Just a day after taking his first ever Formula 1 pole position, Jarno Trulli put in the drive of his life in Monaco to at last claim his maiden grand prix victory in front of a thrilled crowd.
In what was easily the most eventful and exciting grand prix of the year so far, Trulli remained one of only a few drivers to keep his head for the 77-lap race, while others around him were all losing theirs.
The stage was set for a classic grand prix in qualifying, when Michael Schumacher — seeking a record sixth win out of six races — could only post a lap good enough for fourth on the grid, behind B.A.R’s Jenson Button and both Mild Seven Renault F1 Team drivers, Trulli and Fernando Alonso.
The drama of the race began even before the start. As the cars lined up on the grid for the start after the warm-up, Toyota driver Olivier Panis stalled his car just short of his grid position. This meant the start had to be aborted and the race restarted after another warm-up lap ten minutes later — an early indication of the chaos to come.
At the restart both Mild Seven Renault F1 Team drivers pulled away perfectly, Trulli leading into the first corner closely followed by Alonso. Behind them Button slotted in third, but Michael Schumacher lost out to a flying Takuma Sato and an opportunistic Kimi Raikkonen.
As the Mild Seven Renaults pulled away, Button just about managed to stay in touch, opening up a gap to his team mate Sato, who’s engine clearly was not running smoothly. Sure enough, Sato’s engine blew on lap 3, his car pouring thick white smoke out of the back in the fast swimming pool section of the Monaco circuit. The cars behind Sato — struggling for visibility — slowed to get past safely, all except Giancarlo Fissichella who careened into the back of David Coulthard and then flipped upside down.
At one point it looked as if the race would have to be red-flagged, but the race stewards decided the debris from the accident could be cleared during a safety car period. Under the safety car, the field follow a slower-paced sports car around the circuit in single file until the track is safe enough for the cars to race again, at which point the safety car pulls into the pits and then releases the field.
Trulli and Alonso again pulled away brilliantly after the safety car, opening up a couple of seconds gap to Button and crucially staying ahead through the first round of pit stops. However, they then started to come under pressure from Michael Schumacher, who was able to leap-frog both Raikkonen and Button during the pit stops after posting some incredible lap times around the time of his stop.
Michael Schumacher was soon to take the lead however, as the safety car was deployed once again after Alonso crashed into the wall in the tunnel, trying to lap Ralf Schumacher. As soon as the safety car came out, Trulli dashed into the pits to refuel until the end of the grand prix, as did Button. Michael Schumacher, however, opted to stay out and found himself in the lead behind the safety car.
Then, in a bizarre incident just before the restart, Schumacher crashed out of the lead in almost exactly the same place as Alonso had done. Schumacher had locked a wheel in the tunnel behind the safety car (possibly because the safety car inexplicably braked) and collided with Juan Pablo Montoya, who was a lap down but just behind Schumacher in the safety car queue.
This left Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button in a straight fight to the finish.
In an incredible climax, both drivers pushed as hard as they could, Button managing to carve his way through back-markers slightly more effectively, closing the gap from 5.0 sec to as little as 0.4 sec at the end.
Trulli kept his composure brilliantly, however, punching the air as he crossed the line — a grand prix winner at last!