team was performing this weekend," he said as he savoured the result.

"I've had 16 or 17 wins in my career and I never won with more than a minute to the third guy.

"For sure, this is the easiest and probably the nicest victory so far."

And if it turns out to be the springboard that relaunched Alonso's title defence just when it seemed to be ebbing away from him, then it could have been his most significant win as well.

Practice

Practice one - Thursday am

McLaren's form was immediately apparent as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton ended the opening 90 minutes in first and second - despite Hamilton only completing 14 laps to his teammate's 33 after a piece of gearbox debris caused a starter motor failure. His absence allowed Alonso to open up a 0.7 second advantage on his final run.

Nick Heidfeld was third for BMW, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella, who became the first man to sample the barriers when he went off at Sainte Devote just after setting the fourth fastest time right at the end of the session.

The only other incident was the engine failure that left Christijan Albers' Spyker-Ferrari stranded on the approach to Tabac and caused an early red flag.

Practice two - Thursday pm

Alonso's domination continued in the afternoon, with Hamilton again running him close before hitting trouble. This time it was driver error that sidelined the British rookie, as he made the first notable mistake of his astonishing debut season and crashed at Sainte Devote.

Hamilton was in good company; Anthony Davidson had slewed into the same barrier shortly earlier, David Coulthard damaged his Red Bull's rear wing with a spin at Loews, Ralf Schumacher bounced off the kerbs and straight into the barriers at the Swimming Pool exit on his last lap, and Adrian Sutil prompted a brief red flag by shunting at Portier.

Kimi Raikkonen split the McLarens on the timesheets - Hamilton's pre-crash time still being sufficient for third - with Jarno Trulli fourth quickest despite being happy with the Toyota's handling.

Practice three - Saturday am

The forecast rain arrived shortly before third practice, and then returned with a vengeance ten minutes into the session.

It soon stopped, but the circuit remained extremely treacherous, and when the drivers tentatively emerged they produced an endless succession of spins and trips down escape roads, plus a constantly shuffling order as the track became drier by the lap. Remarkably, however, despite all the spins and some near-misses, the whole field managed to avoid the barriers.

In the final minutes the lead passed from Jenson Button to Alonso, then Fisichella, and finally Adrian Sutil, as the Spyker driver produced an astonishing lap to give the Anglo-Dutch team their first ever session-topping time by 0.127 seconds from Raikkonen.

Although the conditions made the results something of a lottery, there was no denying the quality of Sutil's performance, for most of the top drivers had been on track at the same time and had the same opportunity.

Scott Speed was the other giant-killing star of the morning, taking fifth place behind Hamilton and Fisichella, and just ahead of Alonso.

Practice round up

Sorted by total laps from all three sessions

Qualifying

Part one

When drizzle began in the minutes leading up to qualifying, it looked like a wild and unpredictable session was in prospect. But the precipitation ended before it could become significant, and the track was completely dry when Q1 began.

Nevertheless, the threat of rain was enough to make the whole field head straight out for early banker laps - and the lack of dry running in the morning meant that many then remained on track and treated Q1 as something of a qualifying warm-up.

Lewis Hamilton was in a particularly determined mood, leading the way by as much as a second before Fernando Alonso closed to within four-tenths later on.

Behind Kimi Raikkonen, Vitantonio Liuzzi took a surprise fourth for Toro Rosso. But his teammate Scott Speed was a disgruntled and eliminated 18th after a call to the weighbridge took the team by surprise.

Liuzzi was the only driver from the bottom three teams to escape Q1. Super Aguri attempted to do three runs in case the weather changed, but their timing was suspect and Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato ended up in the pits when they needed to be starting their final flying laps. They could only watch as their promising earlier times were pushed down to 17th and 21st respectively.

Adrian Sutil's morning heroics had left Spyker praying for more rain. Although it didn't come, Sutil still managed a career-best 19th, while a hydraulic problem meant teammate Christijan Albers was unable to set a time.

The sole big name departure was Ralf Schumacher, who would start 20th for no reason other than his continuing discomfort with the Toyota's set-up and handling. He was 0.9 seconds slower than teammate Trulli in the session, and would go no further.

