Ralf Schumacher wins his second race in a row ahead of team-mate
Juan Pablo Montoya making it the second 1-2 finish for the Williams BMW team
in a row. Michael Schumacher made a superb effort to finish in 3rd despite his
Bridgestone tyres while Kimi Raikkonen struggling with brake problems could
only manage 4th ahead of team-mate David Coulthard. Mark Webber put another
strong show finishing 6th ahead of the struggling Rubens Barrichello and Oliver
Panis rounded up the points finishers in 8th at his home Grand Prix.
It wasn't a good day for the Renault team suffering a double retirement at
their home Grand Prix while running in 6th and 7th.
Before the start, Justin Wilson who qualified last starts from the pit
lane.
The race started with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya having clean
starts while Michael Schumacher getting a poor one and loses to Kimi Raikkonen
and is side by side with David Coulthard but manages to stay ahead of the
Scotsman. Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso maintain 6th and 7th while
Barrichello keeps 8th.
Rubens Barrichello spins at the end of the first lap and rejoins last!
Order after the second lap: Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi
Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso
and Mark Webber.
Ralf Schumacher builds a 4 second gap to Juan Pablo Montoya by lap 6.
Rubens Barrichello moves up to 15th by lap 6
Order after lap 8: Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen,
Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso and Mark
Webber.
The 2 Williams and Kimi start building a gap to 4th place Michael
Schumacher.
Order after lap 14: Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen,
Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard, Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso and Mark
Webber
David Coulthard is the first of the front runners to make a pit stop at the
end of lap 15
Kimi Raikkonen and Jarno Trulli stop at the end of lap 16
Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher stop at the end of lap 17.
Michael Schumacher joins behind David Coulthard.
Ralf Schumacher pits on lap 18
Order after the first round of stops: Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya,
Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, Fernando
Alonso and Mark Webber
Order after lap 26: Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen,
David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso and Mark
Webber
Ralf Schumacher extends his lead over Juan Pablo Montoya by over 8 seconds
Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber make their second stop at the end of lap 31
Coulthard pits on lap 32
Montoya and Trulli pit on lap 34
Ralf and Michael Schumacher pit on lap 35
Alonso pits on lap 36
Order following the second round of pit stops: Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo
Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Jarno Trulli,
Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.
Montoya closes the gap on Ralf Schumacher. Gap down to under 4 seconds
Trulli suffers from performance problems while Alonso blows an engine on
lap 44.
Fisichella blows an engine as well!!
Rubens Barrichello makes his second stop (the only front runner on 2 stops)
Montoya pushing and closing the gap to Ralf. Gap down to under 3 seconds
Trulli retires on lap 46
Kimi Raikkonen makes his 3rd and final stop on lap 48
Coulthard makes his final stop on lap 49 but has refuelling problems and loses
a lot of time.
Montoya pits for his final stop on lap 50
Ralf Schumacher pits for his final stop on lap 51 and joins just ahead of
Montoya
Michael Schumacher pits for his final stop on lap 53 and rejoins ahead of Kimi
Raikkonen!
Order following the final pit stops: Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya,
Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard, Mark Webber, Rubens
Barrichello and Olivier Panis.
Ralf extends his lead over Juan Pablo
Ralf Schumacher laps Rubens Barrichello in 7th place!
Order after 60 laps: Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Michael
Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard, Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello
and Olivier Panis.
So Ralf Schumacher wins his second race in a row ahead of team-mate Juan
Pablo Montoya. Michael Schumacher was 3rd ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. David
Coulthard, Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello and Olivier Panis make the top 8.
In the Drivers' Championship, Michael Schumacher extends his lead over Kimi
Raikkonen by 1 points (64 to 56) but Ralf Schumacher is now only 3 points
behind Kimi Raikkonen with 53 points and Juan Pablo Montoya 6 points
behind his team-mate with 47 points. Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barrichello
are on equal points with 39 points each.
With the way the Williams BMW is going, it is looking like a 4 way battle for
the championship.
In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari are still in the lead but by
only 3 points from Williams (103 to 100), McLaren are in 3rd with 85 points
while Renault in 4th with 52 points.
