Montoya Serves Notice on Schumacher

Faster than you could say their names, the trio of Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher swept past the chequered flag yesterday afternoon to claim the first three places in an exhilarating Monaco grand prix. Less than two seconds covered Montoya's Williams-BMW, Raikkonen's McLaren-Mercedes and Schumacher's Ferrari, the closest finish in the race's long history.

For the last 20 laps, after the final round of pit stops, the three cars circulated as though tied together by a rubber band that was being wound ever tighter by some unseen hand. As Raikkonen closed to within half a second of Montoya, so an angry and frustrated Schumacher reduced his own gap to the second-placed McLaren, cutting the gap from 10 seconds to barely a second.

It was the second victory of the 27-year-old Colombian's grand prix career, and it had been a long time coming. When he won at Monza in the autumn of 2001, he seemed about to fulfil all the claims of greatness made on his behalf. Yet last year he was unable to record a single win, despite starting seven races from pole position, and questions were being asked about his capacity to deal with the various demands made by formula one.

"Today was the ideal day," he said after accepting the crowd's congratulations and, exceptionally, the applause of the press. "The car worked well, the tyres worked well, and the team did a fantastic job. Winning here is very special."

The victory came on a day which began with informed speculation that Ferrari are hoping to tempt him into joining them for 2005, after apparently failing to persuade Schumacher to extend his present contract. The prospect of the flamboyant Montoya in a red car is one to savour.

For his present team, the relief yesterday was almost as great. The contract between Williams and BMW is due for renewal, and the Bavarian company has hinted that it holds its English partners largely responsible for the failure to build on the promise of their initial efforts. Yesterday's win was Sir Frank Williams' first since 1982 in a race in which his team have endured bad luck and self-inflicted wounds in equal profusion.

"Every lap was a nightmare," said Mario Theissen, BMW's motor sport director. "I know Williams' reputation at Monaco and I kept thinking that something was going to happen."

Something almost did. Montoya was less than 10 minutes away from victory when a voice came on the radio to tell him his engine was showing signs of overheating. For 40 laps he had pushed his car to the limit as he held off his pursuers. Now he was informed that if he did not reduce his demands on the engine, it might not last to the finish.

And so, seven laps from the end, he complied. Raikkonen duly crept closer, reducing the gap to half a second. With three laps to go, Montoya could bear it no longer. If he maintained his restraint, he told his engineers, the McLaren would overtake him in the long, curving tunnel, where the cars reach 170mph.

Fingers were crossed in the pits as Montoya sent the BMW engine screaming back up to peak revs. And although the two cars crossed the line only a third of a second apart as they began the last lap, the extra power was enough to preserve Montoya's advantage.

Raikkonen could be pleased with an afternoon on which McLaren's old MP4-17D, due to be replaced in a month's time, enabled him to halt Michael Schumacher's assault on his championship lead. Had he held on to second position at the start, rather than conceding a place to Montoya, this might conceivably have been his second win of the season instead of his fourth runner-up award in the past five races.

Ralf Schumacher, who took pole position in the other Williams FW25, led convincingly until he made the first of his two pit stops after 20 laps, but was unhappy with his second set of tyres and fell back. He was already out of contention when he ran wide at the Rascasse on the 52nd lap, losing a further 10 seconds.

His brother Michael left no doubt where the blame lay for Ferrari's lacklustre showing, and it was not with the new F2003-GA, the winner of the preceding two races. "It was nothing to do with the car, honestly," he said, having entered the press conference wearing a thunderous expression. "On the tyre side, we didn't look too good this weekend."

The crucial discovery had been made during Thursday's first qualifying session. Although the two Ferraris recorded the fastest times, it became clear that the soft Bridgestone tyres would be useless for the race. A switch to a harder compound, plus a heavier fuel load, left them fifth and seventh on the grid and the drivers were unable to regain the initiative, although Schumacher did much better than Rubens Barrichello, who finished a very poor eighth.

A forgettable day for Ferrari, then, but a marvellous one for fans of grand prix racing's most bizarre and cherishable event. Yet again, Monaco proved that a race without overtaking can still be called a race.