Italy’s Jarno Trulli after winning the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo on Sunday. Trulli was followed by Britain’s Jenson Button and Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello. (Reuters)

Monaco: Renault’s Jarno Trulli won a Monaco Grand Prix thriller on Sunday as Michael Schumacher’s perfect start to the Formula One season ended with a controversial crash in the tunnel.

Ferrari’s Schumacher, the six-time champion seeking his sixth successive win and sixth Monaco success, was a bystander as the Italian took the chequered flag for his first victory in 117 starts.

Trulli’s victory from pole position ended dominant Ferrari’s remarkable run of eight wins in a row and silenced the debate on whether Schumacher could win all 18 races this year.

“I’ve been waiting for so long and it came at the best race, Monaco,” said Trulli. “Even with Michael on the track, I would have won anyway. Monaco is so special.”

Briton Jenson Button was second, just 0.4 of a second behind Trulli, after throwing his BAR around the city streets in a last-gasp attempt to beat his former teammate.

“There was the risk of hitting a guardrail but I wanted to win so much,” said Button, who complained bitterly about being held up by slower cars.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was third for Ferrari on his 32nd birthday ahead of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, last year’s winner, for Williams.

Schumacher still leads with 50 points to Barrichello’s 38 with Button on 32 and Trulli 31.

Trulli’s win was Ferrari’s first defeat since last August, when young Spaniard Fernando Alonso won in Hungary for Renault, and was a shot in the arm for a sport defending itself against accusations of becoming boring.

Schumacher provided a major shock, crashing in the tunnel on the 47th of 77 laps while following directly behind the safety car which had been called out for the second time after Alonso spun into the guardrail at the same spot.

The German, momentarily leading after Trulli pitted, braked suddenly and made contact with Montoya’s Williams.

It was not clear who was to blame, although some commentators accused Montoya. Schumacher made no immediate comment after the race.

“I assume he (Michael) was just trying to warm up the brakes. Juan was quite close, but as you can imagine, it’s a touchy situation for me: teammate and brother,” said Williams’ Ralf Schumacher.

The crippled Ferrari emerged into the light with no front wing, a damaged nose cone and the left front wheel dangling uselessly at an angle.

It was the first time Schumacher, dominant in the previous races of the year, had failed to finish since the Brazilian Grand Prix of April last year.

Brazilian Felipe Massa was fifth for Sauber, compatriot Cristiano da Matta took Toyota’s first points of the season in sixth with Germany’s Nick Heidfeld putting Jordan on the scoresheet in seventh.

France’s Olivier Panis, the 1996 winner in a Ligier, was eighth for Toyota.

Renault might have had a one-two finish, Trulli and Alonso running together until the Spaniard crashed.

The safety car was first called out after just three laps when the BAR of Japanese Takuma Sato suffered a blown engine, leading to mayhem behind him as cars braked into a cloud of smoke.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was lucky to emerge unscathed when his Sauber was pitched upside down against the barriers at Tabac corner after slamming into the back of David Coulthard’s McLaren.

STANDINGS

Drivers (top-10): 1. Michael Schumacher (Ger, Ferrari, 50 pts). 2. Rubens Barrichello (Bra, Ferrari, 38). 3. Jenson Button (GBR, BAR, 32). 4. Jarno Trulli (Ita, Renault, 31). 5. Juan Pablo Montoya (Col, Williams, 23). 6. Fernando Alonso (Spa, Renault, 21). 7. Ralf Schumacher (Ger, Williams, 12). 8. Takuma Sato (Jap, BAR, 8). 9. Felipe Massa (Bra, Sauber, 5). 10. David Coulthard (GBR, McLaren, 4).

Constructors (top-5): 1. Ferrari (88). 2. Renault (52). 3. BAR (40). 4. Williams (35). 5. Sauber (7).