When Juan Pablo Montoya claimed his maiden Monaco win - and ended Williams' 20-year drought

The Monaco Grand Prix retains a special place in the heart of Formula 1 drivers. The race, held in the streets of Monaco, is challenging due to the technical nature of the circuit. The fact that overtakes also aren’t frequent don’t help matters in the slightest. Indeed, the 2003 Monaco GP is remembered for a number of reasons. Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya claimed his maiden win at the track on this day 18 years ago. The win was also the first by a Williams driver for the first time in 20 years. Amazingly, the race featured not even a single on-track overtake.

With 18 years having passed since the 2003 Monaco GP, let’s take a look back at what was a fun F1 race.

The background

Williams were not the favourites coming into the race. Indeed, neither Montoya nor teammate Ralf Schumacher were even in contention for the title at that point.

McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen led the standings coming into the race, with Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barichello in second and third, respectively.

Renault’s Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s David Coulthard were fourth and fifth, respectively.

However, in qualifying it was the Williams’ who set the pace. Ralf Schumacher qualified on pole, with Montoya third. Coulthard was second, with Jarno Trulli and Michael Schumacher rounding off the top 5.

Juan Pablo Montoya gets the win

The race was largely uneventful but the defining moment came in the pits. Montoya had come in for a refuel and then got ahead of Ralf in the pits itself.

He held on to the lead after that although Raikkonen gave him a hard time. Indeed, Montoya crossed the chequered flag less than a second ahead of the Finn.

It was also a race that featured a couple of scary incidents. BAR Honda driver Jenson Button crashed during Saturday’s morning practice and his injuries ruled him out of the rest of the weekend.

Heinz-Harold Fretzen, then of Sauber-Petronas, also suffered a crash early in the race. He rammed into the barriers after getting too much kerb on the turn. He did eventually finish the race in 16th.

Incidentally, this race win remains Williams’ last win at this circuit till date.