McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen captured the 52nd running of the Monaco Grand Prix over the streets on Monte Carlo. The No.9 McLaren crossed the finish line 13.877 seconds ahead of runner-up Nick Heidfeld. The victory was the Finn's second of the season and fourth of his Formula One career. Fernando Alonso attacked right at the start, but pole winner Raikkonen held him at bay through the first turn at Ste Devote. From there he built the lead to two seconds at lap three and to six seconds by the first pit stops on lap 24. Meanwhile Alonso's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella made the biggest early move, jumping two positions to third on the opening laps. Michael Schumacher was mired in eighth place behind David Coulthard even though he appeared to be faster than the Red Bull driver. But of course, passing on the twisty, narrow streets of Monaco is near impossible. Lap 24 saw the end of the race for Coulthard when a five-car incident occurred blocking the entire Mirabeau corner. It started when Christijan Albers spun out blocking everyone's path. Schumacher lost his front wing in the sudden stop which brought out the safety car. The top-two cars, Raikkonen and Jarno Trulli did not pit, but most of the other leaders came in for their first stops. By lap 31, Raikkonen's lead was nine seconds over Trulli and more importantly 11.7 second over Alonso, who had already made his first stop. Lap 34 saw Raikkonen set a fastest lap of 1:16.222. He broke that mark on the next lap. By the time Raikkonen finally made his stop on lap 41, he was on a one-stop strategy, his margin was 34.7 seconds over Alonso. He came off pit lane with a 15.4-second lead. From there to the finish it was just a matter of avoiding complacency and mechanical problems. With 10 laps to go, Raikkonen built his lead to more than half a minute. However, the battle for second through fourth was as tight as the track is narrow. The margin between second-place Alonso and fourth-place Mark Webber was just 0.9 seconds. Heidfeld made his move on Alonso with seven laps to go just after the tunnel and made a great pass for second place. Heidfeld's teammate Webber, saw the move and two laps later made the same passing move. It worked again and gave Williams its second podium driver. Alonso, Juan Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello completed the points-scoring positions. Alonso retained the lead in the drivers championship with 49 points, 22 ahead of Raikkonen (49-27). Trulli (26) is third, one point behind Raikkonen. The next race, the European Grand Prix, is scheduled for Sunday, May 29th.