For the second year in a row, Monaco has provided the F1 drivers with treacherous conditions and many failed to rise to the challenge.

Before the race

As the teams arrived in Monaco, the big press attention centred on Damon Hill. Damon, who failed to finish any of the first 4 races, is said to be running short on patience with the TWR-run Arrows team, and is apparently set to sign for a new team for the 1998 season. With so many contracts up for renewal, Damon could be seen in a Benetton, Jordan, McLaren, Prost, or Sauber in the new season and has been linked with most of the above at some point. For his part, Hill was remaining quiet saying only that his decision would be announced around the time of the British Grand Prix.

Other news from the Arrows camp was that Powerhorse logos may be soon removed from the car and driver overalls due to their alleged non-payment of the funds require by the team. Yamaha were another company in the Arrows dog-house, with the new engine proving to be not as good as first thought.

In an attempt to get the best from their cars, most teams had alterations to their usual setups, Williams opting for a much lower exhaust than usual and Tyrrell using a new suspension setup, that was only completed on Wednesday night. The most interesting however, was the Stewart Grand Prix SF1 changes. Stewart were said to be using a second brake caliper on each wheel to give them increased stopping power.

In practice Johnny Herbert ended Thursday fastest and was confident that he could repeat it on Saturday. Sadly for Johnny, Sauber and their legion of fans they could only manage 7th (although on any other day this would be great). Both the Jordan drivers were on the pace from the word go, as was Michael Schumacher, although this was expected from the current master of Monaco.

Olivier Panis was disappointing back in 12th place on the grid, having failed to do anything of consequence in any of the sessions. Although many thought that Bridgestone were to blame, by making a poor choice for the streets of the principality, this was by no means proved, as Stewarts Rubens Barrichello got his car into the top 10. By far the worst performance of qualfying was that of Gerhard Berger, the Benetton driver only managing 17th place on the grid.

Finally, I feel that it is only right that I mention the advent of Heinz-Harald Frentzens first pole position. The German has been maligned by many, but after his win at Imola he has appeared to reach a new level of confidence. Whilst this may not continue, the pole at Monaco was well deserved.

The Race

The skies had threatened rain throughout the weekend, but the dark skies kept everything inside until the last half hour before the race. At that point, the leaden skies opened and covered the track with sufficient water to throw everyones race strategies into doubt. As the grid formed up Michael Schumacher was the only driver to go out on wet tyres, to test the grip on the circuit and, after testing the limits of adhesion, decided to go with a wet setup. All of the teams except McLaren and Williams decided on the intermediate tyres (also referred to as cut slicks), with all four of the drivers opting for slicks on the information supplied by their teams.

As the drivers went round for their formation lap, it became clear that the cut slicks were the way to go, a lot of spray being thrown up by the runners. At this point, both Williams and McLaren should have been preparing to call in their drivers, but apparently they had faith in the predictions that the track would be dry within 30 minutes.

As the lights went out Michael Schumacher stormed ahead of the Williams of Heinz Harald Frentzen, closely followed by the Jordan-Peugeot of Giancarlo Fisichella. Frentzen managed to keep Ralf Schumachers Jordan at bay, and Jacques Villeneuve dropped back into the clutches of the chasing pack.

On the way up the Hill Michael was already well ahead of Fisichella who was, in turn, pulling away from Frentzen. Ralf Schumacher pressurised the Williams, while Johnny Herbert, Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard all tried to pass Villeneuve. Herbert was overtaken by Barrichello in the run up to Loews, and passed Villeneuve as they approached Tabac. Barrichello was followed by both Herbert and Panis, clearly struggling in the conditions. In a similar fashion, Ralf disposed of Frentzen along the start-finish straight.

For once, their was no accident at Ste Devote and we had to wait for Portier to see the first retirement, that of Pedro Diniz. The Brazilian had spun on the exit of the corner and stalled his engine.

So, at the end of the first lap, the running order was M. Schumacher, Fisichella, R. Schumacher, Frentzen, Barrichello, Herbert, Coulthard, Panis, Villeneuve, Alesi, Hakkinen, Irvine, Hill, Berger, Salo, Verstappen, Magnussen, Trulli, Katayama, Nakano and Larini (who must have had a terrible opening lap considering he qualified 11th).

