The Hindu : Montoya staves of a late surge by Raikkonen

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 02, 2003

Sport

Sport - Racing : Motor

Montoya staves of a late surge by Raikkonen

Colombian BMW-Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya kisses his trophy after winning the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday. — AFP

MONTE CARLO June 1. Juan Pablo Montoya held off a fast-closing Kimi Raikkonen to win the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday. By just 0.6 seconds, Montoya won his second career Formula One race, following his first at the 2001 Italian Grand Prix.

The Colombian driver also gave Williams-BMW its first victory on the tight, twisting 3.34-kilometer (2.08-mile) Monaco streets since 1983, by Keke Rosberg.

Montoya had the pole position here last year and seven in 2002, and never converted any.

``I have had chances to win. Melbourne I threw away so the pressure was on. Monza was great but this was fantastic,'' Montoya said.

``It was the first time I finished in Monaco. First time I finished so that's pretty good.''

Raikkonen extended his lead over Michael Schumacher in the season standings by two points to four. ``I was not very lucky with starting in second place,'' Raikkonen said. ``I seem to get bad starts. I tried to get past but it's impossible here. Especially in the final laps.

``It's stupid to take any risks here,'' he added. ``Maybe on some other circuit.''

Ferrari's Schumacher, who'd won the season's last three races, was third 1.7 seconds behind Montoya, and missed tying Ayrton Senna's record of six Monaco victories.

Schumacher paid for a poor fifth start off the grid, and tried to go for longer stints with heavier fuel loads.

``Out of fifth to arrive in third is reasonable,'' he said. ``We tried everything but this weekend probably we were not strong enough.''

Montoya's teammate Ralf Schumacher, who won the pole and led through the first 20 laps, was fourth, while Renault drivers Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli were fifth and sixth.

McLaren's David Coulthard, who won the race in 2000 and 2002, was seventh, followed by Rubens Barrichello in the other Ferrari in eighth.

The top four teams dominated the top eight places throughout the race.

The only really changes of position on the course came in the opening seconds when Montoya moved from third to second past Raikkonen.

That eventually decided the race, as the rest of the changes came during pit stops.

Ralf went into the lead easily by the first corner, followed by Montoya, and was building a lead of more than two seconds at the end of the first lap of 78.

However Heinz-Harald Frentzen crashed his Sauber-Petronas and the safety car came out allowing the field to bunch up.

At the start of the fifth, it was Ralf, Montoya, Raikkonen, Trulli and Michael.

It stayed that way until the 21st, when Ralf came into the pits first after his lead was dwindling, and Montoya took over.

Over the next 10 laps, all the leaders pitted with Michael the last at the end of the 31st.

Then, it was Montoya first, Raikkonen second and Michael third ahead of his brother.

When Montoya and Raikkonen pitted by the end of the 52nd, Michael led, and stayed there until the 60th, when he went in for fuel band tires.

Montoya led Raikkonen by about a second with 18 laps to go, and they stayed that way until Raikkonen started edging closer in the last five laps.

The last two laps brought the only real excitement of the race as Raikkonen closed to within a few car lengths of Montoya on the tight curves, and Michael was lurking a few seconds back, ready to pounce on any mistake.

He had a simple strategy: ``Sit and wait. You never know what happens. To some degree you enjoy catching up and wait for the opportunity.''

However, the chance never came, and Williams won for the first time since Malaysia last year, a span of 22 GPs.

Montoya became the fifth different winner this season in seven races. Michael has won three, and Raikkonen, Coulthard, Giancarlo Fisichella and now Montoya once each.

Ralf was 28 seconds behind in fourth.

After the top eight, Cristiano da Matta of Toyota was the best of the rest, but more than a lap behind.

It was the 50th Monaco GP in Formula One history.

The Canadian GP is in two weeks in Montreal. — AP

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