By Parminio
May 24 2004

Hopes were high for McLaren fans on Sunday, as McLaren showed their best form of the year at Monaco. It wasn't to hold water for long though. After a promising start, Kimi was 5th and DC was 8th. It didn't last long. From the very start, smoke began puffing from Takuma Sato's BAR Honda. Sato made a blinding start, knocking Michael Schumacher out of the way and nearly nipping Button as well before settling into 4th possition. As the engine puffed more and more, it became evident that the motor wouldn't last. Kimi and Michael were hot on the tail of Sato when his motor let go, filling the track with so much smoke that noone could see a thing. Luck was with Kimi and Michael, as they were close enough to get by before the track became completely blind. David wasn't so lucky.

As Rubens Barrichello and Juan Pablo Montoya stood on the brakes to try and sneak through the smokescreen, David Coulthard hit the brakes to avoid Juan, and was rear ended by Fisichello. Fisi's Sauber tore off the back of David's car, flipped on its side and came to rest upside down on the armco. Fisichello was unhurt however and climbed from underneath the car.

Kimi would retire later. According to McLaren, the telemetry showed an eminent engine failure, so they called him in.

The big story of the race however was that Michael and Juan got into it again. While under the safety car in the tunnel, Mike locked his brakes up. Why he did it is unknown. Juan then made a move to the inside in an attempt to avoid Mike, and when Mike came back accross the track contact was made sending Mike's Ferrari bouncing off the walls like a billiard ball, ending his race.

The Stewards decided that no action should be taken.

It's the 2nd time this year that the two have had a run-in. For the second time as well, Ralph Schumacher was involved in an incident. While running in 2nd, Alonso came up to lap Ralph. When entering the tunnel, it appeared that Ralph slowed up considerably to let Alonso through. When Alonso got along side of Ralph however, Ralph appeared to speed back up, forcing Alonso out wide. Alonso then hit the marbles left by lap after lap of tire wear, slid into the armco and destroyed his car.

It was a very interesting Monaco Grand Prix to be sure. Ultimately, and the real story, was that Jarno Trulli took off from poll and won the race, his first in his career. Jenson Button brought it home in second after a late charge on Trulli that fell just short.