With the Friday sessions effectively rendered useless by rain, the teams did all their set-up work on Saturday and chose their tyres for the event immediately before the first qualifying session. Times in France tend to be fairly close, so the reduced set-up time should typically have spread the field out; in the event, the smoothness of the circuit means that the teams largely still got their acts together quite quickly, though race day might reveal more wear problems than might otherwise be expected.

The weather for qualifying was sunny, with a track temperature of 38 degrees for the session. This was an increase from qualifying, leading the Bridgestone runners in particular to suffer increased oversteer.

The Grid

1. Fernando Alonso
First Qualifying: 1:13.750; Second Qualifying: 1:13.698

Renault looked to be in reasonable shape in Magny-Cours from the outset, and benefited well from a revised aero package and the latest Michelin tyres. Despite having some slight understeer – which seemed to suit his style – Alonso put in a stunning lap. The car was clearly well set up, and working well, illustrated by a very sharp turn-in: whilst the margin of his lead led to some questions on fuel load, it boded well for the race.

2. Michael Schumacher
First Qualifying: 1:13.541; Second Qualifying: 1:13.971

Without the benefit of the long runs normally exercised on Friday, Ferrari's tyre choice was based on some conservative guesswork; they believed they chose the best tyre for the race, but it might have compromised qualifying. The World Champion was overdriving coming out of the second sector, which might have cost pole, but was clearly pushing very hard, and took a lot of punishment bouncing over the final kerbs. Second on the grid was not the plan, but only a fool would have written off Schumacher on the front row as a potential winner in France, so the team were happy.

3. David Coulthard
First Qualifying: 1:13.649; Second Qualifying: 1:13.987

The new car really boosted Coulthard's confidence – it was more predictable in high speed corners, and the resultant faith allowed the Scot to push hard. Despite being a new car to the team, it looked well balanced from the outset. Coulthard's lap was smooth and committed, ably demonstrating the potential of the revised chassis, and giving the team real hopes for the race and that their season was turning around.

4. Jenson Button
First Qualifying: 1:13.772; Second Qualifying: 1:13.995

The BAR was understeering through practice, and not quite sorted out for the first qualifying session, so Button was relieved to find the balance problems had been largely resolved by the last session. He drove a clean, smooth lap. Whilst the car was not especially fast on the main straight, it was quick through corners and rode the kerbs especially well – though something came off the car when it did so! It was a strong performance, however, and gave the team a good position from which to fight for points.

5. Jarno Trulli
First Qualifying: 1:13.949; Second Qualifying: 1:14.070

Although Trulli drove a very committed, fast lap, he was clearly overdriving and fighting the resultant oversteer. Despite this, the car looked like it was in good shape, and the driver was convinced that fighting for a podium finish was possible: he was only a tenth of a second from qualifying on the front row, after all.

6. Juan Pablo Montoya
First Qualifying: 1:13.377; Second Qualifying: 1:14.172

From the outset, Montoya looked to be right on the pace. The lap was very clean but committed and looked set to take pole until a mistake in the high speed chicane robbed him of speed. The qualifying performances were particularly impressive as the car had plainly been awkward and difficult to set up during the practice sessions: a heavy accident on Friday did not help. After being disqualified from the last two events in what would have been points scoring positions, Montoya was looking forward to a strong race.

7. Takuma Sato
First Qualifying: 1:14.130; Second Qualifying: 1:14.240

The Japanese driver put in his usual committed lap, getting a good performance out of his car. He was happy with the set-up on the car, which was turning into corners very smartly, pleased with the grip levels, and looking set to drive a solid race. Whilst not quite as quick as Button, being half a second off pole position was a creditable drive, and put the team into a very strong position for the race.

8. Marc Gene
First Qualifying: 1:14.133; Second Qualifying: 1:14.275

Gene fulfilled his part as the stand in driver with a solid performance, putting in a smooth, clean lap. The car was well balanced and turning in well, and looked good handling the kerbs. It was his best lap of the weekend, and with the limited time to set up the car, it was very respectable. Being eighth on the grid and only a couple of places behind his teammate put the Spanish driver into a good position to challenge for points.

