McLaren star David Coulthard held off a charging Michael Schumacher this afternoon to take his first victory in over a year.

The Scot led from start to finish after beating Juan Pablo Montoya off the line and earned a well-deserved victory for McLaren, becoming the first man without a Schumacher surname to win a race in 2002. A delighted DC could not take the grin off his face as he stood on the top step of the podium, and was clearly ecstatic to have secured his 12th career victory.

"It’s unbelievable," he smiled after the race.

"I feel fantastic. It’s been a difficult start to the season and it’s been pretty difficult to win a grand prix. Our hopes depended on Monaco, and thankfully that’s been the case. It was just a question of keeping it off the barriers."

Coulthard had appeared to have a problem half way through the race when smoke could be seen coming from his car, but luckily he suffered no ill effects and it was described by team boss Ron Dennis as an ‘oil transfer tank problem’.

Engine problems ended Juan Pablo Montoya’s day prematurely, but despite giving Coulthard a run for his money for much of the afternoon, the Colombian was philosophical about his retirement.

"It was better than last year," he joked after the race.

"I’m just glad it wasn’t my fault."

A number of drivers were involved in incidents this afternoon, and officials were kept busy awarding various penalties.

Rubens Barrichello was penalised twice after an incident that saw him run in to the back of Kimi Raikkonen whilst trying to pass the Finn. Although Rubens returned to the track with a new nose after pitting, extensive work on his Mclaren’s suspension dropped Raikkonen to the back of the field and he was eventually forced to retired soon afterwards.

Rubens received a stop/go penalty for his part in the incident, and then after speeding in the pitlane was forced to return for a drive-through penalty. Despite a busy afternoon, the Brazilian narrowly missed out on a points finish after failing to pass Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the closing laps of the race.

Heinz-Harald scored the second point of the year for Arrows much to the Leafield team’s delight, while a second consecutive 5th palce gave Jordan’s Giancarlo Fisichella something to smile about. Team mate Takuma Sato was not so lucky however. The Japanese driver had been asked to move over and let Fisichella through mid way through the race, but ended up losing control of his Jordan in the tunnel and spinning out in to retirement, almost taking Giancarlo with him! Although he escaped uninjured from yet another crash, Sato has presented his team with an interesting challenge ahead of the forthcoming Canadian GP. Cars are scheduled to fly out next Sunday, leaving the Silverstone based team less than a week to find enough equipment for both Fisichella and Sato to compete with.

Ralf Schumacher managed to salvage something for WilliamsF1 after his team mate’s retirement, and crossed the line third despite being forced to pit late in the afternoon after his car suffered a delaminated tyre.

Enrique Bernoldi and Felipe Massa were involved in a collision as they battled for position this afternoon. The Sauber driver ran in to the back of his countryman after the Arrows had passed, causing them both to spin out in to the gravel in an accident similar to one witnessed during yesterday’s F3000 race. Although both regained the track, Massa was penalised before finally crashing out in to retirement, while Bernoldi finished last of the twelve drivers to reach the end of the race.

Jenson Button had a nightmare race this afternoon. The Englishman dropped to the back of the pack after failing to get off the line properly, and was then awarded a drive-through penalty for jumping the start! Although he battled hard the Englishman retired on lap 51 after a collision with Olivier Panis. Jarno Trulli scored his first points for Renault however, finishing 4th, and the Italian was relieved to finally get his 2002 campaign off the ground.