Monaco GP - Montecarlo - 4 June 2000

After the formation lap the cars lined up on the grid ready to start the GP, but Wurz stalled his engine and the start had to be aborted. The mechanics of all the teams got out to look after the cars, trying to prevent the radiators from overheating in the sun (track temperature at the start was 41 degrees C). As a consequence of the aborted start, the race was reduced by one lap down to 77. Wurz, who should have started from the back of the grid, started instead from the pit lane with the spare car. After three minutes the drivers went on their second formation lap and lined up again for the new start. As the lights changed M. Schumacher got away and the grid positions were maintained as Trulli took second place in front of Coulthard. As the cars reached the hairpin De La Rosa collided with Button, span and stuck his car across the track, completely blocking the way for everybody. The red flags were displayed stopping the race before the first lap was over. A strange situation ensued, with a number of cars trapped on the track until the De La Rosa's Arrows could be removed. The drivers got out of their cars and ran back to the pits, while the mechanics and the marshals got busy recovering the cars. The new start was rescheduled for 14:31 GMT and the number of laps was brought back to the original 78 because of the red flag situation. Button had to start from the pit lanes like Wurz with the spare car. The cars set off again on the third formation lap and the lined up again for the third start of the day. As the lights wen off the second start repeated itself, with M. Schumacher getting away, Trulli in second position, Coulthard in third, Frentzen in fourth, Hakkinen in fifth and R. Schumacher in sixth. M. Schumacher immediately started leaving behind Trulli, who was holding up Coulthard and the rest of the pack in the notoriously difficult to overtake track. Hakkinen vented his frustration at the situation by continuously trying to attack Frentzen. By lap three Trulli was already 3.5 seconds behind the race leader. Barrichello on the second Ferrari had made a bad start and had lost two positions, finding himself in eighth place behind Alesi and in front of Fisichella. M. Schumacher kept on pushing, putting in fastest lap after fastest lap and increasing the gap on Trulli by over a second a lap. By lap 10 M. Schumacher was almost 11 seconds ahead of Trulli and over 15 seconds ahead of Hakkinen in fifth position, who appeared to have become resigned to the situation for the time being, waiting for the pit stops. On lap 18 Button, who had started on the spare car after his collision with De La Rosa that had caused the second aborted start, went into the pits from 19th position and retired with mechanical problems. On the following lap Wurz who, like Button, had started from the pits with the spare car after causing the first aborted start, lost control of his Benetton, went nose first into the barrier and out of the race. On lap 22 Gené slowed down, drove to a safe place out of the way, parked his car and retired. On the same lap the other Minardi driver Mazzacane hit the barrier sideways at Saint Devote, damaged his car and retired. No yellow flags were required in either case. On lap 27 Herbert went into the pits unexpected and spent a long time there. By this stage Frentzen's driving had become less clean and the German was losing his composure under the pressure Hakkinen was putting him under. Herbert came out again at the back of the pack, with race leader M. Schumacher coming up fast behind him to lap him. Very maturely, Herbert put himself to the side and let him and the rest of the leading pack overtake him cleanly. On lap 30 Alesi drove down the escape route and retired, leaving Barrichello in seventh position with Fisichella taking looks at the Ferrari hoping to find an opening. On lap 31 Diniz hit the Saint Devote barrier, warped his chassis and bent a wheel, causing the double yellow flags (meaning marshals on track) to be displayed. Race director Charlie Whiting decided not to have the safety car out and the race went on. M. Schumacher at this stage was busy lapping the backmarkers. Trulli, in second position, had been very cautious under the yellow flag, allowing the pack behind him to compact and causing he gap between himself and M. Schumacher not to become any narrower. On lap 37 Hakkinen started losing speed and had to let the cars behind through, putting R. Schumacher in fifth position, Barrichello in sixth and Fisichella in seventh. Hakkinen slowly limped to the pits. On the following lap the same fate befell Trulli, putting Coulthard in second position finally free to start his chase of M. Schumacher. Hakkinen rejoined the race in front of R. Schumacher one lap down, distracting the German who went straight into the barrier and retired. Trulli slowly drove back to the pits and retired. Meanwhile Coulthard, who was 34 seconds behind the leader, had started pushing and had put in the fastest lap. Frentzen in third position was being caught up by Barrichello in fourth at the rate of half a second a lap, while Fisichella was in fifth position and Irvine in sixth. R. Schumacher, who had got out of his car, was limping and had blood on his left ankle but was still able to walk, showing that his leg was not broken. The German managed to jump over the wall, but he then had to be taken away from the track on a stretcher. On lap 42 Herbert had his second stop of the race (9.6 seconds). With Coulthard chasing M. Schumacher, Hakkinen was out of the points in eighth position. On lap 48 M. Schumacher went for his pit stop (7.7 seconds) and rejoined well in the lead with still a 11 seconds gap on Coulthard. On the same lap Saint Devote took its third victim, as Zonta hit the barrier sideways and retired. On lap 50 Irvine has his pit stop and rejoined in seventh position, putting Salo in the points. On lap 52 Fisichella had his pit stop (7.6 seconds) from fifth position, which he retained. On lap 54 both Barrichello and Frentzen came into the pits and both rejoined in exactly the same track positions. On lap 56 M. Schumacher suffered a collapsed left rear suspension just as he had passed the pits entrance, so he had to do a whole lap with a collapsed back to pit. McLaren chose to bring Coulthard in (7.1 seconds) to take advantage of M. Schumacher's problem. The German limped back to the pits where the mechanics got frantically to work on the car, but there was nothing they could do. M. Schumacher got out of the car and retired. Being out of the race, his first worry was to go and check on his brother Ralf's conditions, rather than trying to work out what had gone wrong with his car. M. Schumacher's first interview after retiring was to report that his brother had needed stitches in his leg, but was otherwise fine. Hakkinen saw the chance to get back into the points and started chasing fellow Finn Salo who was in sixth position. On lap 61 Verstappen span his car at the swimming pool, hit the barrier, lost his rear wing and retired. On lap 71 Frentzen made a mistake, went a little too wide on the bend at Saint Devote and hit the barrier, taking himself out of the race and putting Barrichello in second position and Hakkinen into the points in sixth. With four laps to go Hakkinen overshot the chicane and then slowed down considerably, suggesting that perhaps the brake problem he had suffered earlier on in the race has reoccurred. Coulthard caught up with his team mate and lapped him with only two laps to go. Coulthard went on to win the Monaco GP, in front of Barrichello, Fisichella, Irvine, Salo and Hakkinen. Coulthard had reasons to be happy today as he overtook current World Champion and team mate Hakkinen in the Drivers Championship table, to prove that he is not prepared to play second best this year and that he intends to challenge for the Championship. Ferrari's reliability failed today and cost M. Schumacher what would have been a certain victory and a bigger safety net in the Drivers Championship table. One of the Ferrari's exhaust pipe had broken and had "cooked" the suspension that then failed. Barrichello finished second in a good exercise of damage control for Ferrari. Fisichella put in a good podium performance for Benetton while Irvine brought home new team Jaguar's first points ever. Salo gave Sauber two more points and Hakkinen consoled himself with one Championship point. It was a day to forget for Jordan, first with the retirement of the faultless Trulli from second position, then with the retirement of Frentzen following a driving error when the end was already in sight. The result of the Monaco GP reopened the competition for the Drivers and Constructors Championships for the 2000 F1 season, though the McLaren challenger is not the one everybody before the start of the season. It will be interesting to see whether the McLaren team will decide to make Hakkinen play along with Coulthard helping him to win. Next appointment is in Canada in two weeks time.

Images from La Gazzetta dello Sport Online and Raisport