9. Kimi Raikkonen
First Qualifying: 1:13.736; Second Qualifying: 1:14.346

Whilst the new car is a considerable improvement on the old, it seems Raikkonen was not in a position to make the most of it. Having gone too deep into the first corner, he overdrove the car for the remainder of the lap, which eroded time at almost every corner. However, ninth on the grid was a clear points scoring opportunity, which is something McLaren have not been faced with as often as they are used too this season.

10. Rubens Barrichello
First Qualifying: No Time; Second Qualifying: 1:14.478

Missing the first qualifying session due to a hydraulic issue did Barrichello no favours at all. The Brazilian ran first in the final session, and set a respectable target, but it plainly cost him places. On the other hand, from the smoothness of the lap, it was hard to tell if he was being careful because he had a little more fuel on board than those around him, or if he was being conservative to ensure he set a time. At least it meant that race day spectators were anticipating some action as Barrichello would be able to make up places.

11. Cristiano da Matta
First Qualifying: 1:14.245; Second Qualifying: 1:14.553

From the outset, it was clear that da Matta was driving a committed lap, despite keeping everything tidy. There were moments of oversteer, and the car was quick over the kerbs – which will surprise onlookers. Despite finishing outside the top ten, the car was clearly drivable, and the team had a lot to take away from the session. It placed the team very well to score points if the leaders had reliability issues, or made mistakes.

12. Mark Webber
First Qualifying: 1:15.332; Second Qualifying: 1:14.798

Like all the teams, Jaguar capitalised on the smooth circuit to run the car very low, but it was not sufficient to get on terms with the main challengers. Clearly, the ride height indicated Jaguar were not expecting rain on race day, however! The car looked solid in the high speed chicanes, but was exhibiting some oversteer. Webber's lap was clean and tidy, especially in the final sector, where the kerbs were well ridden.

13. Christian Klien
First Qualifying: 1:15.205; Second Qualifying: 1:15.065

Klien's lap was remarkable for the way his car seemed obviously less stable under braking than Webber's. Perhaps the set-up didn't work for him, or maybe his overdriving was causing problems. At any rate, he missed apexes, but really drove the car well over the final kerbs.

14. Olivier Panis
First Qualifying: 1:14.540; Second Qualifying: 1:15.130

Despite a clean start to the lap, Panis never looked quite like getting on the pace of da Matta – and it seemed that qualifying after the Jaguars was a result of backing off over the kerbs at the end. This was due to the car bottoming out throughout the lap. The Frenchman had to be disappointed with this performance in front of his home crowd, but perhaps it was telling that the section of the circuit that had him furthest off the pace was the stretch that was introduced last year.

15. Giancarlo Fisichella
First Qualifying: 1:15.793; Second Qualifying: 1:16.177

Despite showing the power of the Ferrari engine in his Sauber and putting in a clean lap, Fisichella had some issues with oversteer, robbing him of any realistic chance of taking places from Michelin shod teams. With a hot race predicted, which would lend itself to more oversteer, it looked like a long, hard race was in prospect.

16. Felipe Massa
First Qualifying: 1:14.627; Second Qualifying: 1:16.200

Massa drove an over-committed lap, which led to missed apexes. He struggled with the high-speed chicanes, and lost time to oversteer in the low speed corners. Sauber's qualifying did not benefit from the Bridgestone tyres, so it left a lot to be done in the race.

17. Nick Heidfeld
First Qualifying: 1:16.366; Second Qualifying: 1:16.807

Heidfeld put together a solid lap in a car that was noticeably twitchy under braking, but otherwise was simply not quick enough. Perhaps some of the blame lies in the way the Bridgestone tyres work, but there was never any danger of qualifying higher.

