The Race
Race day dawned with clear skies, low winds and a warm track: little changed for the remainder of the event.
Before the start, Sato chose not to head up to the track, but to start from the pitlane: changing strategy from three to two stops could have offered him a chance to make up places, but it meant he would start the race with no heat in tyres and brakes.
The parade lap started with Alonso getting away slowly from the grid, before the cars proceeded very slowly on the lap. There was some question over whether this was about conserving fuel – or just making it as awkward as possible for the Bridgestone runners to get heat in to their tyres!
At the start, everyone began cleanly, before Trulli suddenly slowed and pulled off with a broken suspension, apparently broken by his acceleration off the line. Alonso, meanwhile, moved ahead of Montoya, and Raikkonen slipped in front of Barrichello to split the Ferraris. There were collisions at the first corner, with Klien running into Coulthard's McLaren, pushing da Matta wide and collecting Webber. It led to a yellow flag on the corner for the first couple of laps, and a pitstop for a new front wing on Webber's Jaguar.
In the opening session, Ralf Schumacher led Button, Alonso, and Montoya. Raikkonen split the Ferraris immediately behind; Ralf proceeded to pull away from Button. At the end of the first lap, Sato and Coulthard found themselves side by side in turn one – the BAR-Honda driver having run wide, he yielded the position to the McLaren. Glock found himself running eleventh, just behind Heidfeld, while Michael Schumacher was pushing Montoya to maximise his pace.
It took Button four laps to get on terms with Ralf's pace, and he pegged the gap to about three and a half seconds. Meanwhile, Raikkonen's tyres were starting to go off, and he was struggling to contain Barrichello, who was all over the back of the McLaren. Despite Raikkonen's defence, an aggressive approach to the chicane led to the Ferrari passing cleanly on the back straight – good work by the Brazilian, who made the most of the clean air to run a second and a half faster, closing the gap to Schumacher – who was bottled behind Montoya – in a lap and a half.
By the tenth lap, Mark Webber had pitted again, calling it a day, presumably due to suspension damage from the accident at the start of the race. Ralf was 3.7 seconds ahead of Button, who has Alonso right on his tail. Montoya was over a second further back, being pushed along by the Ferraris.
Coulthard started the fuel stops on lap 11, coming in from 12th and staying stationary for 8.3 seconds before returning in 16th place. It was clear from the state of the tyres that wear was being particularly tough at the rear. Raikkonen stopped on a lap later, dropping from seventh to tenth, behind Heidfeld. By then, Ralf Schumacher's front left tyre was looking very worn.
Button and Montoya both stop on lap 13, pitting from second and fourth to rejoin in sixth and seventh. Running in clean air, Michael Schumacher looked very fast as he chased down Alonso, setting a fastest lap of 1:14.010. In no time, he is behind the Renault. The next lap saw Ralf lap the rear-most Minardi and pit for fuel; he was only stationary for 7.3s and rejoined in fourth and comfortably ahead of Button, who was charging on his new tyres.
Alonso stopped on lap 16 from the lead, releasing the Ferraris. Unfortunately, there was trouble with the refuelling hose, leading to a long stop of 17 stationary seconds. He rejoined in sixth as da Matta pitted. At this time the stewards announce an investigation on car number six: Raikkonen has earned a drive-through penalty for crossing the white line at the exit of the pits, and he promptly takes it, dropping to ninth.
Schumacher was lapping very quickly in the lead, setting a time of 1:13.6 as Barrichello stopped from second on lap 17. The Brazilian rejoined the circuit alongside Montoya, but ended up behind. Schumacher stopped a lap later, and was stationary for 10.3 seconds as he took on a lot of fuel, before rejoining ahead of Montoya but behind Button. At this point, the race order was Ralf Schumacher, Button, Michael Schumacher, Montoya, Barrichello and Alonso.
On lap 20, Heidfeld stopped from eighth, rejoining in 14th behind Coulthard. During his stop, the brake man let him go too soon, resulting in the car moving whilst the refuelling hose was still on, and hurting the refueller.
