The race would start under cloudy skies, with chances of rain at the end of the afternoon. Both Jordan's Ralph Firman and Minardi's Jos Verstappen would start from the pits.

At the start it would be Ralf who would lead the field after a brilliant manoeuvre by the German. He would lead from Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, and Juan Pablo in fourth position. Pizzonia would stall on grid and eventually he was able to get nearly one lap down. Now we would see Michael start to challenge his brother, only 0.3 behind.

Michael tries to pass Ralf on lap three and again on lap five after the finish line
straight, but the power of Ralf's BMW engine made things very difficult. Only two seconds covered the top four, and now it would be Juan Pablo who would close on the front three with a fastest lap of 1m:24.940. Fifth and sixth were Raikkonen and Alonso with the Renault driver lapping as fast as Michael Schumacher.

Juan Pablo would again set the fastest lap with a time of 1m:24.892 as he closed on Barrichello. On lap eleven it would be Ralf's turn with a Ralf Schumacher fastest lap of 1m :24 294. Panis would pit on the same lap. But again Juan Pablo would set a new time with a lap of 1m:24.255. Both BMW WilliamsF1 drivers were running very strongly in these early stages. Lap thirteen and both Heidfeld and Da Matta would pit. For some the race would be a three stop strategy. Again on lap thirteen Ralf would set the fastest lap time , a 1m:23.975. Lap fourteen and Alonso pits.

On lap fifteen Mark Webber would pit, not changing his front tyres. He was joined by Renault's Jarno Trulli. The following lap and race leader Ralf would stop taking on fuel and new tyres but he would have a little difficult getting away. It was then BAR's Button's turn to pit.

Now it was Rubens Barrichello's turn to set the fastest lap time, a 1m:23.433. Juan Pablo would pit taking on a lot of fuel, his stay in the pits was 12.3 seconds. He would return to the track behind Barrichello, who also had stopped. Michael Schumacher was now leading but on lap eighteen he would stop. Raikkonen was now the new race leader. After the stops Michael was now ahead of his brother Ralf. On lap nineteen Jacque Villeneuve would retire with smoke coming from the back of his car after a hydraulic problem.

On lap twenty Mark Webber would suffer a drive through penalty. The next lap Raikkonen would stop coming out in fourth ahead of Juan Pablo in fifth. By lap twenty two Michael would have a lead of over 5 seconds on Ralf. Minardi's Justin Wilson would retire in his pit. By lap twenty six Michael would have ahead of seven seconds over his brother, with Rubens right behind the FW25. Coulthard was in sixth with Alonso seventh.

Lap twenty seven and Toyota's Olivier Panis would make his second pit stop. Lap twenty eight and Michael's lead had grown to be over 10 seconds from Ralf. Panis's team-mate Da Matta would also make his second stop. lap thirty and Juan Pablo was now some twenty one seconds behind the leader. But on lap thirty one Juan Pablo would pit, it appears that he was not pleased with the tyres he had after the first stop. This could explain his slow times after
his first stop. The team would also have trouble with the fuel nozzle on his car, with Juan Pablo stationary for 11.6 seconds.

On lap thirty two it would be Ralf's turn in the pits. There would be no problems for Ralf, his stop only taking 7.8 seconds. Ralf returns to the track ahead of David Coulthard. He would be joined by Mark Webber in the pits. But on the next lap we had the sight of Juan Pablo returning to the pits, there obviously were problems with refuelling the car. Barrichello would also stop returning just behind Ralf. Lap thirty five and Michael would stop, with 28 laps of the race remaining. Michael would still lead the race but with Raikkonen right behind him.

Juan Pablo was now down in eighth, forty eight seconds behind the leader. Jenson Button would stop on lap thirty seven, with his refuelling such that should be his last one. Jordan's Fisichella would stop on lap thirty eight. He was down in thirteenth.

Raikkonen would try and close on Michael while on lap forty Alonso would stop for fuel. This would see Juan Pablo move into sixth. Ralf, Rubens and Coulthard are all fighting really hard for third place. But the skies at the track would start to darken. There was a chance it would rain late in the race. Lap forty three and Raikkonen would make his final stop but he would lose time in the pits. Michael Schumacher would nearly go off the track. Lap forty four and it would be Coulthard's turn to pit. The battle between Ralf and Rubens would continue with Ralf now in second place.

 But Raikkonen's pace would slow. The next pit stop for Ralf came on lap forty six and it went very well been very quick only taking 6.8 seconds to refuel the FW25 and to attach new tyres. This was certainly a race of pit stops. Michael Schumacher would stop and also have a quick turn around by his pit crew.

After his third stop, Michael Schumacher appeared to let Barrichello pass to take the lead. How this would be interpreted was down to t race stewards, but with the banning of team orders it would be interesting to see how they would judge it. For Juan Pablo his race was not going as planned with another stop on lap forty seven. He would be joined by Rubens Barrichello, who would have a problem with his right front tyre. Michael Schumacher would lead ahead of Raikkonen, Ralf, and Barrichello. Juan Pablo was in seventh position.

Lap fifty three would see Rubens pass Ralf on the main straight, seeing Ralf lose third place to the Brazilian. Rubens would start to pull away from Ralf while Michael was in the lead comfortably as we moved into the final laps of the race. Raikkonen was still in second some seventeen seconds behind the leading Ferrari. Over the next few laps Rubens would open up his lead over Ralf to two seconds. After his four stops it was not surprising that Juan Pablo was in seventh. Coulthard was to close on Ralf in the remaining laps of the race. Jaguar's Mark Webber would retire on lap fifty six with a broken drive shaft, stopping in his pits.

He would be joined by Fisichella who stopped with a smoking Jordan. As Michael completed the final laps of the race he would cross the finish line winning his first race of the season. But it was a shame that the race could not have been won under different circumstances, with Michael and Ralf losing their mother the night before. Both drivers were allowed by the FIA not to take part
in any of the normal post race activities.

On the final lap Raikkonen would struggle allowing Rubens to close to within under one second but the Finn held on to finish second. Ralf was fourth and Juan Pablo despite catching Alonso in the final laps could only manage seventh..

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time

1. M. Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1h 28:12.058
2. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) + 1.882
3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) + 2.291
4. R. Schumacher Williams BMW (M) + 8.803
5. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) + 9.411
6. Alonso Renault (M) + 43.689
7. Montoya Williams BMW (M) + 45.271
8. Button BAR Honda (B) + 1 lap
9. Panis Toyota (M) + 1 lap
10. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) + 1 lap
11. Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) + 1 lap
12. da Matta Toyota (M) + 1 lap
13. Trulli Renault (M) + 1 lap
14. Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth (M) + 2 laps
15. Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) + 5 laps

Fastest lap: M. Schumacher, 1:22.491

Not Classified/Retirements:

Driver Team On Lap
Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 54
Firman Jordan Ford (B) 51
Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 39
Wilson Minardi Cosworth (B) 23
Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 19