18. Giorgio Pantano
First Qualifying: 1:15.913; Second Qualifying: 1:17.462

Dialling the Jordan in was never going to be much fun as Michelin held a noticeable advantage on new rubber. Overdriving the car didn't help much in qualifying – Pantano ran wide and missed a couple of apexes which did nothing for his time. There was never any danger of being anything other than a Minardi buffer.

19. Gianmaria Bruni
First Qualifying: 1:18.070; Second Qualifying: 1:17.913

The lack of running made life easier than usual for Minardi, whose cars were about as balanced as they get by the end of the session. Their drivers have been to Magny-Cours in other formulae, so their learning curves were not as steep as at other circuits. Bruni was happy to get within half a second of the Jordans, though the times were generally closer here than at other circuits. The smooth surface led to the car being easier to drive than elsewhere this season.

20. Zsolt Baumgartner
First Qualifying: 1:18.108; Second Qualifying: 1:18.247

Like his teammate, Baumgartner benefited from the general lack of dry running on Friday, but made a mistake on his hot lap in the third sector. Barring the time that mistake cost, he should have been closer to Bruni.

The Race

The day dawned bright and sunny, with the no wind worthy of the name, air temperature of 28 degrees, and a track temperature that was up from qualifying at 43 degrees.

The start was clean, except for Panis, whose take off looked very slow. Schumacher made his characteristic chop, but remained behind Alonso. Trulli made a blinding start to move into third, and defended successfully an attack from Button into Adelaide. Button's fourth place was at the expense of Coulthard, slow off the line. Gene also had a poor start and dropped to eleventh. The field proceeded to spread out slowly, with no obvious passing opportunities arising, except for Panis making his way forward from the back of the pack.

On the third lap, Coulthard and Barrichello went through the speed trap at over 200mph: these cars are showing the best top speeds of the weekend. Barrichello, charging back from his poor qualifying position, passed Sato to move into eighth.

Meanwhile at the front, Schumacher and Alonso traded fastest times to open their gap to the rest of the field. The World Champion held station 1.5 seconds off the race leader for the first eight laps, before closing on Alonso.

The Ferrari driver pitted for the first time after 11 laps – very quick with 7.4 seconds stationary, returning in eighth. He was followed in by Raikkonen, Gene and da Matta. Alonso's continued running surprised a lot of onlookers who expected the Renault to be lighter on fuel following qualifying.

Barrichello and Coulthard stopped on lap 12 - the Scot was very fast coming out. Trulli stopped on lap 13 with Montoya also stopping – and nearly stalling. Alonso lapped cleanly at the front whilst Schumacher was stuck behind Sato. The Spaniard finally stopped on lap 14, followed in by Button. Alonso's return to the circuit was just in front of Sato, retaining the race lead. The BAR driver pitted on lap 15, but shortly after his stop, Sato's engine gave up again, accounting for his sixth retirement in ten races.

After the stops had shaken out, Schumacher was around three seconds off Alonso's lead, with Trulli a further four back. Button, Coulthard and Montoya followed at a reasonable distance, with Barrichello closing on the Williams. Further back, the two-stopping Massa was holding up Raikkonen, who was being pressured by Webber, also on a two-stopper.

At the end of lap 18, Montoya, struggling with neck problems, span on the final kerbs, dropping to ninth behind Raikkonen. The Williams driver not at all happy with the handling of the car, and remained behind Massa until the Sauber pitted on lap 21. Montoya immediately opened up air to Webber behind as he set about closing down Raikkonen, though he was struggling to keep the car on the road. At the front, Schumacher was closing in on Alonso.

Raikkonen made his second stop on lap 27 with Coulthard and Schumacher stopping on lap 28: it was a quick stop, but the German returned in fifth, behind Barrichello. Coulthard's stop included fuel hose trouble which dropped him to eighth.

