Even if at the end of the weekend it didn't make any difference to the end result of the race, Jenson Button's maiden Formula One pole position underlined the Briton's status as a main challenger to the top positions of this year's Championship.

It also served the purpose of seeing someone other than Michael Schumacher in the top slot for the first time in four races, as well as setting the scene for what was anticipated as a thrilling battle for victory on Sunday. In the end, that was not to be, but Button stated his case and made the six-time World Champion push to the limit and into an uncommon error. And that, these days, is no mean feat.

The Grid

1. Jenson Button
First Qualifying: 1:20.632; Second Qualifying: 1:19.753

Right from the start of the weekend, Button and BAR showed their intentions and their pace by topping the times with a 1-2 in Friday's practice. Despite having to ditch a new rear wing that was deemed illegal following a complaint from Jaguar, BAR looked incredibly strong and Button continued to drive flawlessly, completing a blindingly quick flying lap. The end result was Button's and BAR's first ever pole position, and the best spot to fight for their maiden race win on Sunday.

2. Michael Schumacher
First Qualifying: 1:20.440; Second Qualifying: 1:20.011

For the first time this season, Schumacher had to settle for a position behind pole, and there was little the German could do to avoid that, as Button seemed out of reach. Although Schumacher was always close to or at the top of the times in most sessions, he was unable to show the same kind of dominance of the three previous races. Having seen Button's time, the World Champion went flat out during his flying lap, but an error, in which he almost lost his car, at the Variante Alta saw him losing some time. Without the error, however, Schumacher himself admitted he would not have been able to grab pole anyway.

3. Juan Pablo Montoya
First Qualifying: 1:19.805; Second Qualifying: 1:20.212

Not surprisingly following the first three races of the year, Montoya was the strongest of the Williams drivers once more, and the Colombian himself noted it was the first time he had managed to outqualify Ralf at Imola, a circuit that suited the German's style. Despite topping the times in first qualifying, however, Montoya never looked in contention for pole position. The Williams driver, however, was very happy with his FW26 in race trim and was hoping to have the pace to fight for victory.

4. Rubens Barrichello
First Qualifying: 1:20.927; Second Qualifying: 1:20.451

Perhaps for the first time this year, Barrichello needed more time than usual to get his F2004 set up to his liking, and that meant the Brazilian made a slower progress which reflected in qualifying. Barrichello was unhappy with the handling of his car following Friday's practice, but things began to go in the right direction on Saturday morning. His final flying lap, however, was not perfect, the Ferrari driver losing some valuable time that would have given him a better position for his team's home race.

5. Ralf Schumacher
First Qualifying: 1:20.423; Second Qualifying: 1:20.538

Williams' technical director Patrick Head pinpointed Ralf's problems with qualifying, saying the German has "difficulty in positioning the level of risk to take". That seemed to be the case again at Imola, where Ralf was very fast in first qualifying, only to drop back in the second session. That not only meant that the German had to start behind Montoya for the fourth time in four races, but also that the Colombian managed to outqualify him for the first time at Imola, a track Ralf has always done well at.. In his defence, Ralf said he had been struggling with a couple of minor problems during most of the weekend.

6. Fernando Alonso
First Qualifying: 1:21.799; Second Qualifying: 1:20.895

Hoping to close the gap to their rivals, Renault arrived in Imola with a revised aerodynamic package and the latest specification of the RS24 engine. Both Alonso and teammate Trulli were happy with the developments, but their performances were somewhat disappointing, with Alonso finishing over a second behind Button. The Spaniard, however, was confident his car would be stronger in race trim.

7. Takuma Sato
First Qualifying: 1:20.984; Second Qualifying: 1:20.913

Comparisons are odious, but when your teammate starts from pole position, people will wonder why you are more than a second behind him. With Button almost walking on water at the moment, Sato's job is not the easiest one to have. The Japanese driver performed strongly during most of the weekend, but his qualifying effort was disappointing when compared to his teammate's. Sato complained about the poor grip during his flying lap, and admitted he had probably pushed too hard in the final sector.

8. Mark Webber
First Qualifying: 1:21.458; Second Qualifying: 1:20.921

The Australian once more performed as expected: he was the quickest of the Jaguar drivers, putting himself in a strong position to fight for points on Sunday. Webber had a pretty much trouble-free weekend from start to finish, his R5 performing solidly around Imola. On his first flying lap, Webber complained of problems with the balance of his car, but those were solved for the second session, which went smoothly for the Australian.

