Reigning world champion Mika Hakkinen was third in a McLaren and Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen fourth.

Schumacher now leads the championship on 26 points with Irvine second on 18 and Hakkinen third on 13 points.

Fizzing: Michael Schumacher

The result makes him the driver to have won most races for Ferrari with 16 wins, one more than Austrian Niki Lauda.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was fifth for Benetton and his teammate Alexander Wurz of Austria sixth.

"Driving for Ferrari is special and winning races for Ferrari is super special," said Schumacher.

"It is great, but at the moment it does not mean a lot because it was more important just to win the race for this year's championship.

"When I retire it will be a nice statistic to look back on."

Hill misery

Schumacher stole first place from Hakkinen at the start.

His blistering start undid all Hakkinen's hard work in taking pole on Saturday as he was forced into second place.

Schumacher built a steady lead of nearly five seconds by the end of lap seven of the 78-lap race.

Former champion Damon Hill's Monte Carlo misery was completed when he tried to overtake former Jordan team-mate Ralf Schumacher at the chicane after leaving the tunnel for the third time.

Double joy: Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine join the celebrations

The gap proved too small and the collision forced Hill, lying in 17th place, to grind to a stop.

Schumacher set his 11th fastest lap of the race on the 31st lap to increase his lead to 17.7 seconds.

But the lead suddenly increased to 28 seconds as the race reached the mid-way point as Hakkinen got stuck in traffic allowing Irvine to get within half-a-second before he pitted on lap 37.

Incredible lead

Coulthard was also suddenly struggling with a technical problem which cost him 21 seconds in just two laps before he came into the pits to retire and suffer another blow to his championship hopes.

Schumacher made his stop at the end of lap 41 with an incredible lead of 47 seconds so he had no problem coming back out with Hakkinen still well back.

Hakkinen made his stop nine laps later allowing Irvine into second place.

Ferrari now lead McLaren in the constructors' championship by 24 points with four races of the 16-race season gone.

Final result:

1 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1hr 49mins 31.812sec
2 E Irvine (Gbr) Ferrari at 30.476secs
3 M Hakkinen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes at 37.483
4 H-H Frentzen (Ger) Jordan-Mugen Honda at 54.009
5 G Fisichella (Ita) Benetton-Supertec one lap
6 A Wurz (Aut) Benetton-Supertec one lap
7 J Trulli (Ita) Prost-Peugeot one lap
8 A Zanardi (Ita) Williams-Supertec two laps
9 R Barrichello (Bra) Stewart-Ford seven laps

Not classified (did not finish):

10. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Williams 54 laps completed
11. Jean Alesi (France) Sauber 50
12. Pedro Diniz (Brazil) Sauber 49
13. Olivier Panis (France) Prost 40
14. DAvid Coulthard (Britain) McLaren 36
15. Mika Salo (Finland) BAR 36
16. Tora Takagi (Japan) Arrows 36
17. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) BAR 32
18. Johnny Herbert (Britain) Stewart 32
19. Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) Arrows 30
20. Marc Gene (Spain) Minardi 24
21. Luca Badoer (Italy) Minardi 10
22. Damon Hill (Britain) Jordan 3

Fastest lap: Hakkinen 1:22.259 (147.354 kph)

World drivers' championship after four rounds:

1. Michael Schumacher (Germany) 26 points
2. Eddie Irvine (Britain) 18
3. Mika Hakkinen (Finland) 14
4. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Germany) 13
5 equal. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) 7
5 equal. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) 7
7 equal. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) 6
7 equal. David Coulthard (Britain) 6
9. Damon Hill (Britain) 3
10 equal. Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) 1
10 equal. Olivier Panis (France) 1
10 equal. Jean Alesi (France) 1
10 equal. Alexander Wurz (Austria) 1

Constructors' championship

1. Ferrari 44 pts
2. McLaren 20
3. Jordan 16
4. Benetton 8
5. Williams 7
6. Stewart 6
7. Arrows 1
   Prost 1
   Sauber 1