Part two

The defining image of the 2006 Monaco GP was a Ferrari parked just off the racing line at Rascasse in qualifying in the infamous track-blocking incident that saw Michael Schumacher demoted from pole to the back of the grid.

A year on, Schumacher's successor produced an inadvertent homage to that controversy - as Raikkonen broke his right front suspension on the inside barrier at the Swimming Pool exit. He attempted to return to the pits, but the hobbled car failed to make the turn at Rascasse and came to a halt in virtually the exact same position that Schumacher had parked in twelve months earlier.

The irony was completed when Felipe Massa became trapped behind Raikkonen's stranded car, before eventually squeezing through a narrow gap and continuing. Raikkonen finally reversed away from the barrier and got back to the garage, but the damage could not be repaired in time and the Finn had to resign himself to an eighth row start.

He would be joined there by Renault's Heikki Kovalainen, who was livid after being blocked by David Coulthard on his flying lap.

"I came round the first corner on my flying lap and saw Coulthard's Red Bull coming out of the pits, and thought he would move over after Casino - or into the tunnel at the latest," said Kovalainen.

"But he just stayed there all the way round, and ruined the lap."

Renault's executive director of engineering Pat Symonds shared his driver's frustration.

"David's a very nice guy, but let's face it, he's the most experienced driver in Formula One and he's actually one of the most voluble people about using mirrors and blue flags and things," said Symonds. "It was just unbelievable what he did."

Coulthard blamed poor communication from the Red Bull team.

"Obviously I didn't know he was on a timed lap otherwise I would clearly have got out of the way," he said.

"There was a message from the team, and I clearly didn't get the correct information."

The stewards acted fast and deleted Coulthard's Q2 times immediately after the session, dropping him from eighth to 16th. He was later classified 11th when the official grid was published, and then given a definitive two-place penalty for blocking, leaving him 13th.

Coulthard's punishment meant that Honda got both cars into Q3 - the first time they had cracked the top ten in qualifying all season. Before the Red Bull was demoted, Rubens Barrichello had edged teammate Jenson Button into elimination by just 0.003 seconds, but the penalty gave Button another chance.

Although Liuzzi couldn't repeat his Q1 shock, he did manage to beat Jarno Trulli to 13th, the Toyota driver complaining of traffic, brake problems, and a car ill at ease on the relatively 'green' track (following the early rain).

Liuzzi then gained a place thanks to Coulthard's punishment, as would Alex Wurz, who had ended up 12th after running wide at Sainte Devote on his final lap.

At the front, Alonso reasserted his authority over Hamilton and beat his teammate to the top spot by 0.048 seconds, while Robert Kubica hinted at BMW's pace by getting within a tenth of the McLarens.

Part three

With their forecaster predicting rain during Q3, McLaren didn't waste any time when the decisive segment started. Hamilton and Alonso immediately went for flying laps despite their heavy fuel loads, with the rookie beating the world champion to provisional pole by 0.072 seconds.

Surprisingly, Hamilton's 1:15.905 lap turned out to be his grid time, for he failed to improve as the fuel load burned off. Enough drizzle fell to spoil his second lap, and he encountered Mark Webber's Red Bull at Portier on his next run.

Alonso also lost out to the rain, but he managed to get a clear final lap and threw in a 1:15.726 - enough to earn his first pole for McLaren, and to deny Hamilton his maiden F1 pole.

After the frustrations of Bahrain and Spain, Alonso was thrilled to be back on top, while Hamilton surmised that he had lost half a second behind Webber.

McLaren's superiority brought Felipe Massa's run of poles to an end, but he was reasonably satisfied with third, just 0.062 seconds behind Hamilton.

Renault, Williams and Red Bull could all celebrate their best starting positions of the season so far as Giancarlo Fisichella, Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber secured fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Habitual Monaco star Fisichella described his second row start as "another concrete sign that we are getting there", while Rosberg was highly relieved to be fifth considering he had damaged his Williams' rear suspension in Q2.

The BMWs were left to share row four, Nick Heidfeld ahead of Kubica, and both disappointed with their positions - even though that it was heavy fuel loads rather than a lack of pace that had put them down the order.

