The dusty track proved to be a problem at the start for the Williams duo with Ralf spinning and returning to the fight in last position! Montoya was to have his spin later in front of Ralf who worked hard to get back into the points and contention.

Alonso immediately broke away adding seconds per lap to 15 within in the 1st 5 laps! Mark Webber in the Jaguar running 2nd tried to stay in touch with the rapid Spaniard as the rest of the field settled into the race.

Neither Rubens Barrichello nor Michael Schumacher had good starts with Rubens running wide momentarily and losing 2 crucial positions in the process. His day ended with a massive suspension failure 20 laps into the event. He ran straight into the tire barrier, but thankfully was not injured. The car was destroyed except for the tub attesting to the high standards of safety with the FIA. This was to be the 1st of the problems with the reigning constructors’ champions.

As predicted the Michelin tires prevailed with the top 7 cars all using the French Rubber. By lap 11 Alonso had a 20 second lead over Webber and was clearly on a run for a win! On lap 13 the young Spaniard pitted for fuel and tires with a comfortable 21 second lead. He was soon followed by Webber which handed the lead to Raikkonen.

Webber is now in 3rd followed by Trulli 4th, Montoya 5th and Michael 6th. David Coulthard in the McLaren briefly ran in 2nd while the other runners made their pit stops. The team chose to run a 2 stop strategy which explained his position.

Michael Schumacher languished in 7th spot, still in the points but clearly not competitive. Brother Ralf continued to tear his way forward and eventually passed Michael on his way to a 4th place finish.

6 cars finished on the lead lap of 13 that were running when the checkered flag waved. Villeneuve has the distinction of being the 1st car out and 5 others were also sidelined before the finish. Included on the list in order are; Kiesa/Minardi, Frentzen/Sauber, Wilson/Jaguar, Baumgartner/Jordan, Panis/Toyota, Barrichello/Ferrari and Villeneuve/BAR.

Alonso went on to finish over 16 seconds ahead of Raikkonen and the 2 title battles took on a different look. The points paying positions are; 1 Alonso/Renault,2 Raikkonen/McLaren,3 Montoya/Williams,4 R Schumacher/Williams, 5 Coulthard/McLaren, 6 Webber/Jaguar, 7 Trulli/Renault, and 8 M Schumacher/Ferrari.

This sets the drivers’ points at 72 for M Schumacher, 71 for Montoya, and 70 for Raikkonen with 3 races remaining. Constructor points shift away from Ferrari to 129 for Williams, 121 for Ferrari and 115 for McLaren. Clearly we have some exciting racing to come!

The next race is Monza in 3 weeks time.

Article by: Tony Moffett