Monaco Grand Prix, May 1999

Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo, April 1999

Schuey's understated celebration	Michael Schumacher, once again, claimed victory for Ferrari at the glamorous, technically demanding but ultimately sterile Monaco Grand Prix. Eddie Irvine made it an historic one-two for the Italian team with a reliable drive to second place but even this couldn't hide the fact that the race lacked, well, excitement. For the majority of qualifying Ferrari had looked the stronger team over the twisty street circuit of Monte Carlo, which maybe did not suit the power and aerodynamics of the McLaren so well. Nevertheless, in a gripping last minute finale, Mika Hakkinen snatched pole from Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard grabbed third from Eddie Irvine.
There were really only two teams in it, but Rubens Barrichello continued his recent form in the Stewart Ford to claim fifth whilst the quietly impressive Heinz-Harald Frentzen cruised to sixth in the Jordan. The race itself, in contrast, was more or less decided at the beginning. Schumacher, having made a trip back to Italy to practice his starts, made one of his best getaways ever to out brake Hakkinen into the first corner, despite the McLaren driver's defensive lunge. What's more, Irvine repeated the move on Coulthard, instantly reversing the qualifying positions for each row. Behind this private battle the field settled down in an orderly fashion, apart from Damon Hill who, having qualified the Jordan only seventeenth, crashed into Ralf Schumacher on lap 4 during a suicidal overtaking attempt and put himself out of the race. Schumacher senior quickly opened up a large gap over his rivals and began lapping back-markers as early as lap 14, bettering last years fastest lap in the process. Watching the cars parade around the Monte Carlo landmarks has a certain je ne sais quoi, but oh for a race instead. We had to wait until lap 35 for anything to happen at all, when Eddie Irvine began to pressurise Mika Hakkinen with David Coulthard just behind. However, within laps the gremlins struck Coulthard's machine once again and he retired, smoking, with another transmission failure.
In an attempt to overtake via the pitlane Irvine stopped early on lap 38 and retained his third place on rejoining, ahead of Barrichello, Frentzen and the Benetton of Giancarlo Fisichella. In fact, Irvine needn't have worried as Takagi's engine blew, depositing oil and water on the track which Mika Hakkinen promptly fell over, sliding into an escape road. Although avoiding a catastrophe, the McLaren lost 20 seconds with the detour and fell straight back into the serviced Ferrari's clutches.	Boats in Monte Carlo (and a Ferrari too!)
By the time Schumacher pitted on lap 42 he was 47 seconds ahead and comfortably maintained his lead, cruising in an efficiently relaxed manner from here to the end of the race. When Hakkinen stopped on lap 50, Irvine took second and, although surprising us with another pitstop on lap 56, he was never really troubled, despite the race's fastest lap from the world champion on lap 67. Frentzen kept running until lap 57, which gave him track position over Barrichello to take fourth place following his eventual stop. In any case the Stewart driver's race ended prematurely on lap 71 when, under pressure from Fisichella, his rear suspension broke. Fisichella then inherited fifth, with the second Benetton of Alexander Wurz now sixth. This was testament to the Benetton's reliability, rather than speed, which allowed them to keep running whilst others fell by the wayside. Indeed, only eight finished the admittedly demanding circuit. So Ferrari left the affluent principality with the equivalent of the crown jewels, and the onus is now on McLaren to make a contest of the season. For the spectators this was not a classic race, but at least we had some nice boats to look at.