Early on, it looked like someone – at last – had got it together to take the fight to Schumacher and Ferrari. Button made a cracking start, and drove away from Schuey in fantastic style early on, Jenson admitting to "wringing the neck of the car". By the end of lap one, he was an amazing 2.7secs ahead – although that was exaggerated by Schumacher getting tangled up with Juan Pablo Montoya.

Reality was to strike eight laps in, when Button headed for the pits and Schumacher, who closed in on him but could not challenge, stayed out until lap 11 and set some amazingly quick lap times that were right on qualifying pace. Schuey rejoined with a six-second advantage, helped by the fact that Button's first stop was relatively slow.

Rewinding to that opening lap, Schumacher infuriated Montoya with his tactics at Tosa, Juan Pablo attacking around the outside of the hairpin, just as he did at the Nurburgring last year, but this time Michael hustled the Colombian onto the dirt on the exit. That allowed Ralf Schumacher to get a run on Montoya up the hill, but Juan Pablo squeezed him onto the grass, which allowed the second BAR of Takuma Sato up to fourth.

Once Schumacher was in front, it was what Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn classed as a "straightforward race" for him. The only blip came after his second stop, when Michael struggled for pace for a couple of laps. An 18sec lead dipped as low as 14.4s at half distance, but Schuey got the hammer down once more and normal service was resumed, and win number 74 was a formality.

"It took a lap or two to get up to temperature and give chase to Jenson," he said of the opening laps. "It was mindblowing what Jenson did on the opening lap. I thought it was raining in front of me and dry for him! He was going into nowhere. I knew it would be a busy and tough afternoon, but we were able to keep up our pace and they seemed to drop off a little bit from their initial pace."

On his scrap with Montoya, Schuey said: "It was very slippery on my side of the grid and I was fighting with Juan. Obviously I wanted to avoid him getting by, because I knew I was going to get faster, and I wanted to stay in touch with Jenson."

Button might have been disappointed to lose his shot at victory, but it didn't show after the race. His first ever runner-up spot was only threatened when team-mate Sato's Honda engine blew in massive style with a handful of laps remaining, but a reduction of pace meant everything hung together.

"The first lap was fantastic," he said. "I was very happy with my pace in the first stint. After we refuelled, I seemed to struggle a little bit compared to Michael. The car was a little bit twitchy today, more than we'd expected, so it was a little difficult to drive. Even with those problems, the pace was still pretty good."

After his early contretemps with Schuey, Montoya was consigned to racing for third as he was unable to live with Button's pace either. In the latter stages he had to raise his pace to keep Renault's Fernando Alonso at bay, but Juan Pablo was keen to stress his unhappiness after the race about what happened with Schumacher on the opening lap.

"I went to pass him and he closed the door on me," said Montoya. "I had to back off, and he did the same at the next corner. Coming out of the turn [Tosa] he came straight towards me and hit me, putting me in the grass. It's very disappointing to see racing like that."

Alonso's fourth place was what he described as a "tough one". Only after his final stop did he rise to fifth, ahead of battle between team-mate Jarno Trulli and the second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello. The Spaniard then set off after Ralf Schumacher, and attacked the German under braking for Tosa after Ralf made a mistake on the exit of the second chicane.

Although he got half his car alongside, Schumacher turned in – effectively spinning himself around the Renault, which escaped unscathed. Alonso said: "I tried to overtake him and he closed the door, unfortunately we touched. At least we both finished the race [Schumacher slipping back to seventh], so that was okay. I think he saw me trying to pass, and he closed the door in a bad way."

Trulli just held off Barrichello for fifth position, the pair ahead of the delayed R Schumacher. McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen nebbed the final spot after a terrier-like performance from the back of the grid. His two-stop strategy was mirrored by Giancarlo Fisichella's Sauber, who gave the Finn a good fight all afternoon.

Sauber colleague Felipe Massa finished 10th, ahead of Olivier Panis (Toyota). David Coulthard was next up for McLaren, the Scot hitting the back of a Renault at the first corner and losing his front wing and any chances of a point. Mark Webber was 13th for Jaguar after struggling with an engine problem for much of the race. Jag team-mate Christian Klien was next up, ahead of the final finisher, Zsolt Baumgartner's Minardi.

Those who didn't see the flag included Cristiano da Matta (Toyota), who went off after his second pitstop, and both the Jordans. Nick Heidfeld pulled off with a mechanical failure, while Giorgio Pantano went off at the Aqua Minerale. Minardi's Gianmaria Bruni was forced out when a left-rear brake locked on.