In the run through Casino square, Barrichello, Herbert and Coulthard were all over the back of Frentzen, with Barrichello squeezing through at Loews. Much further back, Villeneuve had fallen into the clutches of Alesi, Hakkinen et al. With Barrichello fast disappearing up the track, Herbert and Coulthard were both desperate to pass Frentzen and when the German was slow out of Portier they seized their chance.

As the camera cut to the exit of the tunnel, Herbert came into view on the racing line, closely followed by Coulthard facing backwards close to the barrier on the "wrong" side of the track. The Scotsman apparently oversteered on his damp slicks in the tunnel and although he managed to avoid hitting anything, he stalled the engine, putting himself out of the race.

This incident also triggered a second and third retirement. Frentzen slowed to avoid the wreck much earlier than he would have if he had been on slicks and Jean Alesi who was trailing him did likewise. Sadly for Mika Hakkinen, the slow cars and slicks ensured that he was incapable of stopping in time and clattered into the back of Alesi, ripping off a wheel in the process. This impact forced Alesi over the curbs and into the path of Eddie Irvine. The Ferrari came to almost a complete standstill and was hit in the gearbox by Damon Hills Arrows. Damon snapped most of his front left suspension and was effectively left with 3 wheels on the Arrows. After a small collision with Jos Verstappen (the Dutchmans car was undamaged) Damon retired, making 0 finishes from 5 starts.

By this time, Michael Schumacher was well down the track, pulling out over 4 seconds a lap over the second place man, Giancarlo Fisichella. Fisichella was coming under pressure from Michaels younger brother Ralf, who had closed the gap quickly, and although he was being cautious, was obviously anxious to get past.

By the end of lap 3 Jacques Villeneuve was in for indermediate tyres, the slicks having dropped him to the rear of the field before he came in.

On lap 4 in his haste, Ralf pushed too hard at Loews and half spun the car, allowing Barrichello to pass and Herbert to close right up to him. Barrichello immediately started to put pressure on the second Jordan driver and on lap 5 got past on the exit of the tunnel. Ralf Schumacher recovered well and followed Barrichello past Fisichella on lap 6. Lap 6 also saw the second of the Williams drivers stop for wet weather rubber.

A recovering Frentzen came up to pass Jarno Trulli in the Minardi-Hart at Mirabeau on lap 8, and the Italian, recognising that he would not be able to hold off the faster car, moved off line to let him pass. This proved to be his downfall as the track was extremely slippery off the racing line and he slid head on into the barrier and retirement.

The following lap, Johnny Herbert also understeered off the track, this time at Ste Devote, thus ending a promising race for the Essex man. Gerhard Berger was another to hit the barriers on this lap, fortunately only losing his front wing in the accident. Ralf Schumacher also retired at this time (although he was on lap 10 at this time) after clipping a barrier in Casino square.

The final proof, if it was needed, that the Williams drivers had picked incorrectly was shown when, at the end of lap 11, Villeneuve was 14th, Frentzen 13th and M. Schumacher 30 seconds clear of 2nd placed Barrichello.

All the retirements in the previous laps had left the top 6 looking like this:
Schumacher, Barrichello, Fisichella, Panis, Irvine and Salo

Mika Salo was, for a change, running in the top 6 apparently on his own merit, the Tyrrell-Ford working well in the confines of Monaco. Salo's team mate Jos Verstappen was also running well, but was hampered by his poor starting position.

On lap 16 both Alesi and Villeneuve went out because of self inflicted problems. Alesi spun at Portier, stalling when trying to recover, and Villeneuve repeated his qualifying mistake and clouted the wall, making it back to the pits before retiring.

Back at the front, Fisichella was under pressure from Olivier Panis, the Frenchman clearly faster than the young Italian. Strangely Panis seemed to return to his ways of 1995 and 1996, sliding the car all over the place and losing every tenth of a second he gained.

As Fisichella was not really pushing hard and Panis was playing the fool, Eddie Irvine closed right up to the pair of them starting a three way game of cat and mouse (and dog?) that lasted 8 laps.

