As reported last week the weekend began well for Ferrari, posting fastest times. This trend continued in qualifying, even though Schumacher had to use one of the spare cars after a shunt in the morning practice. Michael appeared to be unbeatable, wringing every mph from his Ferrari. To Irvine's credit though, Schumacher's best time was only 0.4 seconds faster than the Irish man. Mclaren seemed to have lost their advantage.

Monaco demands a lot from a car. Even though the McLarens rule supreme in the aerodynamic efficiency stakes (thanks to Adrian Newey), that is not what is required here. Pure, unadulterated mechanical grip is all that you need to be successful, coupled to a power unit with plenty of low-end torque. The Mercedes unit certainly has this but Coulthard and Hakkinen found a frustrating lack of grip. Until their last attempt that is.

Michael and Eddie seemed to have the front row wrapped up, until McLaren made some "minor" changes and suddenly seemed to find traction and agility out of nowhere. Hakkinen drove probably the best qualifying lap of his life to clinch pole position by only 0.064 seconds!! Coulthard managed to bring the second McLaren into 3rd place ahead of Irvine. Ron Dennis was overjoyed. Schumacher was shocked. Still, it certainly set the mood for Sunday!

Olivier Panis' promising form was knocked back as he qualified only 17th, his team mate Trulli in a respectable 7th. Damon Hill started the weekend badly by smashing his Jordan and then not managing better than 18th place on the grid - his worst in a long time. Unsurprisingly, the other Jordan fared better - Frentzen put it on the 3rd row of the grid alongside Barrichello.

Our sympathy goes out to Marc Gene who had two major accidents during the hour of qualifying. The first happened as the Minardi exited the famous tunnel and the rear wing just detached, sending Gene into an uncontrollable spin. He eventually got back out on the track in the spare Minardi, only to spin it again, causing major damage to the car - not to himself though. His reward for his first efforts in Monaco is 22nd (last) on the grid - not a cheap day for the under-funded Italian team.

In the early laps Michael Schumacher drove very hard to build up an advantage. By lap 10 he was six seconds ahead of Hakkinen, with Irvine only four seconds behind that. The order remained unchanged down through the field, although Hill tried (badly) to overtake Ralf Schumacher at the chicane on lap 4 and collided with the Williams. Both cars spun. Ralf was able to rejoin but a miserable Damon had to retire. The marshals hurried the stricken Jordan out of the way just in time for Michael to swoop through.

As the leaders worked their way through the traffic Michael was able to increase his lead, using his reknowned skill at moving the backmarkers out of the way. Seventh placed Trulli in the Prost was the first to pit in indicating a two stop strategy. The rumours of some cars on a no-stop strategy never came to light as most cars stopped at least once.

Pedro de la Rosa retired on lap 32 with a gearbox problem. Coulthard's McLaren was afflicted with the same problem a few laps later - handing him his third retirement out of four races. By lap 34 Schumacher's lead had increased to 26 seconds over Mika - plenty time to have a pit stop. Interestingly, Irvine was right behind the McLaren of Hakkinen and appeared to be held up. He pitted to reduce the delay to his race and was then effectively handed a free pit stop as Mika went straight on at Mirabeau on Tora Takagi's oil. He managed to hold the McLaren straight though and returned to the track unscathed, 15 seconds lost.

Schumacher pitted on lap 47 and maintained his lead (he had time for a cup of tea). Hakkinen again struggled to keep Irvine behind him and eventually lost second place to the Ferrari in the pits. Further down the field, both BARs retired, as did the Stewarts - in dramatic fashion! Alesi dropped out with mechanical failure while his team mate crashed at Ste Devote. Ralf Schumacher also crashed. All these retirements allowed the Benettons to finished 5th and 6th - Wurz scoring his first point of the season. Frentzen drove well to pick up 4th place, securing Jordan's 3rd place in the championship - not far behind the McLarens.

An eventful race, as Monaco always is. The Ferraris won decisively, but remember that there is a long way to go yet, and the next few tracks will suit the McLarens better. Still, for us lot things can only get better! Read what Steve Dean has to say on the matter in this week's Steering Column.