* Pre-race: Tiago Monteiro starts from the pit lane rather than 19th place on the grid. Stewards launch an investigation into an incident involving the car of rookie Yuji Ide.

* Lap 1: Pole position qualifier Michael Schumacher makes a clean start. Alongside him on the grid, Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa gets away well from his first front-row start in Formula One and fends off world champion Fernando Alonso – but only until Turn Four. Juan Pablo Montoya settles into fourth, from Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Giancarlo Fisichella, Mark Webber, Christian Klien, David Coulthard, Jacques Villeneuve, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Kimi Räikkönen (up from 22nd and last after suspension failure denied him a qualifying run), Scott Speed, Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, Takuma Sato, Yuji Ide, Tiago Monteiro and Nick Heidfeld, who spins to last place at the first corner following contact with Nico Rosberg. Rosberg pits for a new nose at the end of the lap, while Christijan Albers pits to retire. Michael Schumacher leads by 1.4s at the end of the lap.

* Lap 2: Klien passes Webber. Trulli passes Speed. Massa locks up without losing a place. Barrichello and Button swap places twice, but the Brazilian retains fifth.

* Lap 3: Ide is served with a drive-through penalty because his team remained on the grid beyond the permitted time limit. Villeneuve passes Coulthard. Räikkönen outguns Liuzzi.

* Lap 4: Button passes Barrichello for fourth at Turn One. Klien passes Fisichella for seventh. Räikkönen overhauls Coulthard.

* Lap 5: Heidfeld and Liuzzi pass Ralf Schumacher and Coulthard respectively.

* Lap 6: Heidfeld passes Speed.

* Lap 8: Massa spins wildly on the approach to Turn One and inadvertently overtakes Alonso, who just misses him. The Brazilian pits for repairs and drops to the tail of the field.

* Lap 10: Fisichella runs wide and Webber gains a place.

* Lap 11: Button passes Montoya for third at Turn One.

* Lap 12: Ralf Schumacher pits for fuel and tyres.

* Lap 13: Ide pits.

* Lap 15: Leading by 4.8s, Michael Schumacher is the first of the front-runners to pit. He drops to fourth. Alonso leads from Button and Montoya. Heidfeld passes Coulthard – the two get very close and the stewards instigate a post-race review of the incident.

* Lap 16: Barrichello and Fisichella pit.

* Lap 17: Heidfeld refuels.

* Lap 18: Button peels in and slips to eighth.

* Lap 19: Alonso pits from the lead. Montoya leads Michael Schumacher by little more than three seconds.

* Lap 20: Ide pits and clips one of his crew.

* Lap 22: Klien and Liuzzi pit from sixth and ninth.

* Lap 23: Leader Montoya pits and Michael Schumacher regains the lead. Webber and Villeneuve come in too. At the tail of the field, so does Sato.

* Lap 25: With all but two drivers having stopped at least once, Michael Schumacher leads by 0.7s from Alonso, Räikkönen, Montoya, Button, Coulthard, Webber, Klien, Villeneuve, Liuzzi, Rosberg, Heidfeld and Speed, who pits.

* Lap 26: Ralf Schumacher pits. Rosberg sets fastest lap so far – 1m 32.521s.

* Lap 29: Button dupes Montoya at Turn One for the second time this afternoon.

* Lap 30: Räikkönen and Coulthard are last of the late stoppers. Villeneuve’s race ends in a spire of engine flame.

* Lap 32: Michael Schumacher leads Alonso by 1.2s, with Button third from Montoya, Webber and Räikkönen. Massa pits.

* Lap 35: Heidfeld pits and ends a spirited scrap with Coulthard for ninth.

* Lap 36: Michael Schumacher comes in. Alonso leads but has traffic looming ahead of him.

* Lap 39: Webber, Liuzzi, Trulli and Alonso pit. The Spaniard rejoins second, fractionally ahead of Michael Schumacher and repels him robustly at Turn One. The German then locks up and runs slightly wide at Turn Four, which gives the defending champion a tiny breathing space.

* Lap 40: Temporary leader Button pits.

* Lap 41: Klien pits.

* Lap 42: Rookie Rosberg sets another fastest lap: 1m 32.408s.

* Lap 43: Rosberg refuels.

* Lap 44: Montoya makes the last significant stop among the leaders. Alonso now leads by little more than one second from Michael Schumacher, Räikkönen, Button, Montoya, Webber, Klien, Coulthard, Rosberg, Liuzzi, Massa and Heidfeld. Speed, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, Trulli and Monteiro are all a lap adrift. Sato is still running, four laps adrift after six stops. His team-mate Ide rejoined after his earlier pit faux pas but eventually pulled off on his 36th lap.

* Lap 48: Massa passes Liuzzi for 10th at Turn One.

* Lap 49: Rosberg passes Coulthard for eighth at Turn One. The Scot fights back, but after running side by side for several corners the German makes his move stick.

* Lap 52: Michael Schumacher closes to within 0.4s of the leader after the top two lap Heidfeld: the German feints to the inside at Turn One, but there is no way through.

* Lap 56: Rosberg passes Klien at Turn One to take seventh.

* Lap 57: Alonso gets his title defence off to a winning start, beating Michael Schumacher by 1.2s. Räikkönen, Button, Montoya, Webber, Rosberg, Klien, Massa and Coulthard complete the top 10. Coulthard’s car stops on the cooling-off lap.