Button pitted from third on lap 30, and he was followed by Trulli and Barrichello, who pitted from second and third as Schumacher set a new fastest lap. Montoya came in from sixth,while Alonso finally stopped on lap 32, staying stationary for 6.2 seconds, and returning to the circuit behind Schumacher, who had set another fastest lap.

The Renault driver set about closing the three-second difference with some quick laps of his own. However, Schumacher managed to stretch his lead as the fuel levels dropped. Meanwhile, Button was pushing Trulli, looking for the final podium place, whilst Barrichello continued with his progression and was closing on the pair.

Schumacher pitted on lap 42, returning in clean air in second place, eleven seconds behind the leader. This was earlier than expected for a three-stop approach, illustrating how he had used short fuel to gain the lead in the first place.

Alonso faced traffic, but really needed to keep the hammer down: Schumacher was clearly intent on closing the gap down. At this point, considering his blistering pace, it seemed that he could have switched to a four-stop strategy, as unlikely as that sounded.

Alonso made his final stop on lap 45, and he was followed by Raikkonen, running in seventh place, on lap 47. Coulthard and Trulli stopped on the next couple of laps, with Montoya pitting from sixth on lap 50. Barrichello pitted for that last time on lap 51.

At the front, Schumacher was lapping in the 1.15s against Alonso's 1.16s, the Ferrari driver pushing hard to make the space to pit again and return in the lead. By lap 52, Schumacher's lead was up to 15.5 seconds.

Button pitted from third on that same lap, with a nearly stall causing him to come out just behind Trulli, and allowing Barrichello a run on him to pass at the hairpin. The mistake - attributed to Honda's anti-stall - was costly for Button, who saw any chances of a podium finish evaporating.

The Briton could do nothing more than set about pressuring Barrichello, who at the same time was putting Trulli under pressure, to no avail.

By lap 57, Schumacher had opened the gap to Alonso to 20.3 seconds, and was still lapping more than a second a lap quicker than the Renault driver. The pit crew came out, and with 12 laps to go, the World Champion pitted for the fourth time. Less than six seconds later, he was moving again to return seven seconds in front of his rival.

Despite Barrichello pushing Trulli hard, it looked like there would be no further action on the track as the procession lapped its way to the end, with Schumacher winning by ten seconds over Alonso. Then, however, two corners from the end, Barrichello forced his way past Trulli to steal third place with an audacious overtaking manoeuvre – a fantastic way to end the drive from tenth on the grid.

Race Results

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine                Time        
Pos  Driver        Team-Engine           Time        
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  1h30.18.133
 2.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  +     8.329
 3.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  +    31.622
 4.  Trulli        Renault          (M)  +    32.082
 5.  Button        BAR-Honda        (M)  +    32.484
 6.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  +    35.520
 7.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  +    36.230
 8.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  +    43.419
 9.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  +    52.394
10.  Gene          Williams-BMW     (M)  +    58.166
11.  Klien         Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  +     1 lap
12.  Fisichella    Sauber-Petronas  (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas  (B)  +     1 lap
14.  da Matta      Toyota           (M)  +     1 lap
15.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  +    2 laps
16.  Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford      (B)  +    2 laps
17.  Pantano       Jordan-Ford      (B)  +    3 laps
18.  Bruni         Minardi-Cosworth (B)  +    4 laps

Fastest Lap: M.Schumacher, 1:15.377

Not Classified/Retirements:

Driver        Team                  On Lap
Baumgartner   Minardi-Cosworth (B)    32
Sato          BAR-Honda        (M)    16


World Championship Standing, Round 10:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  M.Schumacher  90        1.  Ferrari          158
 2.  Barrichello   68        2.  Renault           79
 3.  Button        48        3.  BAR-Honda         62
 4.  Trulli        46        4.  Williams-BMW      37
 5.  Alonso        33        5.  McLaren-Mercedes  22
 6.  Montoya       25        6.  Sauber-Petronas   15
 7.  Sato          14        7.  Toyota             8
 8.  Coulthard     12        8.  Jordan-Ford        5
 9.  R.Schumacher  12        9.  Jaguar-Cosworth    3
10.  Raikkonen     10       10.  Minardi-Cosworth   1
11.  Fisichella    10       
12.  Massa          5       
13.  Panis          5       
14.  Webber         3       
15.  da Matta       3       
16.  Heidfeld       3       
17.  Glock          2       
18.  Baumgartner    1      