9. Jarno Trulli
First Qualifying: 1:21.669; Second Qualifying: 1:21.034

Although the Italian driver was pleased with the developments introduced by his team for Imola, Trulli's ninth place was worse than what was expected, even if Renault don't have a history of good results at the San Marino Grand Prix. The man from Pescara, like Alonso, was never completely satisfied with the balance of his R24, and so slight errors on his flying lap cost him some valuable tenths in a closely-packed field.

10. Cristiano da Matta
First Qualifying: 1:21.737; Second Qualifying: 1:21.087

Although Imola had not been very kind to Toyota in the past, things improved slightly for the Japanese squad this year, the TF104 finally managing to ride the kerbs effectively, something that was one of the biggest problems in past seasons. Da Matta was happy with the new developments taken to Imola following their recent tests, and the Brazilian performed solidly most of the weekend. An error at the start of his flying lap, he claimed, cost him a place in the top six.

11. David Coulthard
First Qualifying: 1:20.566; Second Qualifying: 1:21.091

The best that could be said about Coulthard's weekend is that, unlike his teammate Raikkonen, he managed to escape all the problems that affected the Finn. Despite an intensive testing programme during the three-week break following the Bahrain Grand Prix, the McLaren MP4-19 only showed signs of improvements in practice, where both managed to get themselves into the top ten. Although his session was trouble-free, Coulthard's qualifying was nothing but disappointing, the Scot finishing over 1.3 seconds behind the pole position time. A slight error at the end of his flying lap did not help.

12. Felipe Massa
First Qualifying: 1:22.154; Second Qualifying: 1:21.532

Massa was another of the drivers who were hoping to be more competitive in the race after an average performance in qualifying. The Brazilian's progress was hampered by a problem with his tyres, which made his Sauber very unstable on the first lap. After the rubber got up to the right temperature, however, Massa felt happier with his C23. The young Sauber driver suggested he had compromised his speed for a better strategy for the race.

13. Olivier Panis
First Qualifying: 1:21.231; Second Qualifying: 1:21.558

Like teammate da Matta, Panis was happier with the handling of his car following the introduction of some improvements, which were the result of an intensive testing programme at Barcelona, Paul Ricard and Estoril. The Frenchman's qualifying lap, however, was not perfect following an electronics problem that saw him almost coming to a stop during the warm-up lap. Panis managed to escape the scare, but he claimed he had lost concentration and, with it, some three valuable tenths of a second.

14. Christian Klien
First Qualifying: 1:22.246; Second Qualifying: 1:21.949

Like for all of this year's rookies, Imola represented the first time Klien faced a known track following the first three flyaway races. That, however, did not prove to be a big advantage for the Austrian, who was far from the pace of his Jaguar teammate Webber in all of the timed sessions. Klien did not help his cause by crashing heavily in Saturday's opening practice session, losing also most of the second one. Despite that, he was able to use his racing car for qualifying, although he finished a second behind Webber.

15. Giorgio Pantano
First Qualifying: 1:24.643; Second Qualifying: 1:23.352

The Italian driver felt more confident with his Jordan over the entire weekend, the previous knowledge of the Imola circuit proving a valuable advantage. Although Pantano struggled with the balance of his car in opening qualifying, things got better in the final session, and the Jordan rookie completed a solid effort to outqualify teammate Heidfeld for the first time this year.

16. Nick Heidfeld
First Qualifying: 1:23.055; Second Qualifying: 1:23.488

Heidfeld said he was expecting more from his Jordan at the San Marino Grand Prix following the team's first test since the start of the season. In the end, however, it turned out their rivals had also done their homework and the German found himself in the same position he was in the first three races: far in front of the Minardis but also far behind the rest of the field. That meant his only rival was his teammate, and this time he lost out to him.

17. Gianmaria Bruni
First Qualifying: 1:26.463; Second Qualifying: 1:26.899

With the benefit of driving at a circuit he knew very well, the Italian had a decent weekend which saw him dominating his Minardi teammate from start to finish and, given the circumstances, is the best he can do at the moment apart from staying out of trouble. That he did too, although it was only good enough to leave him over 3.5 seconds behind the closest of his rivals.

18. Zsolt Baumgartner
First Qualifying: 1:27.319; Second Qualifying: 1:46.299

Baumgartner had an especially disappointing weekend at Imola. Apart from having to drive the most uncompetitive car of the field again, the Hungarian added some problems of his own. In Saturday's practice he lost control of his car and caused serious damage to it. His Minardi mechanics were unable to fix it for qualifying and he had to use the spare car - with a new engine - for his flying laps. After finishing almost a second behind Bruni in first qualifying, Baumgartner pushed hard on his second lap, only to spin again.

