With track temperatures 38 degrees for the race, but would heavy overnight
showers make things difficult for the Michelin teams. We would have Kimi Raikkonen again starting from the rear of the grid as Jenson Button took his place at the front of the field. He would say to television prior to the start "I'm very excited. There's nothing but the lights in front of me. We'll see."

The start would see Button lead Michael with Juan Pablo and Ralf third and fourth. Juan Pablo would attack Michael, with the Ferrari driver forcing Juan Pablo onto the grass. BAR's Takuma Sato would pass Ralf for fourth. After lap one Button would be 2.7 seconds ahead. Coulthard would have an off at Tamburello, having lost his front wing. He would pit and the end of the lap returning in last. Raikkonen would have gained four places by the end of the first lap. Lap three and Michael would be 1.4 seconds behind Button and closing in on the BAR.

Juan Pablo would start to lose time to Button and by lap five he would be 5.1 seconds behind. Behind Sato a queue of drivers including Ralf, Rubens and Trulli are looking at passing the BAR. Michael would continue to pressure Button, with the pair one second faster than Juan Pablo. By lap six the pair would be 6.5 seconds ahead of Juan Pablo. Michael would be just 0.7 seconds behind Jenson. Da Matta and Massa would pit on lap seven.

Lap eight and Juan Pablo would pit, joined by Jaguar's Mark Webber. Pantano would retire his Jordan in the gravel. Sato would now be in third. The next lap and Button would pit, 9.7seconds. Ralf would also pit. At the front Michael would put in the quickest lap so far.

Lap eleven and both Sato and Rubens would pit, with the Ferrari exiting ahead of the BAR. Michael would pit next coming out in front of Button. His quick laps would see him gain the time to take the lead. Trulli would be second but yet to stop. Lap thirteen and Trulli would come in, 8.1 seconds, seeing Jenson return to
second. Juan Pablo and Ralf are third and fourth. Juan Pablo was 10.5 seconds behind Jenson. Michael would increase his lead over the rest of the field, lap sixteen he would be 8.8 seconds in front of Button.

Lap twenty and Michael would easily build on his lead, now it was 12.7 seconds. Lap twenty two and Raikkonen would make his first pit stop, a 2 stop strategy possibly? Trulli was to ass Ralf into fourth, with Rubens in sixth. Webber was to have problems with his engine but was able to keep running.

Lap twenty four and Da Matta would make his second stop. Massa and Webber would pit. Third places Juan Pablo would stop, 8.4 seconds, while Raikkonen would be lapped by Michael. The Finn is having such a poor start to the year. Button would stop from second and on lap twenty seven and Michael would pit
from the lead and come back out still in the lead.

Juan Pablo would set his best lap of the race a 1m:21.870. Ralf and Rubens would both pit with the FW26 just squeezing out in front of the F2004. At the front Michael's lead over Button had gown out to 17.2 seconds. Juan Pablo was in fifth but with Trulli and Alonso yet to make their second stop. On lap thirty Alonso would come in, followed by team-mate Trulli the next lap.

Things were looking very comfortable for Michael in the lead, while Rubens was closing in onto Ralf. Even at this early stage of the race it looked like Michael would easily go on to win. Raikkonen was in ninth. The closest fight on the track was for fifth between Trulli, Barrichello, and Alonso.

Lap thirty six and Da Matta would retire after having gone through the gravel trap. Lap forty and Michael's lead was 19.6 seconds over Button with Juan Pablo still in third. Coulthard would pit from fourteenth, his third stop. Raikkonen would make his second stop.

Lap forty four and Sato would pit from eighth. Juan Pablo would also pit, joined by Barrichello. The next lap it would be Button's turn, 8.2 seconds, joined by Ralf. Michael was yet to make his third stop, while leading by 44.9 seconds. Lap forty six and Michael would stop, his stop 6.8 seconds. The next lap and it would be Trulli in for a 6.3 seconds stop. Team-mate Alonso would stop from third, a six second stop, rejoining just ahead of Trulli and Barrichello.

Lap fifty one and Alonso would try to go down the inside of Ralf and they would collide, with the FW26 spinning. Alonso would get through while Ralf would have to light up his rear wheels to get back onto the circuit. He would drop down to seventh. Heidfeld would retire.

Michael would be close to lapping his brother while at the front Alonso was starting to close in on Montoya. The gap was 3.6 seconds. Michael was starting to ease back his pace with a huge 26 second lead over Button. Rubens would be pressuring Trulli for fifth. It was announced that Alonso and Ralf are under investigation for their collision. Sato would retire on the track with an engine failure.

As the laps counted down even Button would drop off his lap times, with a sixteen second lead over Juan Pablo. His team would also have Sato's engine failure in mind. As for Juan Pablo he would be just one second ahead of Alonso, but he would not be able to get past the FW26.

Michael would cross the line to score his fourth victory of the season with Button second and Juan Pablo third. This would be Button's best race result to date. Alonso would finish fourth, ahead of Trulli, Barrichello, Ralf, and Raikkonen.

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

1. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1h26'19"670 212.406 Km/h 3
2. 9 BUTTON BAR Honda M + 0'09"702 212.009 Km/h 3
3. 3 MONTOYA WilliamsF1 BMW M + 0'21"617 211.523 Km/h 3
4. 8 ALONSO Renault M + 0'23"654 211.440 Km/h 3
5. 7 TRULLI Renault M + 0'36"216 210.931 Km/h 3
6. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B + 0'36"683 210.912 Km/h 3
7. 4 R. SCHUMACHER WilliamsF1 BMW M + 0'55"730 210.145 Km/h 3
8. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1 lap(s) 2
9. 11 FISICHELLA Sauber Petronas B 1 lap(s) 2
10. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas B 1 lap(s) 3
11. 17 PANIS Toyota M 1 lap(s) 3
12. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1 lap(s) 3
13. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1 lap(s) 3
14. 15 KLIEN Jaguar Cosworth M 2 lap(s) 3
15. 21 BAUMGARTNER Minardi Cosworth B 4 lap(s) 3
16. 10 SATO BAR Honda M 6 lap(s) 3
17. 18 HEIDFELD Jordan Ford B 14 lap(s) 3
18. 16 DA MATTA Toyota M 30 lap(s) 3
19. 20 BRUNI Minardi Cosworth B 40 lap(s) 2
20. 19 PANTANO Jordan Ford B 56 lap(s) 0