Fastest Race Laps

Pos  Driver        Team                  Lap  Time              
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  32   1:15.377
 2.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  34   1:15.551 + 0.174
 3.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  30   1:15.791 + 0.414
 4.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  53   1:15.956 + 0.579
 5.  Button        BAR-Honda        (M)  50   1:15.971 + 0.594
 6.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  50   1:16.035 + 0.658
 7.  Gene          Williams-BMW     (M)  56   1:16.070 + 0.693
 8.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  48   1:16.140 + 0.763
 9.  Trulli        Renault          (M)  15   1:16.248 + 0.871
10.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  11   1:16.303 + 0.926
11.  Fisichella    Sauber-Petronas  (B)  22   1:16.699 + 1.322
12.  Sato          BAR-Honda        (M)  14   1:16.809 + 1.432
13.  Klien         Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  37   1:16.852 + 1.475
14.  da Matta      Toyota           (M)  49   1:16.937 + 1.560
15.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  53   1:17.069 + 1.692
16.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas  (B)  23   1:17.388 + 2.011
17.  Pantano       Jordan-Ford      (B)  15   1:17.641 + 2.264
18.  Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford      (B)  26   1:18.627 + 3.250
19.  Bruni         Minardi-Cosworth (B)  52   1:18.932 + 3.555
20.  Baumgartner   Minardi-Cosworth (B)  13   1:19.659 + 4.282

Pitstop Times

Pos  Driver        Team                  Time      Lap
 1.  Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford      (B)  11.042   35
 2.  Pantano       Jordan-Ford      (B)  11.084   52
 3.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  19.036   58
 4.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  19.425   29
 5.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  19.641   42
 6.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  19.791   32
 7.  Trulli        Renault          (M)  19.951   31
 8.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  20.279   31
 9.  Fisichella    Sauber-Petronas  (B)  20.392   52
10.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  20.443   11
11.  da Matta      Toyota           (M)  20.463   30
12.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  20.516   11
13.  Gene          Williams-BMW     (M)  20.517   54
14.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  20.529   51
15.  Fisichella    Sauber-Petronas  (B)  20.593   20
16.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  20.643   33
17.  Trulli        Renault          (M)  20.667   49
18.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  20.675   12
19.  Sato          BAR-Honda        (M)  20.746   15
20.  Trulli        Renault          (M)  20.891   13
21.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  20.891   51
22.  da Matta      Toyota           (M)  20.897   47
23.  Button        BAR-Honda        (M)  20.958   30
24.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  20.964   13
25.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  21.049   15
26.  Fisichella    Sauber-Petronas  (B)  21.063   37
27.  Klien         Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  21.121   16
28.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  21.175   12
29.  Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford      (B)  21.230   18
30.  Klien         Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  21.263   53
31.  Gene          Williams-BMW     (M)  21.270   33
32.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  21.305   14
33.  Button        BAR-Honda        (M)  21.313   14
34.  Bruni         Minardi-Cosworth (B)  21.334   50
35.  da Matta      Toyota           (M)  21.341   11
36.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  21.458   31
37.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  21.498   50
38.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  21.514   48
39.  Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford      (B)  21.622   36
40.  Bruni         Minardi-Cosworth (B)  21.656   32
41.  Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford      (B)  21.661   50
42.  Baumgartner   Minardi-Cosworth (B)  21.728   11
43.  Klien         Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  21.747   35
44.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  21.806   32
45.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  21.838   28
46.  Button        BAR-Honda        (M)  21.861   52
47.  Bruni         Minardi-Cosworth (B)  21.956   13
48.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  22.102   46
49.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  22.150   29
50.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  22.382   47
51.  Gene          Williams-BMW     (M)  22.405   11
52.  Pantano       Jordan-Ford      (B)  22.546   31
53.  Pantano       Jordan-Ford      (B)  22.691   48
54.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas  (B)  22.805   45
55.  Pantano       Jordan-Ford      (B)  23.123   13
56.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas  (B)  23.124   21
57.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  24.668   13
58.  Baumgartner   Minardi-Cosworth (B)  25.702   30
59.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  25.822   51

