David Coulthard took his second win of the season for McLaren, moving him up above team mate Hakkinen in the world championship.

Michael Schumacher led for most of the 78 lap race, but a suspension failure on lap 56, saw him limp back to the Ferrari pits to retire. Team mate Barichello came home in second, ahead of Benetton driver Fisichella.

Eddie Irvine managed to grab three debut points for Jaguar, much to the delight of Jackie Stewart.

"We badly needed them, said the Scot. "It really is a race of attrition here; you’ve got to finish, and I’m thrilled that that is what Eddie did. It’s just what the team needed. Monaco has been very kind to me, and I hope it continues to be for the team."

The race got off to a chaotic start, which saw it aborted twice before finally restarting half an hour later than scheduled.

After the first initial formation lap. Alexander Wurz stalled his Benetton on the starting grid, which forced another warm up lap.

Since the team had only one spare car, set for team mate Fisichella, he was unable to re start and was ready to sit out the race.

After the second start, a computer problem forced the red flag mechanism to start flashing throughout the circuit, effectively halting the race midway through the first lap.

During this, Jenson Button ran into the back of Pedro de la Rosa’s Arrows, causing it to stop sideways on the track, causing a traffic jam that forced drivers to take part in a race on foot, as Gene, Villeneuve, Zonta, Button, Heidfeld, Diniz, Mazzacane and de la Rosa all raced back to the pits!

All of this however, enabled Wurz to rejoin the race because his crew managed to make changes to the car during the twenty minute break. Eventually everybody re-started the race except for de la Rosa.

Coulthard was thrilled to be on top of the podium again, in a race he said that he has always wanted to win.

"I’ve always said there are a few Grand Prix for me on a personal level that I’d like to win," said Coulthard.

"Spa, the British Grand Prix for obvious reasons, the Italian, and Monaco, because technically it’s one of the most challenging and demanding circuits for a driver. I benefited from problems that Michael and Jarno had, but that’s Formula One. I think I’ve had my fair share of bad luck, and so I’m happy to take the win today.

"The team did a great job on set up, and adjustments on the grid. I was able to make quick lap times as and when I needed to. You need to have a reliable car, that is able to keep away from the barriers, and Mclaren gave me that today, it was strong enough to go the distance. I don’t know what Mika’s problem was."

The Scot commented somewhat philosophically, that he is not affected by team mate Hakkinen’s status, and added that as he continues to improve he expects increasing support from his McLaren team.

"Mika’s a two time world champion, so that must be a fair confidence boost. Iv’e never been psyched by his or Michael’s achievements. I’m just walking towards achieving my maximum, and slowly as my confidence grows, I’m giving more and more, and expecting more from the team."

The comments came after Hakkinen refused to move off the racing line to allow his team mate to pass in order to lap him.

Barrichello too was pleased to finish second for Ferrari, but was disappointed not to have been able to have a proper fight with Frentzen.

"I was just conserving tyres and fuel for much of the race," said the Brazilian. "I would have caught Frentzen, because I was faster than him. He had good tyres, but I was just catching him at the end. I was pushing but then Ross Brawn told me to back off because we had a problem."

An accident in his Williams resulted in Ralf Schumacher damaging his leg, mid way through the race. The German was in considerable pain when he climbed out of his car, and blood was visible through his overalls. He was eventually stretchered to hospital for stitches.

Hakkinen had a problematic race, starting from fifth, and eventually managing to scrape a point in sixth. His car appeared to suffer a series of mechanical problems throughout the race, but the mechanics were able to stabilise it during a standard pit stop.

Only nine cars finished the race, with Salo fighting off Hakkinen to finish in sixth, and Villeneuve, Heidfeld and Herbert reaching the flag in 7th, 8th and 9th respectively.