Having reached Q3, Honda decided against going for broke on a light fuel load and settled for full tanks and the fifth row, with Barrichello ahead of Button and "very excited" about the team's progress.

Qualifying results

* Coulthard was not allowed into Q3 by the stewards, after blocking Kovalainen in Q2. He was later demoted two grid places, placing him in 13th

The Race

McLaren showed as soon as the lights went out that they planned to completely control this race. The moment it began, Lewis Hamilton moved across the track and tucked straight in behind Fernando Alonso, settling into team formation and giving Felipe Massa no opportunity to intrude at Sainte Devote.

In their wake, there was untidiness rather than carnage. Giancarlo Fisichella and Nico Rosberg approached the corner side by side before the Renault claimed the line and forced Rosberg to back out of the move. This slowed the following Mark Webber, and allowed Nick Heidfeld to sweep around the outside of both the Red Bull and the Williams, firmly banging wheels with Rosberg as he secured fifth.

It wasn't just Heidfeld who benefited from being on the outside, as a very similar move took Rubens Barrichello around Webber and Robert Kubica and into seventh, ahead of the Red Bull, the BMW, Alex Wurz and Jenson Button.

Kimi Raikkonen and Scott Speed also took to the outside and moved from 16th and 18th to 12th and 14th respectively, either side of Vitantonio Liuzzi, who was hit from behind by David Coulthard as the queue of cars on the inside slowed abruptly at the apex. Although they continued, that touch spoilt both their races - with Liuzzi crashing at Massenet a lap later when a rear tyre deflated as a consequence of the contact, while Coulthard would struggle with severe understeer for the rest of the afternoon thanks to front wing damage.

Just behind, Heikki Kovalainen and Anthony Davidson escaped with cosmetic damage when the Super Aguri ran into the back of the Renault, and Takuma Sato and both Spyker drivers decided to take to the pit lane exit rather than get involved.

Sato rejoined the track between Kovalainen and the slow-starting Jarno Trulli, with Davidson, Adrian Sutil, Christijan Albers and Ralf Schumacher completing the field.

At the front, Alonso gradually began to ease away from Hamilton, and was seven seconds clear by lap 14. But their pace was such that traffic was always going to be an issue before long, as the McLarens routinely lapped three seconds faster than all bar Massa and Fisichella.

Sure enough, by lap 15 Alonso was already picking his way around Spykers and Toyotas, and this allowed Hamilton to cut into his teammate's lead, bringing the gap down to three seconds by the time both were back in clear air.

With Hamilton fuelled longer than Alonso, that advantage could easily have been eroded in the pit stop sequence. But instead Alonso led Hamilton by 4.2 seconds before he pitted on lap 26, and the gap was still 4.8 seconds after Hamilton emerged from his own stop three laps later.

Exactly what happened during that period remained unclear to all outside McLaren.

"I was actually quite surprised because I was fuelled to do five laps, maybe six laps longer than Fernando and they stopped me within three laps, so there wasn't much time to pull out a gap," said Hamilton.

"I can clarify maybe the situation," Alonso responded. "I was two laps later (pitting) than I should be in the first stint because I saved fuel in the first part of the race."

But team boss Ron Dennis admitted that McLaren had decided to modify Hamilton's strategy at this point.

"There is some disappointment because of the different strategies we needed to follow to cope with a potential deployment of the safety car which has happened four times in the last five years," he said.

"Consequently you virtually have to decide in advance which one of the team's two drivers will claim the victory.

"Once the first round of pit stops had taken place we reverted Lewis from a one-stop-strategy to the faster two-stop-strategy and at the same time slowed both cars down to conserve the brakes."

There was little indication that the McLaren pair had switched to formation cruising, as they continued to routinely lap in the 1:15s and 1:16s throughout the middle stint - invariably two seconds clear of the rest of the field.

Even Massa was now being left breathless in comparison. He had stayed within three seconds of Hamilton for most of the opening stint, but lost a lot of ground in traffic.

With no answer to McLaren's pace - but little to lose by gambling given their large lead over Fisichella and the rest of the field - Ferrari then made an early switch to the less-favoured super-soft tyres at Massa's first stop. It didn't pay off, and before long Massa was half a minute adrift and resigned to third place.

