Summary

Michael Schumacher showed he is the king in the rain during today's very wet Monaco Grand Prix. The German was just too strong for anyone to even come close. He finished with a lead of 53 seconds over second place driver Rubens Barrichello, who gave the Stewart team their first second place in the just five race Formula One history of the team. Eddie Irvine completed the podium with another good result. The race was just over 62 laps in stead off the 78 because the two hour limit was reached.

Schumacher took the lead of the driver championship and Ferrari is now leading the constructor championship.

Mika Salo drove his Tyrrell-Ford to an excellent fifth place. The amazing thing was that he did not make a pit stop at all.

Notes

• Schumacher is using the T-car which is set-up for a wet weather race.
• Villeneuve and Frentzen start on slick tyres which proved to be a very big mistake.
• Recoverable spins were made by: Larini, Panis, Verstappen, Frentzen.
• Diniz spins and stalls the engine on lap 0.
• Coulthard is suffering from severe oversteer and hits the barriers. His left front suspension is badly damaged and he retires on lap 1.
• Because Coulthard is in the way because his car is not really driving any more a couple of cars need to slow down which Hakkinen fails to. He hits the back of Benetton and looses a wheel.
• Hill is out of the race with a broken front suspension.
• Trulli runs into the tyre barrier because he makes a mistake when Frentzen was passing him on lap 7.
• Herbert goes off on the end of the start/finish straight.
• Berger runs wide and has to come into the pits for a new nose.
• R. Schumacher tries too hard to go fast as he later explains and looses the car on lap 10.
• Alesi spins and stalls the engine on lap 16.
• Villeneuve retires in the pits on the same lap as Alesi.
• Larini hits the barriers. The back end of the car kis damaged which leaves him out of the race on lap 24.
• Nakano hits the barriers and retires on lap 36.
• Frentzen missed the chicane and hits the wall on lap 39.
• Magnussen wrecks his nose cone when he misses the chicane.
• Schumacher misses the corner after the start/finish straight, turns the car around and continues.
  • Weather during race: Rain - Heavy rain, Strong winds (16 Degrees Celsius)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.   11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

M. Schumacher (Ferrari) Barrichello (Stewart) Irvine (Ferrari) Panis (Prost) Salo (Tyrrell) Fisichella (Jordan) Magnussen (Stewart) Verstappen (Tyrrell) Berger (Benetton) Katayama (Minardi) Not Classified Frentzen (Williams) Nakano (Prost) Larini (Sauber) Alesi (Benetton) Villeneuve (Williams) R. Schumacher (Jordan) Herbert (Sauber) Trulli (Minardi) Coulthard (McLaren) Hakkinen (McLaren) Hill (Arrows) Diniz (Arrows)

2h 00:05.654s + 53.306s + 1:22.108s + 1:44.402s 1 lap 1 lap 1 lap 2 laps 2 laps 2 laps   23 laps 26 laps 38 laps 46 laps 46 laps 52 laps 53 laps 55 laps 61 laps 61 laps 61 laps 62 laps

• Fastest lap: Michael Schumacher 1m 53.315s

The Quotes

• Schumacher: "Everything went the right way today. It was perfect. I used the right tyres and team chose the right strategy. After my good start it was an easy race for me. In the short time before the start I decided to switch cars, which was the right choice. Realistically, I did not think I could win; I thought second place was possible, but in the wet anything can happen. On lap 53 I locked the front wheels and although I might have got round the corner, I decided not to risk it and took the escape road. We are leading both championships but there are still 12 races to go."

• Barrichello: "It is a really great day for me and for the team. It is not that long ago I remember getting up in Brazil and watching this race on television, and my ambition this morning was just to finish."

• Irvine: "I am very happy to be on the podium yet again, especially after starting from 15th place. I was very depressed and demoralised yesterday. My car was completely set up for the dry. On the grid the only change we made was to put on more wing. I made a good start but the first few laps were crazy. The Ferrari must be a very strong car because I was hit from all sides by other cars and my car was fantastic under braking. I am third in the Championship at the moment and I would like to stay there."

• Coulthard: "Very disappointing. It was very tricky out there."

• Hakkinen: "It was not a very pleasant Grand Prix for me. When I came out of the tunnel there were a lot of cars there. I had not chance of stopping the car."

• Herbert: "The situation was very difficult in the beginning. It was very tricky."

• J. Stewart: "I can not remember being happier in my entire life than here. I have never been second in Monaco. The Bridgetsone's worked very well."

• Villeneuve: "We had data telling us it would dry after 20 or 30 minutes so we decided to keep the dry set-up and the slicks, but it started to rain more so they were useless. Eventually, I hit the guard rail and the car was too damaged to carry on. The car was very difficult to control even with rain tyres."

• Tyrrell: "Both drivers did a good job. We should have the ED5 (Ford engine) in Barcelona."

• Salo: "I think that's what you call thinking on your feet. I didn't make a good start on the slippery outside of the track and was maybe a bit too careful going into the first corner. But then about half way through the race I realised what the team was trying to do, so we reduced the fuel mix and the revs and I started coasting through the comers to stay off the power. It was great thinking, but I wasn't sure I was going to make it. My tyres were completely shot and when it started to rain again I last all grip and was lucky not to hit the wall. But it is an excellent performance and my thanks go to everyone in the team."

• Verstappen: "It was unbelievably slippery out there -- you just couldn't get on the power. We made the right choice of tyres, but there was just no traction at all and I was getting wheelspin all the way up the hill. It was so difficult to keep control and there were cars going off everywhere at the beginning. The boys did a great job for me last night after I destroyed half of the car yesterday and I owed it to them to at least finish, but I definitely lost the race in qualifying."

• Hill: "It was very sad. I was behind Irvine when a lot of cars hit trouble at the end of the tunnel. A Benetton went over the kerb and stopped in the middle of the track. Irvine was forced to stop and I went into the back of him."

The Standings

Drivers Championship table

M. Schumacher (Ferrari)	24
Villeneuve (Williams)	20
Irvine (Ferrari)	14
Coulthard (McLaren)	10
Berger (Benetton)	10
Frentzen(Williams)	10
Hakinnen (McLaren)	10
Panis (Prost)	9
Barrichello (Stewart)	6
R. Schumacher (Jordan)	4
Fisichella (Jordan)	4
Herbert (Sauber)	3
Alesi (Benetton)	3
Salo (Tyrrell)	2
Larini (Sauber)	1

Constructors Championship table

Ferrari	38
Williams-Renault	30
McLaren-Mercedes	20
Benetton-Renault	13
Prost-Mugen	9
Jordan-Peugeot	8
Stewart-Ford	6
Sauber-Petronas	4
Tyrrell-Ford	2