Michael Schumacher wins his 4th race of the season and takes the
lead in the Drivers' Championship in a close battle with his brother Ralf
Schumacher. Juan Pablo Montoya recovers from a mistake early in the race to
finish a strong third ahead of the impressive Spaniard Fernando Alonso in the
Renault who set the fastest lap of the race. Rubens Barrichello only managed
5th after touching Alonso at the start of the race damaging his front wing
while Kimi Raikkonen starting from the pitlane managed to finish in 6th place
despite blown rear tyre that forced him to pit earlier than scheduled.
Mark Webber scores another 2 points for the Jaguar team finishing 7th ahead of
Olivier Panis who has finally managed to finish a race in the points.
Ironically, it was Cristiano da Matta who retired this time while in 8th place
allowing Panis to score.
The race started with all the cars getting away with out problems. Michael
Schumacher had a good start and challenged Juan Pablo Montoya for second but
couldn't pass while Fernando Alonso didn't have a good start and Rubens
Barrichello got too close to him at the second turn and hit him slightly.
Order after the first lap: Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Michael
Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello and Mark Webber
Rubens Barrichello's front wing is damaged as a result of his incident with
Alonso and is forced to pit. Meanwhile Juan Pablo Montoya spins coming into
the start-finish straight and rejoins in 6th behind Webber but manages to get
past him.
Order after lap 4: Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso,
Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Webber, Olivier Panis, Cristiano da Matta and David
Coulthard.
Juan Pablo Montoya closes in on Fernando Alonso meanwhile at the front,
Ralf Schumacher is being chased by Michael Schumacher.
Heinz Harald Frentzen is the first to retire on lap 7.
Order after lap 11 - Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo
Montoya, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Olivier Panis, Cristiano da Matta and
David Coulthard.
Coulthard manages to get ahead of da Matta for 7th place.
Jacques Villeneuve becomes the second retirement of the day suffering from
brake failure after only completing 14 laps.
The first round of pit stops for the leaders started on lap 20 with Juan
Pablo Montoya and Mark Webber pitting on lap 20. Montoya rejoins in 5th.
The 2 Jordan's retire with mechanical problems after each completing 20
laps.
Ralf Schumacher pits on lap 21 and rejoins in 3rd.
Michael Schumacher pits on lap 22 and rejoins in 2nd ahead of Ralf Schumacher.
David Coulthard pits on lap 24.
Surprisingly Fernando Alonso in the Renault stays out the longest and pits
on lap 26 indicating that he was the heaviest of the front runners despite
managing to qualify in 4th just behind Michael.
Kimi Raikkonen meanwhile continues to make places as the cars in front of
him make their pit stops. Having started from the pit lane he was filled up
for a single stop.
Order after lap 31 : Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo
Montoya, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard
and Mark Webber.
Kimi Raikkonen loses his right rear tyre and is forced to make his only pit
stop early. Luckily for him he doesn't lose much time as the incident happens
just before the entry to the pits. He does lose a place to Barrichello who was
right behind him.
The second round of pit stops see Juan Pablo Montoya again stopping first
from 3rd and rejoins in 4th.
Ralf Schumacher makes his second stop a lap later and rejoins in 3rd.
Michael Schumacher pits for the second time and rejoins in 2nd ahead of Ralf
Schumacher.
David Coulthard does a number of slow laps indicating a problem and ends up
retiring in the pits after completing 47 laps.
Nick Heidfeld suffers a blown engine on lap 48.
Fernando Alonso is the last of the leaders to make his second pit stop and
rejoins in 4th after setting the fastest lap twice.
Order after lap 61: Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo
Montoya, Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen, Mark Webber and
Cristiano da Matta.
Ralf Schumacher puts the pressure on Michael as Juan Pablo Montoya catches
up to the 2 leading cars.
Fernando Alonso also joins the 3 leading cars but no one tries to make a
pass.
Kimi Raikkonen is pushing Rubens Barrichello who lost his left barge board
but to no avail.
Cristiano da Matta stops on the track just 6 laps from the end.
So the race finishes with Michael Schumacher crossing the line first
closely followed by Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya and Fernando
Alonso. Rubens Barrichello manages to finish 5th ahead of Kimi Raikkonen
while Mark Webber finishes 7th ahead of Olivier Panis.
Michael Schumacher takes the lead in the Drivers' Championship from Kimi
Raikkonen. He is now on 54 points and 3 points ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.
Fernando Alonso maintains 3rd with 34 points ahead of Ralf Schumacher with 33
and Juan Pablo Montoya and Rubens Barrichello with 31 points each.
Ferrari take the lead in the Constructors' Championship with 85 points and
9 points ahead of McLaren with 76 points. Williams are catching up fast to
McLaren in 3rd with 64 points while Renault are in 4th with 47 points.