As the final stops neared, Alonso put on a spurt and extended his lead to 10.8 seconds before pitting on lap 51. Hamilton was in again two laps later and rejoined only four seconds behind - a gap that he swiftly reduced to a few car lengths.

But the chances of Hamilton trying a risky move on his teammate while running first and second in the closing stages of any race, let alone the Monaco GP, were always slim, and so the McLarens eased off and cantered to the flag to collect the team's 150th win in crushing style.

Massa was a full 69 seconds behind by the end, and was the sole non-McLaren driver on the lead lap, such was the silver cars' relentless speed.

The fact that Fisichella was a lap down made little difference to Renault as they celebrated a very encouraging fourth place after a flawless afternoon. Fisichella had been unable to stay with Massa, but he quickly raced away from Heidfeld's heavier BMW in the opening stint - establishing such a comfortable advantage that he was able to rejoin right behind the German after his first stop. Once Heidfeld pitted nine laps later, Fisichella was free to take a lonely but satisfying top four finish.

While Fisichella was proving that two stop strategies can work at Monaco, Rosberg demonstrated just how badly such plans can go wrong if a driver gets caught amongst heavier traffic.

Trapped behind Heidfeld - who was not only nine laps heavier but also grappling with the super-soft tyres in his opening stint - Rosberg lost 26 seconds to the similarly-fuelled Fisichella in the first 22 laps. When the Williams driver pitted, he fell from sixth to 12th, behind a crowd of one-stopping cars that he had little hope of overcoming in the time between their sole stops and his final pit visit.

Fifth eventually fell to Kubica, but the Pole believed he could have achieved more if BMW had opted for a two stop strategy. His pace on light tanks suggested he was right - as he set the third fastest race lap shortly before pitting on lap 45.

He had been stuck behind Barrichello and Webber early on, before the Red Bull retired on lap 17 after developing a "misfire which confused the gearbox and caused third gear to break", according to team boss Christian Horner.

When Barrichello pitted on lap 37, Kubica was free to show his true speed, and lapped quick enough to ensure that he rejoined ahead of teammate Heidfeld in fifth. BMW's double points finish made their third position in the constructors' standings even more comfortable, but neither driver was happy - Kubica bothered not only by the strategy but intermittent traction control and fading brakes, while Heidfeld believed he would have beaten his teammate if he had lost less time letting the leaders through.

For much of the race it looked like Honda were on course for their first point of the year, but the team's curious two stop strategy dropped Barrichello and Button out of top ten contention. They stayed out until laps 37 and 41 respectively before pitting for the first time, but rather than filling up to run to the finish, they remained on the harder tyres and made quick stops on laps 60 and 61 to take on super-softs.

That allowed Wurz, Raikkonen and Speed up to seventh, eighth and ninth. Stuck behind Button in the first half of the race, Raikkonen made little impression until appearing in clear air after his pit stop. He closed in on Wurz, but could not find a way past the Austrian, who was thrilled to take the first points of his comeback.

Toro Rosso were equally delighted with Speed's ninth, as the American ran consistently behind Raikkonen for most of the afternoon. It was the greatest drive of Speed's career, although he admitted that it was frustrating to get within touching distance of his first point.

"I enjoyed myself but every time for the last 15 laps I was hoping someone would drop out and that I'd see my pit board go from P9 to P8 to get that point, but it never happened," he said.

Behind Barrichello, Button and the frustrated Rosberg, Kovalainen was classified 13th despite pitting with engine problems on the final lap. He got past Coulthard in the pits even though he had to stop earlier than scheduled after clipping a guard rail and picking up a puncture, but had lost too much time behind the damaged Red Bull to make further progress. Coulthard trailed home 14th before pulling off with a water leak on the slowing down lap - all a far cry from his previous Monaco triumphs.

Toyota's miserable weekend culminated with 15th and 16th positions - Trulli and Schumacher having spent the whole race in the company of Super Aguris and Spykers. More brake problems left Trulli unable to push, while Schumacher's contention that "we could clearly have been fighting for points today for sure if we had qualified better" seemed wildly optimistic in light of his 17th position in the fastest race lap listings.

