However, another heavy fuel load in his second stint prevented him making much headway on the two cars ahead.Raikkonen went four laps longer than Montoya on the second stops - lap 53 against lap 49 - and again Schumacher's Ferrari did a long stint, running until 59. Thus the stage was set for a gripping confrontation in the closing laps as Raikkonen put Montoya under massive pressure and Schumacher played catch-up. As their individual strategies played out, it created the most genuinely fascinating race so far under the new regulations that were introduced for the 2003 season. Overtaking is impossible at Monaco, however, and though Montoya admitted that he made a few small errors in the closing laps, as Raikkonen brought the deficit down below a second, none was sufficient to jeopardise his success.
When the chequered flag finally fell, he still had 0.6sec in hand over Raikkonen, who was 1.1sec ahead of Schumacher. "Everybody at BMW-Williams really needed this win so much," Montoya admitted.Overshadowed by the fight ahead of him, Ralf Schumacher yet again faded and could only finish fourth, but at least he was clear of a fight between David Coulthard and the Renaults for fifth place. The Scot, like Michael Schumacher before him, was bottled up behind the unpassable Trulli, and stopping as late as possible allowed Fernando Alonso to vault ahead of both of them with 17 laps to run. Rubens Barrichello, in the second Ferrari, had a quiet race and was never quite able to challenge them.Montoya's victory pushes him into equal fifth place in the championship chase as Raikkonen extended his lead over Schumacher to four points, and Williams' first Monaco victory since Keke Rosberg triumphed back in 1983 moved them up to third place in the constructors' list as McLaren moved back ahead of Ferrari.
As he left the principality, Schumacher was forced to admit: "We weren't quite strong enough this weekend."MONTE CARLO DETAILS1 J P Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW 1hr 42min 19.010sec2 K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes +0.602sec3 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari +1.7204 R Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW +28.5185 F Alonso (Sp) Renault +36.2516 J Trulli (It) Renault +40.9727 D Coulthard (GB) McLaren-Mercedes +41.227; 8 R Barrichello (Br) Ferrari +53.266; 9 C da Matta (Br) Toyota Racing +1 lap; 10 G Fisichella (It) Jordan-Ford 1 lap; 11 N Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber 2 laps; 12 R Firman (GB) Jordan-Ford 2 laps; 13 O Panis (Fr) Toyota Racing 4 laps. Not Classified: J Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Honda (63 laps completed). Did Not Finish: J Wilson (GB) Minardi (29 laps); J Verstappen (Neth) Minardi (28 laps); M Webber (Aus) Jaguar Racing (16 laps); A Pizzonia (Br) Jaguar Racing (10 laps); H-H Frentzen (Ger) Sauber (0 laps). Did Not Take Part: J Button (GB) BAR-HondaFastest lap: Raikkonen 1:14.545 (on lap 49)Manufacturers' Championship: 1 McLaren-Mercedes 73pts; 2 Ferrari 71; 3 Williams-BMW 50; 4 Renault 42; 5= Jordan-Ford 11; 5= BAR-Honda 11; 7 Sauber 8; 8 Jaguar 4; 9 Toyota Racing 3.. St Helens ended a tumultuous few days clinging precariously to their place in Super League's top six after a game as dramatic as any so far this season. They were slipping into further trouble, however, and the anxiety showed in the unprecedented sight of Sean Long donning headphones on the pitch to talk to his coach, Ian Millward, something that Millward's opposite number, Paul Cullen, described as: "blatant cheating''.Of more concern to Cullen would have been the way that Warrington's half-time lead of eight points failed to reflect their superiority, but they stretched it soon after the break when Jerome Guisset went over from close range.That only triggered what Cullen called Saint's inevitable purple patch.