Alonso wins as Coulthard earns podium place
Fernando Alonso led from start to finish to win the Monaco Grand Prix as David Coulthard made history for Red Bull.
The Renault driver stretched his championship lead to 21 points after surviving a fierce challenge from Kimi Raikkonen to win from pole position, his fourth victory of the season.
Raikkonen retired when the Mercedes engine in his McLaren blew up late in the race and watched the closing laps from a yacht in the harbour.
His misfortune promoted team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya to second for his best result of the season.
Coulthard produced the shock of the day by taking Red Bull’s first-ever podium - and his first since Japan 2003 – with third after Toyota’s Jarno Trulli retired late on.
Honda’s Rubens Barrichello was denied a certain podium by a late penalty which dropped him to fourth, although that was considerably better than team-mate Jenson Button’s performance.
The Englishman struggled badly and was a distant 11th at the chequered flag.
Michael Schumacher started from the pit lane after being penalised for deliberately interrupting qualifying but brushed off that handicap, and allegations of cheating, to net four points for fifth.
Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella and BMW-Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld were sixth and seventh respectively while Trulli’s heartbreak gifted a point to Toyota team-mate Ralf Schumacher.
The tone of the race was set within two laps after Alonso made a perfect start and quickly established a small cushion over Mark Webber’s Williams.
That did not last long after Raikkonen’s brave pass up the hill towards Casino Square put him into second and the Finn turned up the heat on Alonso.
They traded fastest laps but with concrete and Armco barriers just inches away, overtaking was next to impossible.
A slight mistake from Raikkonen on lap 17 allowed Alonso to extend his lead to a second but that was quickly shaved down when the McLaren man immediately set the fastest lap.
Raikkonen started the first wave of pit stops on lap 22 but when the top three had all pitted within three laps of each other, nothing had changed at the front.
The pattern remained the same as the leaders fought their way through traffic, with Raikkonen briefly dropping back when held up by Alonso’s team-mate Fisichella.
Webber dropped behind the leading pair when Fisichella held him up badly, costing him eight seconds. That mattered little though when his Cosworth engine blew on lap 49.
With his Williams in a dangerous spot, the safety car was brought out and most drivers made their final pit stops.
Raikkonen was again unable to leapfrog Alonso but that battle ended soon after with flames pouring from the McLaren’s engine on lap 51.
After going over half the race without any retirements, the field began shrinking rapidly and Nico Rosberg crashed his Williams at Rascasse on lap 54, four laps before Christian Klien’s Red Bull expired.
Barrichello’s run to an unlikely podium was ruined by a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane which dropped him to fifth.
Third place was beginning to look cursed when Trulli’s Toyota gave up but Alonso was serene at the front and won by 14.5 seconds.
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