Ralf was working hard at the front, holding a 3.7-second advantage over Button, who was closing in whilst stretching a 3.8-second lead over Schumacher. Montoya was a couple of seconds behind the German with Barrichello holding station immediately behind. Alonso, in sixth, was about five seconds further off.
Sato stopped from tenth on lap 23, rejoining in 13th – his heavy fuel load had helped see him past the backmarkers, but things were looking harder. Meanwhile, near the front, Barrichello was pushing very hard, despite having some oversteer issues.
When Fisichella stopped on lap 25, his crew had problems with both the right front wheel and fuel hose, though he rejoined in tenth, ahead of Toyota's Panis. Glock slide wide through the hairpin under pressure to defend his place, yielding the position to Sato, who became the last unlapped man in 12th place. Nick Heidfeld's stop finally happened, dropping him a lap and putting him behind Glock.
At this time, Schumacher's relatively slow pace on his second set of tyres became apparent as Montoya closed up and attempted to pass for third. The Colombian was pushing hard, but with Schumacher accelerating well out of the corners, there was little he can do other than apply pressure, potentially forcing the Ferrari into working his brakes harder than he would like. However, the action ended abruptly on lap 30, as Montoya pitted. Despite being stationary for only 7.3s, he rejoined in sixth as Raikkonen stopped for fuel. The Finn rejoined in seventh, keeping the position he held going into the pits.
Button stopped on lap 31, stationary for 7.6s, before struggling to get away. His anti-stall seemed to keep the engine running before he found first and pounded out, to rejoin in fifth and convincingly clear of Montoya. At this time, it was announced that Bruni picked up a drive through penalty for speeding, but he retired before it could be served.
Ralf opened up a gap of some 13 seconds over his brother and was continuing to lap quicker. Coulthard pitted, with Ralf following him in – the 6.2s stop seeing the German rejoining in third, ahead of Alonso. Despite losing Montoya from his mirror's, Michael's problems had not been rectified, and he had Barrichello all over his tail, looking for a way past. It was clear that he was holding his teammate up at this time, allowing Ralf to close back up with the Ferraris.
On lap 42, Sato has a lunge up the inside at the chicane, looking to take tenth spot away from Panis. However, he is proven over-ambitious and spins, narrowly missing a spectacular accident, and falls a lap down as he recovers. That led to a long second pitstop.
A lap later, having been unable to take the race lead away from Schumacher, Barrichello pitted. Shortly afterwards, Alonso pulled out at the Senna Curve with what appears to be suspension failure. Barrichello rejoined behind Montoya, suggesting poor teamwork by Ferrari, as he was being held up.
Kimi pitted from seventh, taking 10.7 seconds before again rejoining in the same position. The Schumacher brothers led, with Ralf six seconds down, and both needed one more stop. First to blink was Michael on lap 46, as the Ferrari pitted from the lead, rejoining in front of Button and Montoya. On the next lap, Ralf stopped from the lead, rejoining in fourth, ahead of Barrichello, but behind Montoya and Button.
On lap 49, both Button and Montoya pitted before rejoining in fourth and fifth; Fisichella stopped from sixth and rejoined in seventh, while Sato's race ends abruptly as his engine expired in spectacular fashion.
Coulthard dropped out of the points when he pitted on lap 57, whilst Massa made his final stop to find himself two laps down on the leaders. A couple of laps later, Raikkonen slowed abruptly, and pulled into the pits with an apparent electrical problem: rejoining with a new steering wheel, he was back in seventh, fortunate to only be yielding a position for Fisichella.
Five laps from the end, Massa suffered a serious rear suspension failure braking for the hairpin, and buried the car in the tyre wall: the left rear wheel was missing before he hit the tyres. He got out of the car very gingerly. Meanwhile, Klein and Heidfeld's private race took a turn for the interesting as they went off together, but get going again straight after.
At the end of the race, Barrichello put in the fastest lap of 1:13.622, but still couldn't close on Ralf Schumacher. Michael Schumacher won comfortably over his brother in second, with his Ferrari teammate third. Button led home Montoya, with Fisichella taking a well earned sixth from Raikkonen and da Matta rounding out the points paying positions. |