Super Aguri could have beaten the Toyotas had Sato found enough clear air to make his two stop strategy work, and the one-stopping Davidson not picked up a drivethrough penalty for blocking Massa. Sato managed to pull off the only on-track pass of the race when he slipped inside Trulli at Mirabeau early on as both made way for Alonso, but it was to no avail, as the Super Aguri duo ultimately became trapped behind the Toyotas again in the final stint, all four cars blanketed by 2.1 seconds at the flag.

Neither Spyker made it to the end. Sutil battled with the Super Aguris and Toyotas until crashing at Massenet on lap 53, while Albers ran a solitary race at the back once his two stop strategy allowed Schumacher to escape, and then dropped out when a driveshaft broke eight laps from home.

Race results

78 laps; 260.520km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1h40:29.329
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +     4.095
 3.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +  1:09.114
 4.  Fisichella    Renault              (B)  +     1 lap
 5.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +     1 lap
 6.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +     1 lap
 7.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)  +     1 lap
 8.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  +     1 lap
 9.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  +     1 lap
10.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
11.  Button        Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
12.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +     1 lap
14.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +    2 laps
15.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +    2 laps
16.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +    2 laps
17.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    2 laps
18.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:15.284

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Albers        Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    71
Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    54
Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)    18
Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)    2



World Championship standings, round 5:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        38        1.  McLaren-Mercedes      76
 2.  Hamilton      38        2.  Ferrari               56
 3.  Massa         33        3.  BMW Sauber            30
 4.  Raikkonen     23        4.  Renault               16
 5.  Heidfeld      18        5.  Williams-Toyota        7
 6.  Fisichella    13        6.  Toyota                 5
 7.  Kubica        12        7.  Red Bull-Renault       4
 8.  Rosberg        5        8.  Super Aguri-Honda      1
 9.  Trulli         4
10.  Coulthard      4
11.  Kovalainen     3
12.  Wurz           2
13.  R.Schumacher   1
14.  Sato           1

Team-by-Team

MCLAREN-MERCEDES

Alonso is fastest in both Thursday sessions, takes his first pole for McLaren, then leads a team one-two in the race - keeping Hamilton at a safe distance throughout the weekend. The rookie has a more eventful time - losing a lot of practice mileage thanks to a starter motor failure in the first session and a crash in the afternoon.

He qualifies and finishes second but is surprised by the team's mid-race strategy change, having believed he would get a chance to run much further than Alonso in the opening stint.

Encouraging weekend for Fisichella, who stars at Monaco again by qualifying and finishing fourth, making a two stop strategy work to perfection. A crash in first practice is the only glitch. By contrast, Kovalainen has a nightmare time after being blocked by Coulthard in qualifying.

He has to start 15th, spends most of the race stuck behind the Red Bull, stops early after damaging a tyre on the barriers, then pits on the final lap with a sick engine. He is classified 13th.

For the first time in 2007, Ferrari are left standing by McLaren. Massa qualifies and finishes third, but has a very lonely race and is over a minute behind at the flag. Raikkonen is quicker than his teammate in practice but consigns himself to 16th on the grid after clipping the barriers at the Swimming Pool in Q2. He eventually progresses to eighth after a low-key race in queues of traffic.

Barrichello gets a Honda into Q3 for the first time this year - and then Button is allowed to join him after Coulthard is penalised. They start ninth and 10th, but lack the race pace to turn that into points. Surprise second stops - having run to laps 37 and 41 respectively before making their first pit visits - drop them from eighth and ninth to 10th and 11th.

After top three times in practice and Kubica running the McLarens close in Q2, the BMWs' speed is masked by heavy fuel loads in Q3 and they start seventh and eighth, Heidfeld ahead. An aggressive move at the start takes him up to fifth, but he struggles for speed on the soft tyres and loses touch with the top four long before his early single stop on lap 32.

Kubica runs an inverted strategy - using hard tyres for a 45-lap-long first stint then switching to softs for the final 33 laps. The Pole's plan works better, and he finishes four seconds ahead of Heidfeld in fifth despite lacking traction control for much of the race.

