Hakkinen in the clear after perfect drive

Mika Hakkinen's perfect drive to victory through the streets of Monaco yesterday was not just another glittering entry in the McLarenMercedes record book but could also have been the moment when the softly-spoken Finn made his break for the 1998 World Championship.

With his key rivals David Coulthard, his McLaren team-mate, and Michael Schumacher both failing to increase their points tally, Hakkinen ended the day 17 points ahead of the Scot.

"I have competed here on seven occasions and have never before finished the race," he said. "To win in Monaco is every driver's dream."

In the final stages Hakkinen had sufficient advantage to be able to ease his pace and conserve the car. Earlier he had tapped a barrier at the tight Rascasse hairpin before the pits and was concerned lest the McLaren had suffered suspension damage.

In fact, he had no reason to worry and took the chequered flag 11.4 seconds ahead of the impressive Giancarlo Fisichella, who drove his Benetton with great aplomb, despite a harmless spin, to beat Eddie Irvine's Ferrari into third place by more than half a minute.

Starting from pole position, Hakkinen just squeezed Coulthard on the crucial 300metre sprint to St Devote, the tricky off-camber, right-hander which leads up towards Casino Square. Thereafter, he never looked back, trading fastest laps with his team-mate until Coulthard's engine blew up midway round the 18th lap.

"At the start I tried to see if I could squeeze around the outside of Mika on the first corner," said Coulthard, "but I ran out of space and decided to drop back and assess the situation.

"I felt good and started to close on Mika again but my engine blew and that was it, race over."

As if that was not enough, Hakkinen got a double bonus when Schumacher produced an uncharacteristically erratic performance which ended on lap 30 with a vigorous barging match with Alexander Wurz's Benetton as they battled for second.

As they lapped a slower group Schumacher dived for the inside line, under-braking for the firstgear Loews hairpin, but Wurz stuck with the Ferrari on the outside line, then cheekily repassed into the next right-hander.

Schumacher was clearly caught off-balance by his rival's precocity and barged back inside the Benetton to take second place as they accelerated out on to the waterfront. In doing so, he hit Wurz quite hard, bending a left rear suspension link on the Ferrari which immediately forced him into the pits.

Schumacher's initial reaction was to climb out of the cockpit but Ross Brawn, the team's technical director, instructed him to get back in and refasten his belts while the mechanics repaired the damage. Hakkinen had lapped him three times by the time the Ferrari driver got back into the race, now firmly last and with very little hope of making up lost time.

Meanwhile, Wurz came in for his refuelling stop at the end of lap 42, resuming third behind his team-mate Fisichella, only to crash at high speed next time round through the tunnel. Benetton speculated that the accident might have been caused by damage sustained in the brush with Schumacher, or the young Austrian may have pushed too hard on cold tyres. Either way, he was lucky to escape harm in the 170mph impact.

The circuit imposes great strain on the cars and usually has more than its share of mechanical casualties. With that in mind, Schumacher rejoined the chase clearly hoping that a single championship point for sixth place might be within his grasp.

In fact, despite quick lapping on his return to the fray, the German made little progress on the cars in front and finally settled for tenth. It was an unconvincing performance from the three-times Monaco winner.

"If we fail to make more progress by the next race in Canada, our world championship chances will have gone," said Schumacher.

The other Ferrari, that of Irvine, finished a commendable third, surviving an early contact with the Williams of HeinzHarald Frentzen when the two cars were vying for sixth place. Frentzen took no further part after the incident.

Behind Irvine, Mika Salo took a well-earned fourth for Arrows while Jacques Villeneuve slogged through from 13th on the grid to take fifth for Williams at the finish ahead of Diniz. Seventh and eighth were Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill's Jordan, one and two laps down respectively.