19. Giancarlo Fisichella
First Qualifying: 1:20.716; Second Qualifying: No time

The unlucky Italian did not have a good weekend. First, he was struggling with his new Bridgestone tyres, which made his Sauber car very hard to drive until they heated up to the working temperature. Despite that, Fisichella was happy with the car in long runs. However, Saturday proved a disaster for him: after a very promising effort in first qualifying, Fisichella was unable to leave the pits for the second flying lap due to a problem with his gearbox. Not that it would have mattered much anyway, as the Roman would have received a one-second penalty for ignoring the yellow flags during the morning's practice.

20. Kimi Raikkonen
First Qualifying: 1:21.181; Second Qualifying: No time

Ron Dennis said after qualifying that McLaren had made progress since Bahrain, although the team boss admitted that was not apparent at all. Raikkonen would have agreed. Although the MP4-19's pace looked slightly better in practice, its reliability, or rather the Mercedes engine's reliability, continued to be dismal. Raikkonen, who had already been hit by brake problems on Friday, suffered his fourth engine failure of the season in as many races. Last year's runner-up could only complete first qualifying before his team detected a problem with an exhaust which forced them to change the engine. The end result was that Raikkonen had to start from the back of the grid for the second consecutive race.

The Race

Apart from Schumacher winning all the races so far, there seems to be another constant in this year's Grands Prix: the weather is always cooler on Sunday than on the previous two days. At Imola that happened again: on Saturday afternoon a torrential downpour flooded the circuit, lowering the temperatures and washing the track's surface.

Sunday morning was a different story, however, and the sun shone through, drying up the track before the start of the race. When the race got under way, Button had no problems to keep his lead, making a clean and fast start which allowed him to arrive clearly in front at the first chicane. Schumacher started pretty well too, while Montoya was slower and would have been passed by Ralf had the German found a gap. As it was, he stayed behind.

Arriving at Tamburello, there was plenty of action, most notably by David Coulthard, who was too optimistic under braking and crashed into the back of Alonso's Renault. The Spaniard's car was not damaged, but Coulthard lost his front wing and went off the track before heading into the pits. Alonso, meanwhile, banged wheels with Trulli while going through the first chicane, although both Renaults continued as if nothing had happened.

In the run towards Tosa, Montoya was all over the back of Schumacher. The German defended the inside line and Montoya tried to go around the outside, a move which, as anyone would have expected, did not pay off, as Schumacher widened his line at the exit of the corner and Montoya ended up having to drive onto the grass, losing his momentum. Schumacher played down the incident saying he had not seen Montoya.

"Oh no, he didn't see me there," said the Williams driver after the race. "No chance. You've got to be either blind or stupid not to see me. But you know it is racing." Montoya's complaints fell on deaf ears, especially as he squeezed Ralf only seconds after the incident with Michael, in a move that was remarkably similar. Ironically, he saw nothing wrong with it.

"I did close the door, you know," he said. "I don't have anything against what I did, but it was because of the first incident. I wasn't going to lose 10 positions. I don't have a problem with that, it is fine by me."

Button led at the end of the first lap, with Schumacher nearly three seconds behind. Montoya was third, followed by Sato, Ralf, Barrichello, Trulli and Webber. Alonso had dropped down to ninth after the troubled first lap, with da Matta completing the top ten.

After his flying opening lap, Button began to lose ground to Schumacher, who was the fastest man on track and was getting away from Montoya, unable to follow the pace of the German. It took Schumacher just four laps to get right behind Button; overtaking him, however, was a different matter, so the World Champion waited patiently for the first round of pitstops, which, as usual this year, began pretty soon.

Montoya was the first of the top runners to stop for fuel and tyres, on lap eight, while Button followed suit on the following lap. Schumacher, meanwhile, stayed out for two laps before he made his first pitstop. That was enough for the German to pit and return to the track in the lead, over five seconds ahead of Button. And that was that.

Running in clean air, Schumacher took off, lapping over a second per lap quicker than Button and immediately disappearing into the distance. Behind the BAR driver, Montoya was still a distant and solitary third, while Trulli, the last man to pit, had jumped to fourth in front of Ralf, Barrichello, Alonso and Sato, who was followed closely by Fisichella and Raikkonen, both on a different strategy and still to stop.