This battle was dropping behind Barrichello at the rate of at least 1 second a lap, although the distance between 1st and 2nd had stablised at just over 40 seconds, Michael Schumacher having clearly decided that he could afford to slow down a little to reduce the risk of an accident.

On lap 32, the leader stopped for fuel and tyres for the first and last time in the race. The race was scheduled to run for 72 laps, but with the rain, it was clear that the two-hour limit would be used instead. This also added a new dimension to the stops as most drivers were very heavy on fuel and in these circumstances would be using less fuel than in any other race.

Finally, on lap 33 Panis closed up to Fisichella at the swimming pool section and, using the new, more open exit, passed the Italian to take 3rd place. At this point Giancarlo seemed to decide that he couldn't face another round of pressure from Eddie Irvine and the Ferrari driver slipped by less than a lap later at the exit of the tunnel.

For Panis, the effort seemed wasted as on the very next lap he was called in for fuel and fresh tyres, dropping him back to 4th behind Irvine.

Soon, it was time for Michael Schumacher to lap his old rival, Heinz Harald Frentzen who was, at that time, not even in the top 6. Frentzens misery continued a lap later when he spun at Mirabeau whilst trying to keep in touch with the fast disappearing Ferrari. Whilst this didn't cause his retirement, Williams called him in for his stop the next time round. Frentzen was followed by Barrichello, the Brazilian having enough of a lead over 3rd place to stop and get out without losing a place.

Almost immediately after his stop, Frentzen ended his race, after sliding off the track at the entry to the Nouvelle Chicane and hitting the wall. Thus ended the Williams challenge in Monaco, if it could be called a challenge, both drivers retiring due to unforced errors.

The current running order at this time was Schumacher, Barrichello, Irvine, Panis, Salo, Magnussen, Fisichella, Verstappen, Berger, and Katayama. Shinji Nakano retired on lap 38, clipping the barrier on the run up the hill, ending up facing the wrong way on a fast section of the track.

On lap 45 both Magnussen and Irvine went into the pits for their one and only scheduled stop. I say scheduled stops as Magnussen was back in within a lap for a new nosecone, having understeered off the track at the chicane on his out lap.

This moved Giancarlo Fisichella back up to 6th position, the Jordan driver having apparently lost a lot of time between the pitstop and being stuck behind Jan Magnussen.

The amazing thing at this time was the 5th place car was the Tyrrell-Ford of Mika Salo. Mika had been running well all weekend, but the fact that he had not yet stopped for fuel or tyres meant that he was well up the field. The Ford ED that powers the Tyrrell uses relatively little fuel compared to the works engines and with the conditions so slippery, Mika was obviously saving enough fuel to last the majority of the race. The question was, could he make it to the end?

From here on, the race settled into the usual routine that follows the end of the stops, with very little by way of excitement. Michael Schumacher was one driver who did his best to enliven proceedings by taking a trip off the track at Ste Devote when he missed his braking point. Schumacher, ever the cool headed driver, executed a 360 degree turn and drove up the road without looking in the slightest bit worried.

The lead that the Ferrari driver had at this point ensured that he did not lose a place, and his superiority was such that he had lapped everyone up to (but not including) 4th position man Olivier Panis. In fact, despite the spin, Schumacher had a 1 minute 10 second lead over Rubens Barrichello. Rubens, for his part was maintaining a 22 second lead over Eddie Irvine, who was in turn maintaining a 20 second buffer to 4th placed Panis.

As mentioned previously, the race was being run according to the 2 hour limit, and as the race entered its closing stages, Michael Schumacher slowed right down to ensure that the 62nd lap would be the last, rather than the penultimate, thus avoiding the possibility of a mechanical failure.

The race was finished with the following order; Schumacher, Barrichello, Irvine, Panis, Salo, Fisichella, Magnussen, Verstappen, Berger, and Katayama.

In the post race conference Michael said, "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."

For once, the final word goes not to the winner, but to Jackie Stewart, a man visibly overcome by the 2nd place of his Brazilian charge. He said "I have never been second in Monaco. I'm so happy for Paul"