The French Grand Prix, Lap by Lap

Lap 1: At the start of the race Fernando Alonso goes into the lead with Michael Schumacher following while Jarno Trulli bursts through to third place ahead of Jenson Button and a slower-starting David Coulthard. Juan Pablo Montoya was next with a fast-starting Kimi Raikkonen up to seventh from ninth of the grid ahead of Takuma Sato, Rubens Barrichello and Mark Webber, who forced his way ahead of Marc Gene is the course of the lap. The big loser on the first lap is Olivier Panis who gets off the line slowly and ends up at the back of the field. At the end of the lap Alonso is 0.8secs ahead of Schumacher with Trulli a second behind the Ferrari.

Lap 2: Alonso sets the fastest lap of the race to pull out a lead of 1.2secs. At the tail of the field Panis passes Zsolt Baumgartner for 19th.

Lap 3: The two leaders trade fastest laps but the order behind them is the same except towards the back where Giancarlo Fisichella passes Giorgio Pantano for 15th. Further back Panis passes Gianmaria Bruni for 18th.

Lap 4: Alonso sets another fastest lap and extends his lead to 1.4secs. Michael Schumacher is a second and a half ahead of Trulli. In the midfield Barrichello passes Sato for eighth place.

Lap 7: Alonso sets his sixth consecutive fastest lap but this is beaten by Schumacher so that the gap remains at 1.5secs but the two men have left Trulli in their wake, the second Renault now four seconds behind.

Lap 10: Schumacher has closed the lead to just 0.6secs.

Lap 11: The pit stops begin with Schumacher coming in unexpectedly, leaving a Renault 1-2 with Button third. Michael rejoins in eighth place. Further back Kimi Raikkonen stops and drops from seventh to 13th. Also pitting are Gene, Cristiano da Matta and Baumgartner.

Lap 12: The stops continue with fourth-placed Coulthard dropping back to ninth and sixth-placed Barrichello dropping to 10th.

Lap 13: Alonso remains ahead but second-placed Trulli goes into the pits and lets Button move to second with Sato third after Montoya pits. Trulli rejoins sixth and Montoya falls back to ninth. In the midfield Raikkonen overtakes Fisichella to take 12th. Gene passes Nick Heidfeld for 15th. Also stopping are Pantano, Panis and Bruni.

Lap 14: Alonso and Button both pit and Alonso comes out in the lead with Sato second and Schumacher third, Webber is up to fourth ahead of Trulli. Button rejoins in sixth.

Lap 15: Sato pits and so Alonso is left with a lead of 2.8secs over Schumacher. Webber also pits and so Trulli is back to third with Button fourth, Coulthard fifth and Christian Klien (who is still to stop) in sixth. Montoya is next ahead of Barrichello. Down at the back da Matta passes Heidfeld for 15th place.

Lap 16: Alonso pulls away from Schumacher while Klien heads for the pits and falls down the order from sixth to 13th. The race has its first retirement as Sato suffers an engine failure.

Lap 17: Alonso continues to build up his lead with Trulli dropping away all the time. Webber passes Fisichella for 10th place. Montoya spins at the final corner and falls from sixth place to ninth, behind Barrichello, Felipe Massa (who is still to stop) and Raikkonen.

Lap 18: Heidfeld has his first pit stop and falls from 15th to 17th.

