Michael Schumacher and Ferrari return to their winning ways at their
home Grand Prix and sent a strong signal to Williams and McLaren that they
won't give up on either title easily.
Michael Schumacher won the race after managing to keep Juan Pablo Montoya
behind him despite Montoya putting on the pressure for most of the race.
Behind those two, Rubens Barrichello managed 3rd helping Ferrari close the gap
to Williams while Kimi Raikkonen managed 4th and kept his championship hopes
alive. Marc Gene who replaced Ralf Schumacher performed well and finished 5th
while Jacques Villeneuve gave his future in F1 some hope by finishing in 6th
and crucially for BAR ahead of Mark Webber's Jaguar. Fernando Alonso amazingly
managed to finish 8th despite starting from last and losing his front wing at
the start.
The race itself was straight forward without much drama or overtaking. In
fact the top 5 in qualifying finished in the same order they started and
behind them very little changed apart from those who dropped out.
Race Start:
Michael Schumacher gets a good start and so does Montoya but Trulli gets a
great start and is up into third. Kimi Raikkonen maintains fourth while David
Coulthard moves up into 5th with Mark Gene dropping back a place to 6th. At
the back Alonso hits the back of Verstappen's car and loses his front wing as
a result
Montoya attempts to overtake Michael at the second chicane without success
while Trulli suddenly loses drive and retires
Order after lap 1: Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Rubens
Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard, Marc Gene, Olivier Panis and
Jacques Villeneuve make the top 8.
Cristiano da Matta suffers a tyre failure and retires on lap 4.
Order after lap 7: Michael Schumacher leading Juan Pablo Montoya by 2.5
seconds. Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard Marc Gene,
Olivier Panis and Jacques Villeneuve make the top 8.
David Coulthard and Olivier Panis pit on lap 11. Meanwhile Michael
Schumacher extends his lead over Montoya to 4.3 seconds.
Kimi Raikkonen and Marc Gene pit on lap 13. Rubens Barrichello pits on lap 14,
Michael pits on lap 15 while Montoya pits on lap 16.
Order after the first round of stops: Michael Schumacher leads Juan Pablo
by 2.5 seconds. Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard, Marc
Gene, Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis make the top 8.
Jenson Button retires with a transmission problem on lap 25.
Juan Pablo Montoya closes the gap to Michael Schumacher.
Order after lap 29: Michael Schumacher leads Juan Pablo Montoya by 0.95
seconds. Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard, Marc Gene,
Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis make the top 8.
Rubens Barrichello pits on lap 31.
Montoya and Coulthard pit on lap 32.
Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher pit on lap 34 and Michael retakes the
lead.
Order after lap 39: Michael Schumacher leads Juan Pablo Montoya by 1.2
seconds. Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard, Marc Gene,
Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz Harald Frentzen make the top 8.
Juan Pablo Montoya starts losing ground to Michael Schumacher.
David Coulthard retires with an engine problem on lap 45
Order after lap 47: Michael Schumacher leads Juan Pablo Montoya by 6
seconds. Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen, Marc Gene, Jacques Villeneuve,
Heinz Harald Frentzen and Mark Webber make the top 8.
Heinz Harald Frentzen suffers for a transmission problem and stops moving
Webber up into 7th.
Fernando Alonso manages to get ahead of Nick Heidfeld for 8th on the last lap
of the race and score a point despite starting from the back and losing a
front wing at the start.
With a lap to the gap between Michael and Juan Pablo remains around 6
seconds and Michael Schumacher goes on to win for Ferrari at their home Grand
Prix ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and Rubens Barrichello. Kimi Raikkonen, Marc
Gene, Jacques Villeneuve, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso make the top 8.
In the Drivers' Championship, Michael Schumacher increased his gap over
Juan Pablo Montoya to 3 points (82 to 79). Kimi Raikkonen is third with 75
points.
Ralf Schumacher remains in 4th with 58 points while Rubens Barrichello retakes
5th from Fernando Alonso despite them being on equal points with 55 points
each.
David Coulthard
is in 7th with 45 points ahead of Jarno Trulli with 24 points and
Mark Webber remains in the 'best of the rest' position with 17 points.
In the Constructors' Championship, Williams remain in the lead with 141
points just 4 points ahead of
Ferrari with 137 points. McLaren dropped back further as David Coulthard
retired and are now with 120 points.
Renault in 4th added a point with 79 while BAR are now a point ahead of Jaguar
in 5th place (18 points to 17).
The Untied States Grand Prix is next on the 28th of September.