Trulli's fourth place in second practice is the sole highlight of a dreadful weekend. The Italian has brake issues in qualifying and the race - starting 14th and finishing 15th, having lost four places off the line. Still struggling to get to grips with the car, Schumacher is a disastrous 20th on the grid, then runs last in the opening stint before moving onto Trulli's tail later on and taking 16th. Both race with the Super Aguris and Spykers all afternoon.

Both cars get through to Q3 only for Coulthard's Q2 times to be deleted as a punishment for blocking Kovalainen. After several hours of confusion over his exact penalty, he is given 13th on the grid. He then hits Liuzzi at the start and damages his front wing.

After struggling with severe understeer throughout the race and finishing a distant 14th, he regrets not having a replacement nose fitted at his pit stop. Webber achieves RBR's best grid slot of 2007 in sixth, but loses two places at the first corner then retires early again due to a misfire and resultant gearbox problem.

On Saturday afternoon Rosberg is buoyant having qualified a season-best fifth, while Wurz is frustrated after a mistake at Sainte Devote leaves him 11th. Their positions and moods are reversed on race day. Rosberg's two stop strategy is badly compromised when the heavier and much slower Heidfeld passes him at the first corner.

He drops to 12th after his first stop and will finish there 55 laps later, having remained stuck in traffic. But Wurz's one stop plan works beautifully and he is delighted with his seventh place finish, fending off Raikkonen.

Liuzzi is the team's star in qualifying - setting the fourth fastest time in Q1 then taking 12th on the grid. But his race is brief as Coulthard runs into the back of him at the first corner and causes damage that leads to a crash at Massenet a lap later. Speed is fifth in the wet practice session but only qualifies 18th.

However, another excellent start and bold approach to the first corner takes him up to 14th, and he has the pace to run with the top ten pack. As others pit or falter, he moves up to finish an excellent ninth - deservedly ahead of the Hondas, a Williams, a Renault, a Red Bull and the Toyotas.

Sutil crashes on Thursday then more than redeems himself by going quickest in the wet final practice session. He can't repeat it in dry qualifying, but 19th on the grid is still a step forward. He battles with the Toyotas and Super Aguris in the race before crashing at Massenet on lap 53.

Albers has an engine failure on Thursday, then a hydraulic problem in qualifying. Stuck at the back of the grid, he gambles on a two stop strategy and hopes to benefit from any safety car periods. None are forthcoming, and after holding off Schumacher before his first stint he drops back to a lonely last place before a late driveshaft failure.

A timing miscue leaves Davidson and Sato 17th and 21st on the grid. They struggle to recover ground in the race - Sato unable to make his bold two stop strategy pay off, and Davidson being given a drivethrough penalty for blocking Massa. They finish 17th and 18th, right behind the Toyotas.

Lap-by-Lap

Lap 1: On pole position for the first time in his McLaren career, Fernando Alonso makes a clean start to lead teammate Lewis Hamilton into Ste D?vote. Felipe Massa keeps third from Giancarlo Fisichella.

Nick Heidfeld vaults to fifth ahead of Nico Rosberg, the fast-starting Rubens Barrichello, Mark Webber, Robert Kubica, Alexander Wurz, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen (up from 16th), Vitantonio Liuzzi, Scott Speed, David Coulthard, Heikki Kovalainen, Takuma Sato, Jarno Trulli, Anthony Davidson, Adrian Sutil, Christijan Albers and Ralf Schumacher.

Lap 2: Liuzzi crashes out at Massenet.

Lap 4: Alonso leads by 1.8s and is edging away. Fisichella is being dropped - but he's pulling away from Heidfeld.

The opening lap of the Monaco Grand Prix © XPB/LAT

Lap 5: Alonso posts a 1m16.515s to lead by 2.5s.

Lap 7: Alonso extends his lead to 3.1s.

Lap 8: Trulli passes Sato for 16th.

Lap 12: Alonso leads by 5.5s. Massa is 2.3s shy of Hamilton. The rest remain as they were.

Lap 14: Alonso continues to edge away: he's now 7.0s to the good. Schumacher is the first driver to be lapped.

Lap 18: Webber pits to retire.

Lap 19: Hamilton posts a 1m16.374s to cut his deficit to 6.7s.

