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Round 6 - MONACO, Monte Carlo - Race Results
Conditions: dry; Temperatures: track 43-32°C, air 22°C
| Position |
Driver |
Car (Tyres) |
Time/Retirement |
Laps |
Pitstops |
| 1 |
Jarno TRULLI |
Renault (M) |
1h 45m 46.601s |
77 |
2 |
| 2 |
Jenson BUTTON |
BAR Honda (M) |
+ 0m 00.497s |
77 |
2 |
| 3 |
Rubens BARRICHELLO |
Ferrari (B) |
+ 1m 15.766s |
77 |
2 |
| 4 |
Juan Pablo MONTOYA |
Williams BMW (M) |
+ 1 lap |
76 |
2 |
| 5 |
Felipe MASSA |
Sauber Petronas (B) |
+ 1 lap |
76 |
2 |
| 6 |
Cristiano DA MATTA |
Toyota (M) |
+ 1 lap |
76 |
3 |
| 7 |
Nick HEIDFELD |
Jordan Ford (B) |
+ 2 laps |
75 |
3 |
| 8 |
Olivier PANIS |
Toyota (M) |
+ 3 laps |
74 |
2 |
| 9 |
Zsolt BAUMGARTNER |
Minardi Cosworth (B) |
+ 6 laps |
71 |
2 |
| 10 |
Ralf SCHUMACHER |
Williams BMW (M) |
Gearbox |
69 |
3 |
| Not classified |
| Ret |
Michael SCHUMACHER |
Ferrari (B) |
Accident |
45 |
2 |
| Ret |
Fernando ALONSO |
Renault (M) |
Accident |
41 |
1 |
| Ret |
Kimi RAIKKONEN |
McLaren Mercedes (M) |
Hydraulic pressure |
27 |
2 |
| Ret |
Gianmaria BRUNI |
Minardi Cosworth (B) |
Gearbox |
15 |
1 |
| Ret |
Giorgio PANTANO |
Jordan Ford (B) |
Transmission |
12 |
1 |
| Ret |
Mark WEBBER |
Jaguar Cosworth (M) |
Transmission |
11 |
0 |
| Ret |
David COULTHARD |
McLaren Mercedes (M) |
Accident |
2 |
1 |
| Ret |
Giancarlo FISICHELLA |
Sauber Petronas (B) |
Accident |
2 |
0 |
| Ret |
Takuma SATO |
BAR Honda (M) |
Engine |
2 |
0 |
| Ret |
Christian KLIEN |
Jaguar Cosworth (M) |
Accident |
0 |
0 |
Notes:
Well, there was plenty of action today ... !
The start was aborted after Panis stalled his car on the grid. He was demoted to the back but stalled again when the field headed off on their second parade lap of the afternoon and was pushed into the pits, eventually starting from there.
The fast-starting Renaults lived up to expectations, Alonso overtaking Button at the start to take up station behind race leader Trulli. Sato made a staggering start, bullying his way past Michael Schumacher into 4th place - had his race lasted longer, would he have received a penalty for jumping the start?
Klien had an accident into Mirabeau on lap 1, his front wing wedging under his nose and rendering him a passenger in a car without steering on the run down to Loews, where he embedded what was left of his nosecone in the barrier (losing the $140,000 diamond placed there as part of a sponsorship deal in the process ... could be one happy marshall out there tonight!)
Sato's car was smoking from the start, indicating a probable engine problem - it was not therefore particularly surprising when it let go in spectacular fashion at Tabac on lap 3. This was not the end of that particular story however, blinded by the dense cloud of white smoke, Fisichella ran up the back of a slow-running Coulthard, flipped over and landed on the rollbar at the edge of the track. He clambered out unhurt and Coulthard limped back to the pits and into retirement, minus his rear wing.
So, end of lap 3, four retirements already, and the Safety Car is out.
Despite being so close to the start, Ralf Schumacher and Heidfeld pitted during the Safety Car, the former topping up the very low fuel load he'd carried in order to qualify as high up the grid as possible to mitigate the 10 slot penalty imposed for an engine change on Thursday.
Next to go was Webber, with a complete loss of drive nearing the end of lap 12, putting the final nail in the coffin of a disastrous weekend for the young Aussie - two fires and a DNF will leave him with unfond memories of Monaco. Pantano pulled into the pits for an unscheduled stop, retiring with transmission failure shortly afterwards on lap 13. Bruni followed, with gearbox problems, on lap 16.
Meanwhile the first round of pitstops was well underway, Button fueled long but got stuck behind Da Matta on the exit, losing 2 seconds a lap to the leaders. Michael Schumacher pitted last of all those still running having blasted in his usual sequence of incredibly fast laps, leap-frogging Raikkonen and Button in the process.
Raikkonen pitted for the second time on lap 28 and retired, the team had spotted hydraulic pressure problems on the telemetry and called him in before his engine could let go.
Things quieten down for a while as Michael Schumacher slowly reels in the leading Renaults as they pick their way through the backmarkers. His brother appears to have a problem and is lapping well off the pace.
With Michael starting to breathe down his neck, Alonso's impatience to get past Ralf's slow Williams ended in disaster. Going round the outside in the tunnel on lap 42, he got on the marbles and put his Renault in the wall, spinning from barrier to barrier out of the tunnel, shedding bodywork all over the track on the way to the chicane. The Safety Car makes its second appearance of the afternoon.
Button and Trulli immediately pit under the Safety Car, maintaining 2nd and 3rd places albeit with lapped cars in between them on the road. Neither Ferrari pitted - a serious strategic error? Not that it mattered for Michael, on lap 46, in the lead of the race, following the Safety Car, he lost it in the tunnel! Working his brakes to bring them up to temperature before the Safety Car went in, he locked his left-front, leaving Montoya behind him nowhere to go but down his inside. As Michael moved right, he clipped Montoya and spun into the barrier, demolishing his front suspension. He limped back to the pits on three wheels and into retirement. Shame!
Again, things quietened down ... Da Matta was awarded a drive-thru penalty for ignoring blue flags, although Heidfeld who seemed to be in front of every lapping car at one point or another, escaped the stewards' notice. Ralf Schumacher's gearbox finally failed him on lap 70 when he pulled into the pits and retired, albeit classified 10th.
The excitement in the closing laps was down to the two drivers at the front - Trulli in the lead, Button closing him down - both seeking the first race win of their careers. Button did better through the backmarkers and closed from 5.5s to 2.2s with 8 laps to go. Lap on lap he inched closer, hoping to pressure Trulli into a mistake, finally finishing in 2nd a mere 0.497s behind Trulli. Congratulations to Trulli - pole position, an immaculate race (while all about him chaos reigned) and a well-deserved first victory.
Wow, what a race ... and there's another one in a week's time!
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