Lap 20: The gap at the front has started to close up again. Further back Raikkonen passes Massa to grab seventh. Fisichella pits and falls from 11th to 14th. Further back Pantano drops behind both Panis and Heidfeld.

Lap 21: Massa is the last driver to stop for the first time. The Sauber driver falls back from eighth to 14th.

Lap 25: Schumacher has closed the gap to less than a second but the order is unchanged. Trulli has dropped back and is eight seconds behind Schumacher. Montoya has a small off but does not lose a position.

Lap 28: The second pit stops begin with Raikkonen. He drops from seventh to 10th.

Lap 29: Schumacher comes into the pits. It is a quick stop and Michael rejoins in fifth place. Coulthard also stops and he drops from fifth to eighth. The Renaults are 1-2 again with Button third.

Lap 30: Button pits and goes from third to fifth. Also stopping is da Matta who falls from 12th to 14th.

Lap 31: Alonso continues at the front as Trulli and Barrichello head for the pit lane. Michael Schumacher grabs his opportunity and sets the fastest lap of the race. Montoya stops and falls back from sixth to 11th. Down at the back Pantano calls into the pits.

Lap 32: As Schumacher sets another fastest lap Alonso goes into the pit. The Renault comes out behind the Ferrari. Further back there are stops from Panis and Bruni, while Baumgartner retires out on the circuit.

Lap 33: The gap between Schumacher and Alonso is three seconds. There is then a 12 seconds gap back to Trulli who has Button on his tail. Barrichello is next while Webber goes into pit lane and drops from sixth to 10th. Gene also stops and falls back from eighth to 11th.

Lap 35: Alonso closes the gap to 2.1secs but Trulli begins to drop away quickly. In the midfield Klien pits for the second time, dropping back from eighth to 11th. Further back Heidfeld has his second stop but the team is not ready and he has to do another lap.

Lap 36: The gap starts to increase again. Heidfeld stops again and falls to 17th position.

Lap 37: The order at the front is set although Trulli is coming under more and more pressure from Button. Fisichella has his second stop and drops from 12th to 14th.

Lap 40: Michael Schumacher has increased his lead to nearly five seconds. The order is unchanged except towards the back of the field where Fisichella passes da Matta for 13th place.

Lap 42: There is a surprise as Schumacher heads into pit lane again, suggesting that the Ferrari driver is on a four-stop strategy. Alonso goes into the lead again but Michael rejoins ahead of Trulli.

Lap 43: At the tail of the field Heidfeld passes Pantano for 16th place.

Lap 45: Massa stops for the second time. The Brazilian is doing a two stop race. He drops from 12th to 14th.

Lap 46: Alonso goes into the pits for his third stop. He rejoins more than 11 seconds behind Schumacher.

Lap 47: Raikkonen stops for a third time and he drops from seventh to ninth. Further back da Matta stops again and drops to 14th, behind Massa.

Lap 48: Coulthard is running sixth when he stops for the third time. He falls back behind Montoya and Webber. At the back Pantano stops again. He speeds in the pit land and is given a drive-through penalty.

Lap 49: Trulli heads for pit lane, which frees Button in third place. He has Barrichello behind him. Jarno rejoins sixth.

Lap 50: Fifth-placed Montoya stops and drops back to 10th.

Lap 51: The pit stops continue with Barrichello and Webber pitting. Rubens comes out behind Trulli while Webber drops from sixth to 10th.

Lap 52: Button does his third stop but when he comes out of the pits he is behind Trulli and Barrichello in fifth place.

Lap 54: Eighth-placed Gene stops and falls behind Montoya and Webber.

Lap 57: Schumacher has pushed hard and has built himself a lead of 22 seconds over Alonso. The order is now set behind the leaders although the battle for third is close between Trulli, Barrichello and Button. Further back the two McLarens are running together in sixth and seventh places. Montoya is eighth.

Lap 58: Schumacher pits and re-emerges still in the lead.