Fernando Alonso won the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, his first victory in Formula One’s most prestigious race.

Alonso, in a Renault, won for the fourth time in seven races. The defending F1 champion now has 64 points.

“This is a special place for any driver to win a race, for the history, for what it represents to Formula One and because it is such a big challenge to get through the race with no mistakes,” Alonso said.

Juan Pablo Montoya of McLaren-Mercedes was second, and David Coulthard of Red Bull was third. It was the first podium for Red Bull in an F1 race.

Rubens Barrichello in a Honda was fourth. Michael Schumacher of Ferrari finished fifth and Giancarlo Fisichella was sixth in a Renault.

Alonso’s task was made easier when Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren, last year’s winner, dropped out of the race. The two were separated by less than a second through 50 laps when Raikkonen’s engine gave out.

“He was pushing quite hard but in Monaco it is impossible to overtake,” Alonso said. “When I saw that is was impossible to open a gap, I controlled the tires so that when I wanted to push, my tires would be ready.”

“You have to be conservative a little bit and push a little bit before the pit stops,” he added.

Alonso started from the pole, moving up from second when Schumacher was stripped of the pole position late Saturday. Stewards ruled Schumacher deliberately stopped his car on the track — blocking other drivers — during Saturday’s qualifying.

After setting the fastest lap, Schumacher appeared to brake too hard and stalled on the final turn. Others, including Alonso, were behind him trying to clock a quicker lap but had to slow to avoid the car of the seven-time series champion.

Stewards stripped Schumacher’s qualifying time, and he started from the pit lane with a full fuel load.

The top three finishers declined to criticize Schumacher.

“From the stewards’ point of view he did something wrong,” Montoya said. “He made a mistake, whatever it was and that’s it.”

Schumacher defended his actions.

“I was amazed at how tough the stewards’ decision was,” Schumacher said. “I can understand that, from the outside, things might seem a bit strange.”

“I am sorry that Fernando’s lap was ruined and it was definitely not my intention to do that,” Schumacher said.

After quickly moving up to 16th, Schumacher got stuck behind Jenson Button’s Honda. After 15 laps, he was 48 seconds behind.

He was a minute behind after 20 laps when he finally passed Button.

AP