Length: 5.141 km
Number of Laps: 60 (308.355 Km)
Best Lap: M. Schumacher - 1'18''731 (2004, Ferrari)
Record Pole: K. .Raikkonen - 1'18''233 (2004, Mclaren)
2005 Pole: F. Alonso - 1'19''905 (Renault)
2005 Podium: JP. Montoya - F. Alonso - K. Raikkonen

The Spaniard and the R26 really were that dominant today, leading from start to finish in commanding style, without anyone else getting close enough to even think about top spot on the podium.

A clean start saw the front three get away in unison, Alonso leading Kimi Raikkonen in the McLaren and Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari, but the peace lasted only a few corners.

Scott Speed’s Toro Rosso appeared to tip the Toyota of Ralf Schumacher into a spin, while Mark Webber, looking to make up places in the Williams, found he had no road left and promptly collected the spinning red and white car. All three retired straight away, the safety car deployed, and the stewards announced an enquiry into the incident. The consensus is there is not much to be discussed as neither Ralf nor Webber was to blame.

As the safety car signalled its intention to pit Alonso played a game with Raikkonen, hitting the brakes thus forcing the McLaren to do the same, whereby the Spaniard stepped on the gas and pulled out a gap. It was close, and will surely be discussed post race.

Immediately it became clear that Alonso had plenty to play with, and established himself in a comfortable lead. Behind him Schumacher had a couple of determined attempts at Raikkonen that ultimately came to nothing, and the race settled down.

Big winner at the start was Nick Heidfeld who propelled his BMW-Sauber from ninth on the grid up to an excellent sixth, and allowed everyone in front of him to pull away by a small margin as he held up those behind.

The first round of stops saw Schumacher pit first, followed by Raikkonen and, a significant couple of laps later, Alonso. The order remained the same. Losing out was the aforementioned Heidfeld, his late stop strategy thwarted by a problem that lost him a good seven seconds in the process.

By this time we had also lost the home hero, Jenson Button, the Honda engine letting go on the tenth lap as Button was scything through the field. It was a pity as he was running very quickly and picking up places with ease.

The mid sector settled down quickly, with Montoya having jumped Heidfeld in the pits, and Fisichella in the second Renault doing the same to Felipe Massa. Montoya had received a bump on the opening lap which ripped away a good part of his right side pod, an ailment that would have made no small difference to the performance of his McLaren.

The second stop loomed large, and again Schumacher stopped first, His out lap was nothing short of amazing and, to the surprise of Mclaren and Raikkonen, the Ferrari passed the end of the pit lane before the silver car emerged back on to the track next lap.

That was it as far as the first three were concerned, but behind them Fisichella was given the wake up call by Renault, having Raikkonen just a short distance in front of him and a podium place at stake. The two hammered around the circuit in near identical times, a tenth in here, a tenth out there, but despite Giancarlo’s persistence it was a futile chase. Raikkonen kept the third place as he passed the chequered flag.

Felipe Massa had a quiet afternoon, never really on the pace but a clean run to fifth place, and Montoya brought his stricken McLaren home in sixth position.

Completing the top eight were the two BMW-Saubers, Heidfeld in seventh place perhaps ruing the first lengthy pits stop, and newly wed Jacques Villeneuve giving himself a nice present of another championship point.

Into ninth place came Nico Rosberg, the youngster driving a good clean race for Williams but simply unable to get on the pace of those in front here at Silverstone, while tenth place went to a disappointing Rubens Barrichello, the Honda driver having qualified with promise but dropped away almost from the start.

Jarno Trulli, having started from the back, ran an unusual strategy in the Toyota, opting to pit twice like everyone else, although the car showed speed that, in normal circumstances, would have rewarded the driver with more than 11th position.

David Coulthard and Christian Klien could only manage 12th and 14th for Red Bull Racing, with between them the Toro Rosso of Tonio Liuzzi, and Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro could not replicate the promising practice pace of the Midland in 15th and 16th.

The final finishers, three laps down, were Takuma Sato and Franck Montagny in the Super Aguri’s, an achievement which, for the young Japanese team, must be akin to winning.

On the face of today’s performance it is difficult to see anyone stopping Fernando Alonso from strolling away to a second World Title, such was the confidence of the man, and the ease with which he and the team showed the opposition how it should be done.