Monaco GP - Montecarlo 26 May 2002

One driver took the lead from the front row and held the position until the end and, for the first time this season, his surname was not Schumacher. David Coulthard leapfrogged Montoya as the lights changed and took full advantage of the narrow winding roads of Montecarlo to make sure that nobody went past him. The Scot's McLaren appeared to suffer from a few problems, including handling issues and some random puffs of white-blue smoke, but he held everybody firmly at bay, despite being visibly slower than the pack he was holding off. In fact, most of the Monaco GP resembled a very good imitation of an M25-style nose-to-tail procession as the leading four drivers, Coulthard, Montoya, M. Schumacher and R. Schumacher, snaked their way along the streets of the Principality. Though M. Schumacher and Montoya took the occasional look at the car in front, no driver in the first four ever made any serious attempt at the position of the preceding competitor. Every and each one of them relied on something happening to the driver in front, in fact Coulthard's apparent problems with oil burning might have been a blessing in disguise for the Scot, as his opponents relied on his engine giving way and offering them a way to go past without a fight. That was not to be though, as the McLaren passed the finishing line first with two of the other challengers to the title still in tow. In all situations like this there has to be a loser and, in this case, Montoya ended up being the unlucky one. The Williams BMW engine, which had put the Colombian on pole position, finally betrayed him and lap 47 let him down. His team mate R. Schumacher, who had been in fourth place since the start, went past him and later on, during the drivers press conference, was quick to stress that it had not been team orders but a real break down. The other Schumacher, Michael, found himself gifted of the second position by his direct Championship rival and, regardless of the notorious difficulty of overtaking in Montecarlo, really had no incentive in risking an attempt on Coulthard, as his advantage over Montoya would increase regardless. That was pretty much the end of the story for the lead of the race. R. Schumacher was left behind and M. Schumacher, despite sticking like glue to Coulthard's tail, would not try anything and be content with second place. Further back in the field the battles and dramas of the mid and back field players unfolded. Right at the start Villenueve's car refused to cooperate and the Canadian was left stranded on the grid. His BAR was pushed back to the pits where his mechanics fixed the problem and sent him back out with their blessing, albeit two laps down. Villeneuve put in a brave fight trying to work his way back up a bit, but on lap 45 he parked his car neatly out of the way and retired. Button also had his problems at the start. His launch control misbehaved and pushed him forward too early. The Briton fought to control his car with the result of ending up at the back of the field. He was later handed a penalty for jump-starting then, on lap 53, he got entangled with Panis in an accident that took both drivers out. Barrichello was the hero in Austria, but he will want to forget Monaco. The Brazilian lost two positions at the start, dropping from fifth to seventh straight away, then getting frustrated stuck behind Räikk&oum;nen. When his patience ran out, Barrichello had a go at overtaking the Finn at the chicane, but bungled up the attempt and rammed the McLaren in the back, forcing it back to the pits and, two laps later, to an early retirement. For this accident Barrichello was given a 10 seconds stop-go penalty, which he served immediately. The frustration build-up, however, played another trick on him and he sped in the pits when he served his penalty, costing him another drive-through penalty and any hope of finishing in the points despite a late attempt on Frentzen for sixth place. Takuma Sato came flying sideways out of the tunnel with team mate Fisichella barely managing to avoid him. The Japanese, who has suffered more than his fair share of crashes recently, span and crashed into the guard-rail, leaving debris all over the place. Fisichella managed not to get involved and went in chase of Trulli, who was in fourth place. The all-Italian battle for fourth and fifth places saw Trulli come out on top and bring home his first three points of the season for Renault. The battle between the two got a new lease of interest in the final stages of the race as Coulthard and M. Schumacher came to overtake the two. Fisichella let them past and tried to follow in their stream past Trulli, but the Italian closed the door to his countryman and held his fourth place to the end. The finishing order was: Coulthard, M. Schumacher, R. Schumacher, Trulli, Fisichella and Frentzen. Next appointment is on 9 June in Canada.

Images from Raisport and Il Corriere della Sera