* Lap 1: At the start of the race Fernando Alonso goes into the lead with Michael Schumacher following while Jarno Trulli bursts through to third place ahead of Jenson Button and a slower-starting David Coulthard. Juan Pablo Montoya was next with a fast-starting Kimi Raikkonen up to seventh from ninth of the grid ahead of Takuma Sato, Rubens Barrichello and Mark Webber, who forced his way ahead of Marc Gene is the course of the lap. The big loser on the first lap is Olivier Panis who gets off the line slowly and ends up at the back of the field. At the end of the lap Alonso is 0.8secs ahead of Schumacher with Trulli a second behind the Ferrari.
* Lap 2: Alonso sets the fastest lap of the race to pull out a lead of 1.2secs. At the tail of the field Panis passes Zsolt Baumgartner for 19th.
* Lap 3: The two leaders trade fastest laps but the order behind them is the same except towards the back where Giancarlo Fisichella passes Giorgio Pantano for 15th. Further back Panis passes Gianmaria Bruni for 18th.
* Lap 4: Alonso sets another fastest lap and extends his lead to 1.4secs. Michael Schumacher is a second and a half ahead of Trulli. In the midfield Barrichello passes Sato for eighth place.
* Lap 7: Alonso sets his sixth consecutive fastest lap but this is beaten by Schumacher so that the gap remains at 1.5secs but the two men have left Trulli in their wake, the second Renault now four seconds behind.
* Lap 10: Schumacher has closed the lead to just 0.6secs.
* Lap 11: The pit stops begin with Schumacher coming in unexpectedly, leaving a Renault 1-2 with Button third. Michael rejoins in eighth place. Further back Kimi Raikkonen stops and drops from seventh to 13th. Also pitting are Gene, Cristiano da Matta and Baumgartner.
* Lap 12: The stops continue with fourth-placed Coulthard dropping back to ninth and sixth-placed Barrichello dropping to 10th.
* Lap 13: Alonso remains ahead but second-placed Trulli goes into the pits and lets Button move to second with Sato third after Montoya pits. Trulli rejoins sixth and Montoya falls back to ninth. In the midfield Raikkonen overtakes Fisichella to take 12th. Gene passes Nick Heidfeld for 15th. Also stopping are Pantano, Panis and Bruni.
* Lap 14: Alonso and Button both pit and Alonso comes out in the lead with Sato second and Schumacher third, Webber is up to fourth ahead of Trulli. Button rejoins in sixth.
* Lap 15: Sato pits and so Alonso is left with a lead of 2.8secs over Schumacher. Webber also pits and so Trulli is back to third with Button fourth, Coulthard fifth and Christian Klien (who is still to stop) in sixth. Montoya is next ahead of Barrichello. Down at the back da Matta passes Heidfeld for 15th place.
* Lap 16: Alonso pulls away from Schumacher while Klien heads for the pits and falls down the order from sixth to 13th. The race has its first retirement as Sato suffers an engine failure.
* Lap 17: Alonso continues to build up his lead with Trulli dropping away all the time. Webber passes Fisichella for 10th place. Montoya spins at the final corner and falls from sixth place to ninth, behind Barrichello, Felipe Massa (who is still to stop) and Raikkonen.
* Lap 18: Heidfeld has his first pit stop and falls from 15th to 17th.
* Lap 20: The gap at the front has started to close up again. Further back Raikkonen passes Massa to grab seventh. Fisichella pits and falls from 11th to 14th. Further back Pantano drops behind both Panis and Heidfeld.
* Lap 21: Massa is the last driver to stop for the first time. The Sauber driver falls back from eighth to 14th.
* Lap 25: Schumacher has closed the gap to less than a second but the order is unchanged. Trulli has dropped back and is eight seconds behind Schumacher. Montoya has a small off but does not lose a position.
* Lap 28: The second pit stops begin with Raikkonen. He drops from seventh to 10th.
* Lap 29: Schumacher comes into the pits. It is a quick stop and Michael rejoins in fifth place. Coulthard also stops and he drops from fifth to eighth. The Renaults are 1-2 again with Button third.
* Lap 30: Button pits and goes from third to fifth. Also stopping is da Matta who falls from 12th to 14th.
* Lap 31: Alonso continues at the front as Trulli and Barrichello head for the pit lane. Michael Schumacher grabs his opportunity and sets the fastest lap of the race. Montoya stops and falls back from sixth to 11th. Down at the back Pantano calls into the pits.
* Lap 32: As Schumacher sets another fastest lap Alonso goes into the pit. The Renault comes out behind the Ferrari. Further back there are stops from Panis and Bruni, while Baumgartner retires out on the circuit.
* Lap 33: The gap between Schumacher and Alonso is three seconds. There is then a 12 secs gap back to Trulli who has Button on his tail. Barrichello is next while Webber goes into pit lane and drops from sixth to 10th. Gene also stops and falls back from eighth to 11th.
* Lap 35: Alonso closes the gap to 2.1secs but Trulli begins to drop away quickly. In the midfield Klien pits for the second time, dropping back from eighth to 11th. Further back Heidfeld has his second stop but the team is not ready and he has to do another lap.
* Lap 36: The gap starts to increase again. Heidfeld stops again and falls to 17th position.
* Lap 37: The order at the front is set although Trulli is coming under more and more pressure from Button. Fisichella has his second stop and drops from 12th to 14th.
* Lap 40: Michael Schumacher has increased his lead to nearly five seconds. The order is unchanged except towards the back of the field where Fisichella passes da Matta for 13th place.
* Lap 42: There is a surprise as Schumacher heads into pit lane again, suggesting that the Ferrari driver is on a four-stop strategy. Alonso goes into the lead again but Michael rejoins ahead of Trulli.
* Lap 43: At the tail of the field Heidfeld passes Pantano for 16th place.
* Lap 45: Massa stops for the second time. The Brazilian is doing a two stop race. He drops from 12th to 14th.
* Lap 46: Alonso goes into the pits for his third stop. He rejoins more than 11 seconds behind Schumacher.
* Lap 47: Raikkonen stops for a third time and he drops from seventh to ninth. Further back da Matta stops again and drops to 14th, behind Massa.
* Lap 48: Coulthard is running sixth when he stops for the third time. He falls back behind Montoya and Webber. At the back Pantano stops again. He speeds in the pit land and is given a drive-through penalty.
* Lap 49: Trulli heads for pit lane, which frees Button in third place. He has Barrichello behind him. Jarno rejoins sixth.
* Lap 50: Fifth-placed Montoya stops and drops back to 10th.
* Lap 51: The pit stops continue with Barrichello and Webber pitting. Rubens comes out behind Trulli while Webber drops from sixth to 10th.
* Lap 52: Button does his third stop but when he comes out of the pits he is behind Trulli and Barrichello in fifth place.
* Lap 54: Eighth-placed Gene stops and falls behind Montoya and Webber.
* Lap 57: Schumacher has pushed hard and has built himself a lead of 22 seconds over Alonso. The order is now set behind the leaders although the battle for third is close between Trulli, Barrichello and Button. Further back the two McLarens are running together in sixth and seventh places. Montoya is eighth.
* Lap 58: Schumacher pits and re-emerges still in the lead.
* Lap 70: Schumacher wins his ninth victory in 10 races. Alonso is second but on the last lap Trulli leads a gap at the penultimate corner and Barrichello grabs third from Jarno. Button is fifth.