Juan Pablo fourth in eventful Monaco GP


Montoya

By Andrew Hooper
May 24 2004

BMW WilliamsF1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya would fourth in an eventful Monaco Grand Prix. Team-mate Ralf Schumacher would retire within three laps of the finish. Both driver would be criticised, some believe unjustly, for their parts in accidents involving Alonso and Michael Schumacher.

 

 

 
Monaco Grand Prix Review
 
For the BMW WilliamsF1 team the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix would see only Juan Pablo Montoya survive the race to finish in fourth, and pick up a valuable five points for the team.

MontoyaTeam-mate Ralf Schumacher would retire from the race three laps from the finish. Both drivers were to become the focus of much discussion, not for their results but for the fact that both were involved in accidents of other drivers.

Ralf would be involved in a moment which would see Renault's Fernando Alonso crash while running in the tunnel with his car smashing heavily into the barrier and exiting the tunnel with parts flying of the Renault. Alonso would criticise Ralf for what the Spaniard believed was Ralf's part in the accident.

As for Juan Pablo he would be criticised by Michael Schumacher for Juan Pablo's part in an incident, again in the tunnel, which would see Michael crash into the barriers. Michael would claim that Juan Pablo had run into the rear of his Ferrari even though we had the odd sight of Michael locking up his front brakes as the cars were running in the tunnel behind the safety car. Michael was to claim that he was warming up his brakes.

I will have more on both accidents and the responses from the drivers involved in separate stories.

Ralf SchumacherAs for the race Renault driver Jarno Trulli would come home winner to secure his first Grand Prix victory. Trulli was to dominate the race even though second placed Jenson Button would close to be just under 0.5 seconds behind Trulli at the finish.

In third, in what was a lonely race, was Rubens Barrichello. Rubens would complain that he had a problem at the rear of his car during the race and this had hindered his pace during the race. But he would maintain his record of finishing in the points in every Grand Prix this season.

Behind Juan Pablo would come Sauber's Felipe Massa in fifth and Cristiano Da Matta would score Toyota's first points of the season in sixth. Jordan's Nick Heidfeld would score Jordan's first points of the season, with seventh place and Olivier Panis ended eighth for Toyota.

 

Pos Driver Team-Engine Time

1. Trulli Renault (M) 1h45:46.601
2. Button BAR-Honda (M) + 0.497
3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) + 1:15.766
4. Montoya WilliamsF1-BMW (M) + 1 lap
5. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) + 1 lap
6. da Matta Toyota (M) + 1 lap
7. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) + 2 laps
8. Panis Toyota (M) + 3 laps
9. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) + 6 laps
10. R. Schumacher WilliamsF1-BMW (M) + 8 laps

Fastest Lap: M. Schumacher, 1:14.439

Not Classified/Retirements:

Driver Team On Lap

M. Schumacher Ferrari (B) 46
Alonso Renault (M) 42
Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 28
Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 16
Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 13
Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 12
Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 3
Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 3
Sato BAR-Honda (M) 3
Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1

 
 
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