* Lap 1: Jarno Trulli makes a flying start from his second pole position of the season to beat Michael Schumacher into La Source. Second-row qualifiers Fernando Alonso and David Coulthard also outsprint the German. Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa collide at La Source, as a result of which Massa loses his front wing, and Panis clips Fisichella. Chaos erupts at Eau Rouge. Takuma Sato spins and provokes a chain-reaction accident that involves Mark Webber, Gianmaria Bruni and Giorgio Pantano. All four retire. The Safety Car is deployed to allow the wreckage to be cleared. Trulli leads from Alonso, Coulthard, Schumacher, Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya, Giancarlo Fisichella, Antonio Pizzonia, Christian Klien and Ricardo Zonta. Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Zsolt Baumgartner, Rubens Barrichello, Nick Heidfeld and Olivier Panis all pit at the end of the lap.
* Lap 2: Massa and Barrichello pit again. The Ferrari crew fits a fresh rear wing. The Brazilian rejoins just before the remainder of the field completes lap three.
* Lap 5: Race restarts. Raikkonen passes Schumacher. Montoya tries the same stunt at Les Combes but doesn’t get through. He does at the Bus Stop, however, and around the outside line, to boot. Massa moves up to 12th.
* Lap 6: Raikkonen sets fastest lap so far – 1m 45.647s – and passes Coulthard for third. He is 2.2s adrift of the Renaults.
* Lap 7: Panis, Heidfeld and Barrichello pass Baumgartner to take 13th, 14th and 15th places respectively.
* Lap 8: Barrichello passes Heidfeld: he’s up to 14th.
* Lap 9: Klien makes a scheduled stop. He had been running ninth.
* Lap 10: Leader Trulli comes in. He rejoins ninth.
* Lap 12: Alonso spins at Les Combes, rejoins but spins off for good three corners later. Coulthard slows with a flat right rear tyre. He makes it to the pits, albeit in 15th place. Raikkonen leads from Montoya, Schumacher, Fisichella, Pizzonia, Button, Trulli and Zonta.
* Lap 13: Raikkonen pits and slips to fourth. Montoya takes the lead from Schumacher.
* Lap 14: Fisichella stops and emerges ninth.
* Lap 15: Montoya pits. He comes out alongside eighth-placed Massa but has to cede as they charge into Eau Rouge.
* Lap 16: Schumacher comes in, having led for a lap. He rejoins just ahead of Massa. Zonta pits, too.
* Lap 17: Pizzonia is the last driver to make a stop.
* Lap 18: With everybody having been in at least once, Raikkonen leads from Button, Schumacher – who has just passed Trulli – Massa, Montoya, Pizzonia, Fisichella, Panis, Barrichello, Klien, Zonta, Baumgartner, Coulthard and Heidfeld, who pit at the end of the lap.
* Lap 19: Massa and Panis stop for fuel and tyres.
* Lap 20: Fisichella runs wide but does not lose a place. Montoya tips Trulli into a spin at the chicane and the Italian drops to eighth. The stewards pledge to investigate the incident post-race. Pizzonia passes the delayed Montoya. Klien pits.
* Lap 21: Button makes his first scheduled stop. He rejoins eighth.
* Lap 22: Barrichello passes Fisichella. Recent incidents have promoted the Brazilian to sixth. Raikkonen leads Schumacher by 13.1s and they are lapping at a similar pace. Trulli stops.
* Lap 23: Button passes Fisichella for sixth. Barrichello makes his first conventional stop. Schumacher cuts Raikkonen’s lead to 11.9s.
* Lap 24: Raikkonen hits back and pulls out another 0.5s. Pizzonia, Montoya, Button and Fisichella run third to sixth, from Zonta, Massa, Panis, Barrichello, Klien, Trulli and Coulthard. Baumgartner and Heidfeld are a lap in arrears.
* Lap 26: Fisichella pits from sixth and emerges 11th.
* Lap 28: Schumacher cuts the race’s fastest lap to 1m 45.503s but remains 12.1s adrift of the leader.
* Lap 29: Raikkonen pits: elapsed time 34.4s. Fourth-placed Montoya also stops.
* Lap 30: Button suffers a right-rear tyre deflation on the run up to Les Combes. He spins and takes out Baumgartner’s Minardi. The Safety Car is deployed. Schumacher and Pizzonia pit. Zonta and Massa follow suit. The field bunches up at the front: Raikkonen leads Schumacher, Pizzonia, Montoya, Barrichello, Zonta, Massa, Fisichella, Panis, Klien, Trulli, Coulthard and the lapped Heidfeld.
* Lap 32: Pizzonia pulls off with a technical problem.
* Lap 35: Race restarts. Klien passes Panis for eighth at La Source. Raikkonen pulls out 1.3s on Schumacher.
* Lap 36: Coulthard ousts Panis at Les Combes. The gap between the two leaders stretches to 1.6s.
* Lap 37: Montoya slows with a deflated right rear tyre. He retires to the pits. Barrichello, Zonta, Massa and Fisichella assume third to sixth places.
* Lap 38: Schumacher cuts his arrears to 1,1s.
* Lap 39: Coulthard tries to pass Klien, but clips the Jaguar, breaks his front wing and runs off track. With debris on the circuit, the Safety Car comes out. Coulthard pits. Raikkonen leads Schumacher, Barrichello, Zonta, Massa, Fisichella, Klien, Panis, Trulli, Coulthard and the much-lapped Heidfeld.
* Lap 41: Raikkonen slows the pace to stop his pursuers getting too much heat into their tyres.
* Lap 42: Race restarts again. Zonta’s engine blows on the drag to Les Combes. Raikkonen laps in 1m 45.108s and drops Schumacher by 2.3s. Coulthard passes Trulli for eighth.
* Lap 44: Raikkonen wins by 3.1s from Schumacher, who clinches his seventh world title. Barrichello, Massa, Klien, Coulthard and Panis complete the scorers. Trulli and Heidfeld are the only other drivers to cross the line, although Zonta is classified 10th.