At the top of the field, Schumacher continued to open the gap to Button: by lap 20 the German was over 12 seconds ahead, with the Briton himself also running a lonely race as Montoya had dropped back and was 14 seconds adrift of the BAR. For some time, Ralf came under pressure from Barrichello until he managed to get some breathing space when the Brazilian realised there was no way to overtake him on track.

Further back, the battle for the last point was over when Fisichella and Raikkonen finally made their first stops around lap 20, leaving Sato on his own. Montoya was again the first on the top runners to make his second pitstop, the Colombian retaining third place. Button and then Schumacher followed, and so did the rest of the field.

At the end of the second round of stops, the order remained unchanged except for Ralf, who was in fourth place having passed Trulli. The German quickly opened a gap to the Italian, who was caught by Barrichello and Alonso and followed for several laps. Neither the Brazilian not the Spaniard could do anything to pass, however.

The following laps went by action-less, until the final round of pitstops was triggered again by Montoya, who looked set for a lonely third place. Button, over 24 seconds behind Schumacher, pitted next, while the German followed suit two laps later.

Trulli stayed out a bit longer than Barrichello, and after a pitstop of 6.3 seconds, the Italian returned to the track in fifth place ahead of the Brazilian. Alonso, however, made the most of his second stint, the Spaniard pitting on lap 48. A couple of laps pushing at the limit, followed by a perfect pitstop from his Renault crew, saw Alonso emerging ahead of both Trulli and Barrichello.

It was a sensational move from the team, and one which allowed Alonso to get away from his teammate and set his sights on Ralf. The Renault driver needed just two laps to catch the German and, on lap 50, Alonso dived down the inside at Tosa. With his car almost ahead of Ralf, the German decided to close the door and they clashed, the Williams spinning.

Alonso continued in fourth, while Ralf dropped down to seventh ahead of Sato, although the Japanese driver's race would not last much longer, his Honda engine letting go with five laps remaining. That allowed Raikkonen to climb back to eighth and into the point-scoring positions.

While Schumacher and Button continued cruising home, Montoya began to come under pressure from Alonso, who closed a gap of over six seconds to get right behind the Colombian with three laps to go. As it was the case during most of the race, however, overtaking was a different matter and Alonso had to settle for fourth.

Schumacher nursed his Ferrari home, allowing Button to finish less then ten seconds behind, although the real gap was much more than that. "I had quite a gap and I saw Jenson's pace and just drove the race accordingly and eased off," said Schumacher, now leading the Championship by over 16 points over Barrichello and 17 over Button, who celebrated his and BAR's best ever result up to date.

The result suggested Button could be soon savoring the glory of victory, and with the Spanish Grand Prix coming up, the Briton will have another chance to shine at a track where BAR have flown in testing. Schumacher, however, has won there for the last three years and he will be the man to beat again. "We might be closer," Button reflected after the race, "but to beat them is a big step forward."

Race Results

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine                Time        
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari            (B)     1h26:19.670
 2.  Button        BAR-Honda          (M)     +     9.702
 3.  Montoya       Williams-BMW       (M)     +    21.617
 4.  Alonso        Renault            (M)     +    23.654
 5.  Trulli        Renault            (M)     +    36.216
 6.  Barrichello   Ferrari            (B)     +    36.683
 7.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW       (M)     +    55.730
 8.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes   (M)     +     1 lap
 9.  Fisichella    Sauber-Petronas    (B)     +     1 lap
10.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas    (B)     +     1 lap
11.  Panis         Toyota             (M)     +     1 lap
12.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes   (M)     +     1 lap
13.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth    (M)     +     1 lap
14.  Klien         Jaguar-Cosworth    (M)     +    2 laps
15.  Baumgartner   Minardi-Cosworth   (B)     +    4 laps
16.  Sato          BAR-Honda          (M)     +    6 laps

Fastest Lap: M.Schumacher, 1:20.411

Not Classified/Retirements:

Driver        Team                     On Lap
Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford        (B)    51
Da Matta      Toyota             (M)    32
Bruni         Minardi-Cosworth   (B)    22
Pantano       Jordan-Ford        (M)     6


