With the race starting under very warm conditions, with the track temperatures some 50 degrees. BMW Motorsport Director Gerhard Berger said, after yesterday's qualifying session: "We are obviously ideally placed for the race and we hope we will fight for victory here. But with these high temperatures, it is extremely difficult to predict how tyre degradation and general reliability will be over the race distance."

The start of the race would see the safety car come out as Raikkonen and Ralph Firman both crashed at the first corner in a big accident for the McLaren driver. Raikkonen was to collide with one of the Ferrari of Barrichello, with the track been littered with debris.

Of worse news was the fact that Ralf's car was also involved in the first corner accident when his car was hit, forcing him to pit. Ralf would retire in the pits. Kimi had made a fast start that would see him pass Barrichello, but the two would collide into the first corner. Joining Ralf in retirement was also Rubens, Frentzen, and Wilson.

"I don't know exactly how it happened," Schumacher said. "Barrichello or Raikkonen would not provoke something like this on purpose and nor would I." Schumacher added: "The side of the car and the undertray were broken. There was no way to continue."

After three laps behind the safety car Juan Pablo was leading from Trulli in second, Alonso, with Michael Schumacher fourth. Jaguar's mark Webber was up in fifth and Coulthard had moved up to sixth. The safety car would pull in at the end of lap three and by lap five Montoya had set the fastest lap, a 1m:16.527. Wilson would come back into the race after the Jaguar team completed repairs on the front suspension of his car. Juan Pablo would start to pull out a lead to the Renault's following, 2.1sec to Trulli.

lap eight and the top six were Montoya, Trulli, Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Webber, and Coulthard. The two Toyota's followed Coulthard's McLaren with Panis leading da Matta. Michael would now start to pick up his pace, just 0.8 behind Alonso. Coulthard would pass Webber into fifth. Lap nine and Montoya was leading by 2.2 seconds, Michael Schumacher was 5.4 seconds down.

Lap eleven and Juan Pablo would set a new fastest lap. He would continue to open out his lead and by lap fourteen it was four seconds. Fisichella would pits in his Jordan, a 30 second stop. Fisichella would coast slowly around the circuit. Juan Pablo would set another fastest lap, while on lap fourteen Trulli would make an early stop of 8.4secs, dropping to fifth. Lap sixteen and Panis would stop, 6.4secs. Juan Pablo was leading from Alonso and Michael Schumacher.

Lap eighteen and Juan Pablo would stop, 6.9secs. Michael would also pit with his stop been 8.0secs. It was now very much a question of who was going to stop twice or three times. Alonso would also stop, 7.7secs. By lap nineteen Juan Pablo would resume his position at the front of the field. McLaren would bring Coulthard for a 9.3sec stop. He was to have a small problem refuelling his car. The only two drivers who weer yet to stop were mark Webber and BAR's Jenson Button.

Juan Pablo's lead was 12.3secs and he was two seconds a lap faster than his closest rival. Webber would final stop on lap twenty one. Lap twenty two and Button would pit from position six. Juan Pablo would continue to set times 1.8secs faster than the Renault's. Trulli was 18.3secs behind the FW25. With forty two laps left on lap twenty five Jos Verstappen would retire with an engine failure on his first lap out after pitting.

Lap twenty seven and Alonso would catch up to team-mate Trulli. If Juan Pablo was to win here he would move into second in the championship behind Michael Schumacher. By lap twenty nine Juan Pablo's lead had grown to 24.3secs ahead of Trulli. Behind Juan Pablo there was a fight between the two Renault's and Michael in fourth, with 2.7secs covering the three drivers. There were only thirteen cars left running.

Juan Pablo appear to ease up on his dominate pace on lap thirty one but he was way out in front of those chasing him in terms of his pace. On the same lap Alonso would run wide and would lose his pace to Michael. Lap thirty three and Juan Pablo would pit again, a 6.4 secs stop, retaining his lead. da Matta would pit from sixth, a 7.2secs stop. Lap thirty five and Juan Pablo was leading Trulli by 6.1secs, with another 2.6sec back to Michael. Villeneuve and Heidfeld would also make their second pit stops.

Lap thirty eight and both Trulli and Michael would pit. Alonso would also stop leaving Coulthard in second. Lap forty and Juan Pablo was 23.8sec ahead of the McLaren. Coulthard had only stopped once and on lap forty two he would make his next stop rejoining in fourth. Lap forty four and Juan Pablo had a massive 44sec lead so even if he had to make another stop he would have plenty of time up his sleeve. On the same lap Webber would stop, 9.9sec suggesting that he was fuelled to the end of the race.

Coulthard would be chasing Michael for third, the McLaren just 1.7sec behind the Ferrari. lap forty seven and Juan Pablo's lead was out to 52.8sec. The following lap and Juan Pablo would lap da Matta in seventh such as the WilliamsF1 drivers domination. Coulthard would continue to close in on the Michael's Ferrari. Juan Pablo was running 2 seconds a lap faster than second placed Trulli.

On lap fifty Juan Pablo would make his final stop, joined by Panis. He would stop for 6.8sec and easily retain his lead when he returned to the track. Juan Pablo could now back off as he covered the closing stages of the race with seventeen laps remaining. He was thirty eight seconds ahead of Trulli. Only one second would separate third placed Schumacher and fourth placed Coulthard. Coulthard passing Michael would certainly help Montoya in his championship aspirations. Lap fifty three and the fight between Trulli, Michael, and Coulthard for third was certainly heating up with all three drivers running close together.

Both Toyotas were in the points, with Panis sixth and da Matta seventh. Juan Pablo had lapped everyone up to fifth placed Alonso. Juan Pablo's pace was still way above second placed Trulli. Juan Pablo was in the 1m:16's while Trulli was in the low 1m:18's.

lap fifty nine and only 1.3 seconds covered second to fourth as the three drivers
continued to fight it out. The first to make a move was Michael on Trulli and he was pass him on the outside moving up into second, following confusion lapping the Jenson button. Michael would start to pull away from the Renault. Coulthard would also pass the Renault as Trulli struggled with tyres suffering from the heat. With six laps to go and Juan Pablo would now start to ease off.

Lap sixty four and Coulthard would push hard chasing down Michael in a hope of taking second place from the Ferrari. But he does not have to worry as Michael would suffer a flat left rear tyre and have to pit. Michael would stop for 7.2sec and rejoin in seventh. Michael is now only looking at two points rather than eight for second. Webber would spin out from ninth.

But it would be Juan Pablo who would cross the line in a utterly dominate display from the Colombian driver and the BMW WilliamsF1 team. What would the result have been if Ralf had not retire is only speculation but a WilliamsF1 0ne-two was looking very good. Coulthard would finish an impressive second while Trulli would come home in third.

P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Gaps/Laps Stops

1. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1h28'48"769 3
2. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M + 1'05"400 2
3. 7 TRULLI Renault M + 1'09"000 2
4. 8 ALONSO Renault M + 1'09"300 2
5. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1 lap(s) 3
6. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1 lap(s) 3
7. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1 lap(s) 3
8. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 1 lap(s) 2
9. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 2 lap(s) 2
10. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 2 lap(s) 3
11. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 3 lap(s) 2
12. 18 KIESA Minardi Cosworth B 5 lap(s) 3
13. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 7 lap(s) 4
14. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 44 lap(s) 2
15. 15 WILSON Jaguar Cosworth M 61 lap(s) 2
16. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 66 lap(s) 1
17. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 66 lap(s) 1
18. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 67 lap(s) 0
19. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 67 lap(s) 0
20. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B 67 lap(s) 0