Lap 1: On pole position for the third time in his Formula One career – a first for Panasonic Toyota Racing – Jarno Trulli peels into the pits at the end of the installation lap. The other 13 Michelin runners – Kimi Räikkönen, Jenson Button, Giancarlo Fisichella, world championship leader Fernando Alonso, Takuma Sato, Mark Webber, Felipe Massa, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villeneuve, Ricardo Zonta, Christian Klien, Nick Heidfeld and David Coulthard – follow suit.
The six Bridgestone cars take the start. Michael Schumacher takes the lead from Rubens Barrichello, Tiago Monteiro, Christijan Albers, Narain Karthikeyan and Patrick Friesacher.
Lap 2: The Ferraris streak away from the remaining quartet. Schumacher leads Barrichello by 1.2s.
Lap 7: Barrichello cuts the deficit to 0.9s..
Lap 8: …and 0.7s.
Lap 9: The two leaders are 0.4s apart but the remaining cars are fairly well spaced.
Lap 10: Albers makes the first scheduled pit stop and drops to sixth.
Lap 14: Schumacher leads Barrichello by 0.3s – the closest the two cars have been since the start.
Lap 19: Friesacher pits and rejoins behind Albers.
Lap 20: Barrichello records a personal best lap – 1m 12.850s – but remains 0.7s adrift. Karthikeyan pits but remains fourth.
Lap 21: Schumacher laps Friesacher.
Lap 22: Monteiro refuels but retains third on rejoining.
Lap 24: Barrichello pits and resumes in a comfortable second place, almost half a minute adrift.
Lap 26: Schumacher pits. Mechanics take a good, hard look at his left-rear tyre and the delay drops him to second, 3.6s adrift of Barrichello. For the time being, all six cars are on the same lap.
Lap 28: Schumacher cuts the gap to 3.4s.
Lap 31: Albers makes his second stop and drops to sixth, a lap adrift. The Ferraris are 2.2s apart.
Lap 34: Barrichello sets another personal best – 1m 12.758s – and extends his lead to 2.5s.
Lap 35: And again: 1m 12.773s. His lead grows to 2.7s.
Lap 36: Both Ferraris lap in the 1m 12.6s bracket. The gap stabilises.
Lap 38: Barrichello sets fastest lap of the race: 1m 12.384s. He leads by 2.8s.
Lap 39: The gap extends to 3.0s.
Lap 40: Barrichello laps in 1m 12.203s.
Lap 42: Schumacher laps in 1m 12.183s but remains 3.0s adrift.
Lap 43: Barrichello ups the ante: 1m 12.026s. He leads by 3.3s.
Lap 44: Schumacher laps in 1m 11.848s. Friesacher refuels and drops behind Albers.
Lap 45: Both Ferraris are in the 1m 11.7s – but Schumacher is slightly faster, on 1m 11.704s.
Lap 46: Karthikeyan makes his second stop.
Lap 48: Schumacher laps in 1m 11.497s as both Ferraris set personal bests. Monteiro pits.
Lap 49: Barrichello makes his second scheduled stop.
Lap 50: Schumacher leads by 23.1s. Only the Ferraris are now on the lead lap.
Lap 51: Schumacher pits and rejoins almost alongside Barrichello, who ploughs straight on at the first corner at the start of his 52nd lap in a failed bid to retain the lead.
Lap 52: Schumacher leads by 1.8s…
Lap 53: …and 2.3s.
Lap 54: Barrichello closes to within 1.3s…
Lap 55: …and 0.7s. The Jordans are third and fourth, half a minute apart. Both Minardis are two laps adrift.
Lap 59: The Ferraris are now just 0.5s apart.
Lap 61: Barrichello is right on Schumacher’s tail.
Lap 63: The gap between the Ferraris settles down, with Schumacher a couple of seconds to the good.
Lap 73: Schumacher wins by 1.5s from Barrichello. Monteiro secures his first F1 podium – and points – in third, ahead of Karthikeyan. Albers retains fifth despite a short, scheduled refuelling stop late in the race and Friesacher rounds off the finishers as all six starters last the full distance.