Trouble in Paradise
Grand Prix of Monaco

By Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

Jarno Trulli was the show this weekend as he put his Renault on pole and managed to weave through the debris to capture his first win after 118 starts in Formula 1. In the process, he made sure that Schumacher's bid to set a new wins-in-a-row record was ended at a tie with Nigel Mansell's five. The pole was also the Italian's first and it was a great weekend for the French team in their backyard.

I might have claimed that there wasn't going to be much passing in this race (which was proven to be a correct prediction), but there was more drama in this race than the previous five of the season. The first incident was Panis' Toyota stalling on the grid. Once he was back keeping the Minardis company, the race was on.

Sato-san absolutely blew the field away at the start and made a quick Banzai jump from seventh to fourth, pushing Schumacher aside. Hondas are getting better, but there was some abuse of the lump as it started smoking like a Frenchman with a Gaulois shortly thereafter. The BAR-Honda did its best Kimi impersonation and blew up three laps later. Now, for those that are new to F1, Monaco is like racing in a canyon. At the bottom. When the smoke was still thick, Giancarlo Fisichella rammed the back end of local hotelier David Coulthard and ended upside down against the Armco. If the sport was still using ten year old safety standards, I'd be writing an obituary right now. Fortunately, all that was bruised was his ego.

The leaders took the opportunity to pit during the safety car's hot laps and Ferrari's strategy became apparent. Carry a heavier load of fuel and run like hell when everyone else pits. Classic.

By lap 26, Michael was in third, behind the Renaults and reeling them in. Then Alonso and Ralf picked up where they left off and knocked into each other. Again. This time, the little German let the Spaniard pass on the dirty line of the track. In the tunnel. The safety car was out again. Then the elder Schumacher played his normal game of breaking hard to put some heat in the brakes and get a jump on the field when the safety car pulled off, when Juan Pablo slammed into the back end of him, ending his chances and making it a rather boring parade to the finish. The trash talking Columbian is now down to 5 fans, and rumors are that they are all relatives. He would finish fourth.

Button did try to make it interesting, but he really didn't have much of a chance. It was a great finish for the young Brit, one of the true rising stars in the sport. Rubens Barrichello tried to fill his team mate's shoes, but only managed the last spot up there with the royals.

After the false start, Toyota still finished with both cars in the points. But then again, there weren't many cars running. Both McClunkens were out, and crybaby Montoya is now bitching that he wants out of his contract for next year.

Not that anyone cares, but both Jaguars were out. Jaguar Racing and Steinmetz Diamond Group have called off the search for a missing $250,000 diamond that some brilliant marketing executive (probably now unemployed) decided to place on the nose of each Jaguar in celebration of their newest sponsor (who is also trying to get out of their contract). One diamond was lost when the nosecone of Klein's car wound up under the Armco. Jaguar offered a reward of a $50,000 X-Type sportscar, but so far there have been no takers. The diamonds were to be auctioned for charity later in the year.

And finally, poor Minardi. The only way this team ever wins any points is when the rest of the field crashes out. This time, they were only one away with Baumgartner finishing in ninth. On the last lap, Paul Stoddard was seen throwing broken glass on the front straight. It still didn't help.

The teams only have one week to lick their wounds. The circus is off to the Nurburgring for the European Grand Prix this weekend.