Juan Pablo Montoya wins hist first race of the season ahead of Kimi
Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher. Ralf Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Jarno
Trulli, David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello make the top 8.
All the top 4 teams managed to finish their cars and in the points.
Jenson Button was withdrawn by the BAR team due to his crash on Saturday.
The race started with Ralf Schumacher keeping the lead and Juan Pablo
Montoya taking second from Kimi Raikkonen. Jarno Trulli remained in 4th ahead
of Michael Schumacher but Fernando Alonso moves into 6th ahead of David
Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello.
Frentzen crashes on the first lap and the safety car is deployed.
Safety car pits on lap 4 and the race is restarted.
Race order after lap 8: Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi
Raikkonen, Jarno Trulli, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, David Coulthard
and Rubens Barrichello.
Ralf Schumacher was over 2.5 seconds ahead of Montoya
The top 3 start to build a gap to 4th place Jarno Trulli.
On lap 11 Juan Pablo Montoya had dropped the gap to Ralf Schumacher to just
over a second with Kimi Raikkonen closing in as well.
Antonio Pizzonia retires on lap 11 with a gearbox problem.
Mark Webber makes his first pit stop on lap 14. He appears to have a light
fuel load but he pits again a couple of laps later to retire with an engine
problem.
Race order after lap 19: Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi
Raikkonen, Jarno Trulli, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, David Coulthard
and Rubens Barrichello.
Ralf Schumacher makes his first pit stop from the lead on lap 21 and
rejoins in 8th!
Montoya pushes hard trying to make up time to pass Ralf via the pits.
Montoya pits on lap 23 and gets ahead of Ralf Schumacher and rejoins in 7th.
Kimi Raikkonen moves into the lead.
Kimi Raikkonen pits on lap 25 and rejoins in 7th ahead of Ralf Schumacher.
Jarno Trulli takes the lead.
Jarno Trulli and David Coulthard pit on lap 27 and they rejoin in 7th and 8th.
Michael Schumacher takes the lead with Fernando Alonso in second.
Alonso pits from second on lap 29 and rejoins in 8th.
Rubens Barrichello pits from second on lap 30 and rejoins in 8th behind
Fernando Alonso. Michael Schumacher makes his stop on lap 31 and rejoins in
3rd ahead of Ralf Schumacher.
So following the 1st round of stops, the race order became - Juan Pablo
Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli,
David Coulthard, Fernando Alonso and Rubens Barrichello.
Both Minardis retire from the race with fuel pickup problems!
Race order after lap 41, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, Michael
Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, David Coulthard, Fernando Alonso
and Rubens Barrichello.
Montoya leads Raikkonen by 4 seconds with Michael Schumacher 14 seconds
behind the leader.
Ralf Schumacher was the first of the top 8 to make his second pit stop on
lap 48 and rejoins in 8th.
Juan Pablo Montoya pits from the lead and rejoins in 3rd.
Kimi Raikkonen takes the lead and starts pushing trying to make up time in
order to pass Juan Pablo Montoya via the pits.
Kimi Raikkonen makes his second stop and rejoins behind Juan Pablo Montoya.
Michael Schumacher takes the lead.
Jarno Trulli and David Coulthard pit on lap 56 and they join in 7th and 8th.
Michael Schumacher pits on lap 59 and he rejoins in 5th.
Rubens Barrichello pits on lap 60 and rejoins in 8th.
Fernando Alonso pits on lap 61 and rejoins in 5th ahead of Jarno Trulli and
David Coulthard.
Race order following the 2nd round of stops: Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi
Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Fernando Alonso , Jarno
Trulli, David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello.
Villeneuve retires with an engine failure on lap 64.
Race order after 67 laps, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen, Michael
Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Fernando Alonso , Jarno Trulli, David Coulthard
and Rubens Barrichello.
Juan Pablo Montoya leads Kimi Raikkonen by under a second.
Kimi Raikkonen continues to apply the pressure until the end of the race
without success and so Juan Pablo Montoya wins his 1st race of the season, his
second in his career ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher. Ralf
Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Jarno Trulli, David Coulthard and Rubens
Barrichello make the top 8.
Kimi Raikkonen increases his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 4 points
from Michael Schumacher (48 to 44) with Fernando Alonso moving into 3rd ahead
of Rubens Barrichello (29 to 27). Juan Pablo Montoya. David Coulthard and Ralf
Schumacher are tied with 25 points each.
McLaren retakes the lead in the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari by
2 points (73 to 71) with Williams taking 3rd ahead of Renault (50 to 42).
