than a second. The Scot did gradually increase his advantage and by the time a dozen laps had been run, Coulthard's lead was up to just over a second, with Montoya holding off Michael Schumacher by a similar amount. However, the top Williams was having problems keeping pace with the lead car, and was gradually dropping back, delaying Schumacher in the process. The German was the first of the front-runners to stop - doing so on lap 44, and therefore removing the slower Montoya from his path, before, ironically the Colombian was forced out with engine failure later that lap. Schumacher had clearly been delayed by the slower Williams, as he emerged from the pits to set the fastest lap of the race and close in on Coulthard. With the Scot's tyres much more worn than Schumacher's, the McLaren team had no choice but to call in Coulthard early, with the Scot rejoining with a one-second advantage. Now armed with new tyres himself, Coulthard had the measure of Schumacher, and although the pair circulated nose-to-tail for the remainder of the race, Coulthard recorded his first victory for over a year, while Michael Schumacher's second position extended his championship lead to 33 points. There was plenty of action further down the field, with Ralf Schumacher taking third, despite a late pit-stop to replace a damaged tyre. Trulli followed up his promising times earlier in the weekend by holding off the Jordan of Giancarlo Fisichella for fourth position. Behind Fisichella, Heinz-Harald Frentzen took sixth place, although had it not been for a fuel rig problem that necessitated an extra pit-stop, he could well have taken fourth. Rubens Barrichello's disappointing weekend ended with seventh position, after making a second pit-stop to repair damage caused by smashing into Räikkönen at the chicane, in a move that put the McLaren driver out of the race. Barrichello received a 10-second stop-go penalty for causing the accident. Nick Heidfeld took eighth, ahead of the Jaguars of Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa. Minardi's Mark Webber had been on target for a top ten finish, only to have to make a late pit-stop which dropped him to eleventh. Enrique Bernoldi was the twelfth and last finisher, despite damaging his car in a clash with Massa and incurring a drive-through penalty for cutting the chicane. Allan McNish spun his Toyota into the tyres at Sainte-Devote on lap 15.