World Championship Standing, Round 4:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  M.Schumacher  40        1.  Ferrari           64
 2.  Barrichello   24        2.  Renault           31
 3.  Button        23        3.  Williams-BMW      27
 4.  Montoya       18        =   BAR-Honda         27
 5.  Alonso        16        5.  McLaren-Mercedes   5
 6.  Trulli        15        6.  Sauber-Petronas    1
 7.  R.Schumacher   9        =   Jaguar-Cosworth    1
 8.  Sato           4
 =   Coulthard      4
10.  Massa          1
 =   Webber         1
 =   Raikkonen      1

Fastest Race Laps

Pos  Driver        Team                  Lap  Time              
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  10   1:20.411        
 2.  Button        BAR-Honda        (M)  28   1:21.201 + 0.790
 3.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  59   1:21.650 + 1.239
 4.  Trulli        Renault          (M)  11   1:21.666 + 1.255
 5.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW     (M)  30   1:21.689 + 1.278
 6.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  27   1:21.870 + 1.459
 7.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  31   1:21.873 + 1.462
 8.  Sato          BAR-Honda        (M)  44   1:21.929 + 1.518
 9.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  39   1:22.500 + 2.089
10.  Fisichella    Sauber-Petronas  (B)  60   1:22.654 + 2.243
11.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  59   1:22.861 + 2.450
12.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas  (B)  36   1:22.895 + 2.484
13.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  55   1:22.931 + 2.520
14.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  42   1:22.951 + 2.540
15.  da Matta      Toyota           (M)  25   1:23.108 + 2.697
16.  Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford      (B)  44   1:23.381 + 2.970
17.  Klien         Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  27   1:23.647 + 3.236
18.  Pantano       Jordan-Ford      (B)   6   1:25.457 + 5.046
19.  Baumgartner   Minardi-Cosworth (B)  58   1:26.075 + 5.664
20.  Bruni         Minardi-Cosworth (B)  11   1:26.857 + 6.446

Pitstop Times

Pos  Driver        Team                  Time      Lap
 1.  da Matta      Toyota           (M)  14.380   32
 2.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  22.619   48
 3.  Trulli        Renault          (M)  23.019   46
 4.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  23.538   26
 5.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  23.617   30
 6.  Trulli        Renault          (M)  23.685   31
 7.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW     (M)  23.728   44
 8.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  23.933   28
 9.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  23.946   46
10.  da Matta      Toyota           (M)  24.022   23
11.  Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford      (B)  24.042   32
12.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW     (M)  24.118   28
13.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  24.127    8
14.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  24.230   10
15.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW     (M)  24.360    9
16.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  24.371   11
17.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  24.402   27
18.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas  (B)  24.578   24
19.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  24.586    9
20.  Trulli        Renault          (M)  24.760   12
21.  Baumgartner   Minardi-Cosworth (B)  24.868   14
22.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  24.872   43
23.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  24.946   25
24.  Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford      (B)  24.947   14
25.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  24.990   42
26.  Button        BAR-Honda        (M)  24.993   44
27.  Heidfeld      Jordan-Ford      (B)  25.056   47
28.  Baumgartner   Minardi-Cosworth (B)  25.062   44
29.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  25.084   11
30.  Button        BAR-Honda        (M)  25.118   26
31.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  25.137   43
32.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas  (B)  25.142    7
33.  Klien         Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  25.270   42
34.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  25.698   24
35.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  25.734   19
36.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  25.885    8
37.  Fisichella    Sauber-Petronas  (B)  25.982   20
38.  Sato          BAR-Honda        (M)  26.016   10
39.  Klien         Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  26.058   25
40.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  26.180   21
41.  Fisichella    Sauber-Petronas  (B)  26.222   39
42.  Button        BAR-Honda        (M)  26.571    9
43.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  26.692   41
44.  da Matta      Toyota           (M)  26.714    7
45.  Bruni         Minardi-Cosworth (B)  26.800   12
46.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas  (B)  26.931   38
47.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  27.053   40
48.  Klien         Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  28.386    9
49.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  30.939   41
50.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  31.224    1
51.  Baumgartner   Minardi-Cosworth (B)  35.378   29

The San Marino Grand Prix, Lap by Lap

Lap 1: At the start Button makes a good getaway and leads into the first corner. Michael Schumacher is second. Juan Pablo Montoya is slower away but Ralf Schumacher cannot pass him. The bunching in the midfield results in David Coulthard running into the back of Fernando Alonso and going off. He rejoins at the back and heads for the pits. At Tosa Montoya tries to drive around the outside of Michael Schumacher. The Williams is squeezed off the track and loses momentum. Ralf Schumacher tries to pass Montoya on the run up the hill towards Piratella but ran out of road and ended up on the grass and lost fourth place to Takuma Sato. All this leaves Button with a big lead from Michael Schumacher, Montoya, Sato, Ralf Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Jarno Trulli, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso and Cristiano da Matta. Coulthard pits and rejoins a long way behind.