Lap 20: Alonso gets stuck behind Trulli and his lead is cut to 3.0s. As the leader Alonso passes the Italian, so does Sato.

Lap 21: The Trulli effect hits Hamilton: the gap grows to 5.5s.

Lap 22: Personal bests for both McLaren drivers: Alonso 1m15.721s, Hamilton 1m16.085s.

Lap 23: Scheduled stops for Fisichella and Rosberg. Hamilton dips into the 1m15s.

Lap 24: Hamilton posts a 1m15.833s: the gap is 5.2s. Sato and Albers pit.

Lap 26: Alonso pits, as does Massa.

Lap 27: Hamilton leads Alonso by 15.2s but he loses time with a moment at Rascasse.

Lap 28: Hamilton posts a 1m15.372s. He leads by 15.3s.

Fernando Alonso laps Christijan Albers © LAT

Lap 29: Hamilton pits. He rejoins second.

Lap 30: Alonso leads Hamilton by 4.8s.

Lap 31: Hamilton cuts his arrears to 4.2s.

Lap 32: Heidfeld pits and rejoins ninth, behind Button.

Lap 34: The top two are separated by 4.0s.

Lap 35: Davidson is given a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags. He serves it one lap later.

Lap 37: Barrichello pits - as does Davidson, again. This time it's scheduled.

Lap 39: Half-distance: Alonso leads from Hamilton, Massa, Fisichella, Kubica, Wurz, Button, Heidfeld and the lapped Raikkonen, Speed, Barrichello, Rosberg, Coulthard, Kovalainen, Trulli, Sutil, Schumacher, Sato, Davidson and Albers.

Lap 41: Button pits.

Lap 42: Only the top six cars remain on the lead lap. Coulthard pits.

Lap 43: Alonso posts a 1m15.500s: he leads by 7.6s.

Lap 44: Alonso sets a new fastest lap: 1m15.284s. His lead grows to 9.0s. Wurz pits, as do Kovalainen and Sutil.

Lap 45: Kubica and Speed pit. Kubica rejoins fifth, ahead of Heidfeld.

Lap 47: Raikkonen pits as, some time later, does Trulli. The Ferrari driver drops to 11th but immediately starts lapping in the 1m16s, his quickest laps of the race.

Lap 49: Schumacher completes the afternoon's longest first stint.

Lap 51: Alonso pits, as does Albers.

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton spray each other with champagne © LAT

Lap 52: Hamilton leads by 12.0s.

Lap 53: Hamilton pits. Alonso goes back in front.

Lap 54: The McLarens are 4.0s apart, with Massa another 18.8s adrift. Sutil crashes into retirement at Massenet.

Lap 55: Hamilton closes to within 3.3s. Massa and Fisichella pit.

Lap 56: Hamilton closes again: he's 2.5s adrift.

Lap 57: Hamilton presses on again: the gap comes down to 1.9s. Sato pits.

Lap 59: The McLarens are almost as one: just 0.7s separates them. Rosberg pits.

Lap 60: Alonso gains a little breathing space: he pulls 1.1s clear. Barrichello makes his second stop.

Lap 61: Button pits.

Lap 62: The McLarens post almost identical times: Alonso is 0.007s faster and 1.1s ahead.

Lap 63: Raikkonen is setting personal bests - in the mid 1m16s - he's quickly catching the seventh-placed Wurz.

Lap 65: Alonso continues to edge away: he's now 2.1s clear.

Lap 70: Alonso leads by 2.9s. Massa is 54.6s adrift in third. Fourth-placed Fisichella is next in line to be lapped. Fifth-placed Kubica is going relatively slowly - a couple of seconds adrift of those in the gaggle behind, led by his team-mate Heidfeld.

Lap 71: Albers pits to retire.

Lap 73: Alonso laps Fisichella.

Lap 77: The McLarens are 2.8s apart with one lap to go. Kovalainen pits.

Lap 78: Alonso wins by 4.0s from Hamilton and provisionally retakes the world championship lead (they are level on 38 points, but the Spaniard leads by dint of two wins to Hamilton's zero).

Massa is a distant third. The rest, all lapped, are headed by Fisichella, Kubica, Heidfeld, Wurz and Raikkonen.