Reflections on Monte Carlo
		by Roger Horton, England

The madness that is Monaco is over for another year. The race again served up the usual 'follow the leader' parade, each car more a captive of the car in front's pace than its own potential speed. David Coulthard kept himself and his car together for the required 78 laps to score his eighth career win, moving now to within 12 points of championship leader Michael Schumacher. At Monte Carlo, more than any other circuit, getting it right in qualifying is all-important. Michael Schumacher did his usual superb job and took his most important pole of the year. His main title rival Mika Hakkinen had run after run spoiled by traffic and yellow flags to end up fifth on the grid. It did not help his mood that on one of his early runs he was rather cynically held up Ralf Schumacher, driving his BMW-Williams on the line but off the pace. This is the second race in succession Ralf has got in the way during qualifying, having held up Giancarlo Fischella, Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta at the Nurburgring. Rubens Barrichello finished a rather off-the-pace second, whilst Fisichella did well with the car he had, to score a second podium finish this season. For Barrichello, the reality of life at Ferrari must now be sinking in. When he signed for Ferrari no one seriously expected that he would ever match Schumacher, let alone beat him. His job at Ferrari was always going to be about driving fast enough to take points away from Schumacher's title rivals and maybe score the odd win when Michael faltered. Only at Silverstone has he looked remotely like achieving this objective. At Monaco, as elsewhere, he never looked able to trouble either of the McLaren drivers, and only the problems of others ahead promoted him through the field after running eighth in the early stages. McLaren have two proven winners in their cars, and either one can win when required. Ferrari have always been happy to have all their eggs in the Schumacher basket since the German's arrival at Ferrari for the '96 season, but this policy may yet come back to haunt them before the year is out. For Michael Schumacher this was definitely a win that got away. It continued the 12-race jinx on the pole-sitter going on to win the race. Not since Mika Hakkinen won the Hungarian GP last year has this particular double been achieved. It is also the first clear cut mechanical failure that has cost Schumacher's Ferrari a points finish since his engine failed at the Australian GP at the start of the '98 season. While he was running, he looked to be in total command, helped by the fact that both Jordans were holding up both McLarens. But on Saturday he took the pole in front of Trulli's Jordan despite deciding to qualify using the harder, and therefore slower of the two Bridgestone tyre options. Had his suspension not failed, it would have proved a race-winning move. If Michael Schumacher was disappointed, then Heinz-Harald Frentzen was completely gutted, after sliding into the tyre barrier at Ste Devote whilst holding down a strong second place. Through much of the early stages the Jordan team looked to be in a position to score a bunch of points in front of a whole yacht full of the team's sponsors. Last season Frentzen resurrected his career by driving virtually all year without once putting a wheel wrong, so this error came as a surprise, especially as he was under no real pressure from behind. No wonder he was quoted after the race as saying, "Now I will creep away at home and try to forget everything as soon as possible." Frentzen had been outpaced most of the race weekend by his young Italian teammate Jarno Trulli. Trulli could well have emerged from Monaco an unlikely winner, had his Jordan not succumbed to the car's current Achilles Heal, a fragile gearbox. He was confidently holding off the attentions of race winner Coulthard before his gearbox cried enough on lap 38. Trulli did his reputation no harm at all at Monaco, and the way he refused to be ruffled by Coulthard's constant pressure was as impressive as his career-best front row starting position. Mika Hakkinen's tough season continued at Monaco where he finished a disappointed sixth. It's hard to put a finger on just what (if anything) is wrong with the double World Champion this year, but somehow, not much seems to be falling right for him at the moment. Rumours that he will retire, or take a year's sabbatical continue to float around the paddock despite denials from all concerned. He was fastest when it didn't really matter during Thursday's free practice session and his fastest race lap showed that the fire still burns when it is required. The struggling Jaguar team finally broke their point's drought with Eddie Irvine's fourth place finish. In terms of the amount of money Ford have invested to achieve these three points, and so be seventh equal with Sauber after seven rounds of the championship, it can't rank as much of a 'victory'. But the team's revival needed to start somewhere and Monaco is probably as good as anywhere. The BMW-Williams team suffered their second pointless race in a row after Ralf Schumacher crashed out of the race heavily at Ste Devote, appearing to be distracted by the McLaren of Hakkinen emerging from the pits. He sustained a deep gash to his leg, but reportedly will be fit to take part in the Canadian race next week. Jenson Button never really made it into the race at all, being forced to start in the spare car from the pitlane after tangling with the Arrows of Pedro De La Rosa on the first lap of the second attempted start. Button retired on lap 18 with an engine problem. The BAR-Honda outfit never looked as if they would trouble any of the more established teams throughout their Monaco weekend. An engine failure on Villeneuve's first out-lap consigned him to the spare for his qualifying effort, but 17th was still something of a disaster, although Villeneuve has never really got to grips with this Monaco track. In the race Ricardo Zonta crashed out at Ste Devote (where else) and Villeneuve finished one lap down in seventh position, ahead of just one car that was actually running - the Prost of Nick Heidfeld. As BAR have the third biggest budget in Formula One, an improving engine, and an ex-World Champion driver in the cockpit, one can only wonder how much longer those currently paying the bills will allow this state of affairs to continue. Monaco proved once again to be a challenge for the drivers - to drive consistently on the limit without any margin for error; and the teams - to build a car that would go the distance. It has been this way since 1929 and last Sunday David Coulthard in his McLaren MP4/15 proved a worthy addition to the long list of winners.

Roger Horton	© 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
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