Lap 2: Schumacher begins to claw back the gap to Button and reduces the gap from 2.7 seconds to 2.1s. Montoya cannot keep up and is already 1.7s down on Schumacher. Further back Felipe Massa passes Olivier Panis for 11th place.

Lap 3: Schumacher takes another seven-tenths off Button’s lead.

Lap 4: Michael Schumacher is right behind Button but obviously cannot overtake unless Button makes a mistake. At the back of the field, Coulthard goes for a ride over the chicane.

Lap 7: The pit stops begin with da Matta and Massa stopping. This drops the pair from 10th and 11th to 15th and 14th, Massa having made a faster stop. While this is going on, Giorgio Pantano goes off and retires. Giancarlo Fisichella has a couple of minor offs.

Lap 8: Montoya is the first frontrunner to stop. He is followed into the pits by Mark Webber

Lap 9: Button stops and Schumacher immediately speeds up. Ralf Schumacher also stops. Panis and Christian Klien also pit.

Lap 10: The shuffling continues with Schumacher setting a very quick lap while behind him Sato and Barrichello both pit.

Lap 11: Schumacher pits but he has made up enough ground to emerge ahead of Button. Alonso also stops, leaving Trulli in second place for a lap.

Lap 12: Trulli is the last man to stop and so the new order emerges with Michael Schumacher ahead of Button, Montoya, Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, Alonso and Sato.

Lap 14: Heidfeld stops for the first stop.

Lap 16: The order is the same but Michael Schumacher’s lead is up to 10secs. Down at the back David Coulthard passes Klien for 16th position.

Lap 17: Heidfeld has a big spin but stays in 15th place.

Lap 19: Massa passes Webber for 11th place. It is clear that the Jaguar has some kind of a misfire. Coulthard stops having switched to a two-stop strategy.

Lap 20: Fisichella is ninth having gone without a stop. He drops to 14th place.

Lap 21: Raikkonen is also on a two-stop strategy and is up to ninth when he stops. He rejoins 14th.

Lap 23: Da Matta has his second pit stop and falls from 11th to 14th.

Lap 24: Massa and Webber have their second pit stops.

Lap 25: Montoya is the first frontrunner to stop. He falls back from third to seventh. Trulli moves up to third.

Lap 26: Button stops but he holds on to second place.

Lap 27: Michael Schumacher stops but he is able to rejoin his lead now around 18secs.

Lap 28: Ralf Schumacher and Barrichello stop again and that puts Alonso up to fourth place. Sato also stops but holds on to eighth place.

Lap 30: Alonso stops and so Montoya and Ralf Schumacher move up to fourth and fifth.

Lap 31: Trulli stops and so Montoya is back to third place with Ralf fourth, Trulli fifth, Barrichello sixth, Alonso seventh and Sato eighth.

Lap 32: Da Matta heads to the pits for a drive-through penalty, for ignoring blue flags. He rejoins the track but goes off almost immediately.

Lap 38: Little has changed. In the midfield the two Saubers both pit: Fisichella for the second time and Massa for the third time.

Lap 40: Coulthard, another two-stopper, pits but he is too far back to move up the order. He is 14th.

Lap 43: The third round of stops has changed little in the midfield. On lap 43 Montoya is the first frontrunner to stop for the last time. This puts Ralf third for a lap.

Lap 44: Button and Ralf Schumacher both stop. Button is still second but Trulli moves to third place. Alonso is fourth and Montoya fifth but it is clear that the Renaults must stop again.

Lap 46: Michael Schumacher and Trulli both stop. Schumacher stays ahead but Trulli falls behind Alonso, Montoya and Ralf. But he is ahead of Barrichello.

Lap 48: Alonso stops and so Montoya is back to third with Ralf fourth. Alonso is ahead of Trulli and challenging the Williams-BMW.

Lap 49: Nick Heidfeld goes out with a mechanical failure.

Lap 50: Alonso tries to pass Ralf Schumacher on the inside and has the inside line. Ralf then tried to close the gap, leaving Alonso nowhere to go. The two cars collide and Ralf spins. He drops to seventh place.

Lap 57: Eighth-placed Sato goes out with a big engine blow-up. This puts Raikkonen up to eighth but he is under pressure from Fisichella.