Jarno Trulli converted his pole position to win his first ever Grand Prix today. Around the streets of Monaco in the South of France, Trulli held his nerve to come through and win an action-packed race. Jenson Button finished second with Rubens Barrichello in third. Michael Schumacher retired following an incident in the tunnel during the second safety car period. Â

'A unique venue, a unique event and always an interesting result,' said Mike Copson of Shell Global Solutions. 'Up until Michael's incident, Michael was very strong, in part we hope by the flexibility of the pit stop strategy options to be exploited by the Shell fuel. Of course, with the two safety car periods everybody's strategy was changed slightly, although we saw Michael make two places on his first stop and know this could have been repeated in the second. A true race of attrition with only nine finishers, we will go to the European Grand Prix still in a very strong position and finally, congratulations to Jarno Trulli on his first win.' Â

The start of the race in Monaco is never the easiest, and today's race was no exception. With the runners all on the grid, ready to go. Panis stalled his car causing a restart. Â

When the race did get underway five minutes later, Trulli led the field into Casino Square for the first time, followed by his team mate Alonso who had jumped Button at the start. Behind them, Takuma Sato launched his B.A.R. off the grid, pushing the Schumacher wide and allowing Raikkonen through - leaving Barrichello to file in behind them both. Â

From the first climb up the hill however, it was clear that Sato's B.A.R. was suffering as puffs of smoke came from under the engine cover with every downshift. By lap three his engine had had enough and failed as he came into the swimming pool section. Raikkonen close behind swerved to avoid him, as did nearly everybody in his wake. Fisichella was unlucky however, tagging the stranded B.A.R and launching him up into the air and down onto the barrier, tagging the back of David Couthard's McLaren on the way, snapping its rear wing. The Italian was unhurt however and waved to the crowd as the smoke cleared and the safety car was deployed. Â

 Three laps later and the grid was back up to racing speed, with Barrichello losing a place to Montoya at St.Devote. Barrichello was suffering from a balance problem for most of the race though and elected take the points rather than push the car too hard. Â

The intervention of the safety car, had the strategists re calculating their theories as all the drivers had leaned up their fuel mixtures for the slow running. This meant that the first genuine stops were not made until the 13th lap. Once again, the Ferrari team were amongst the last to stop, making the most of their economical and light Shell fuel. In fact, when Schumacher stopped on lap 26, he exited the pit lane ahead of Button and Raikkonen. In true Schumacher style however he had recorded three successive fastest laps just previous to his stop to 'overtake' his rivals. Â

Barrichello meanwhile had pitted earlier to gain some track position, a move that would serve him well on his way to third. Â

In the second stint, more action was to follow. Raikkonen retired with a technical problem and Alonso crashed his Renault coming out of the tunnel as he lapped Ralf Schumacher. As the Renault came to a rest alongside the harbour wall, the safety car was deployed for the second time that afternoon, but for the marshals at that part of the track, their work was only about to begin, for a few laps later, they would be clearing up debris from Schumacher's Ferrari. Â

Behind the safety car, Michael was warming his brakes when Montoya, a lap behind ran into the back of the Ferrari, forcing him into the barrier. The impact destroyed the Ferrari front wing and the front left wheel leaving him to coast back to his garage into retirement. Â

With the race leader out, Trulli inherited the lead he would not relinquish.Button was second, with Barrichello third. In the closing stages of the race, Button pushed Trulli hard but erred on the side of caution not electing a risky overtake around this perilous circuit. Â

Trulli took one of the most emotional wins of the year with Button right behind. Barrichello maintains Ferrari's excellent technical reliability with third ahead of Montoya, Massa, DaMatta Heidfeld and Panis. Â

Another six points for the Shell-powered Scuderia takes their lead of the Constructors' Championship to 36 points whilst Michael Schumacher's lead of the Drivers' Championship is 12 points from team mate Rubens. Â

Once again, Monaco fails to disappoint Formula One. The toughest circuit of the year for the teams gave them the most entertaining race of the season so far. Â