* Lap 1: Felipe Massa makes a clean start from his second pole position of the season to lead team-mate Michael Schumacher away. The Ferraris are 0.7s apart by the end of the lap. Ralf Schumacher holds down third, but Fernando Alonso gets ahead of Jarno Trulli at Turn One to wrest fourth. Jenson Button vaults past Giancarlo Fisichella off the line to lie sixth. Nick Heidfeld settles into eighth ahead of Kimi Räikkönen, Rubens Barrichello, Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber, Pedro de la Rosa, Vitantonio Liuzzi, David Coulthard, Scott Speed, Christijan Albers, Takuma Sato, Robert Doornbos, Tiago Monteiro and Sakon Yamamoto.

* Lap 2: Barrichello pits for a fresh nose. Doornbos passes Sato for 19th.

* Lap 3: M Schumacher breezes past Massa on the approach to Turn One. He leads by 1.0s at the end of the lap. Liuzzi spins at Turn 18 and loses places to Coulthard, Speed and Albers. Monteiro passes Sato.

* Lap 4: Speed passes Coulthard. Doornbos passes Liuzzi.

* Lap 5: Fisichella wrests sixth from Button.

* Lap 6: M Schumacher continues to lead by 1.0s. R Schumacher is 1.7s behind Massa. Alonso is a further 0.6s adrift… and 3.5s behind the leader.

* Lap 9: Alonso runs wide and drops more than a second. Barrichello relegates Yamamoto to 22nd – and last – place.

* Lap 10: Doornbos passes Albers for 16th. Barrichello moves ahead of local favourite Sato.

* Lap 12: Trulli pits from fifth.

* Lap 13: Alonso passes R Schumacher for third. The German pits at the lap’s end – as does Massa. The title contenders are now first and second, 5.4s apart.

* Lap 14: Alonso posts fastest lap: 1m32.676s. He trails by 4.6s. Fisichella pits.

* Lap 15: Alonso pits and rejoins ahead of Massa. Rosberg peels in, too.

* Lap 16: Button, temporarily second, pits.

* Lap 17: Yet to stop, M Schumacher leads Alonso by 28.3s.

* Lap 18: The leader pits, as do Heidfeld, third, and Coulthard, 15th.

* Lap 19: M Schumacher leads Alonso by 5.4s.

* Lap 20: Kubica, Webber, de la Rosa, Liuzzi and Yamamoto all pit. Albers suffers a destructive rear suspension failure on the chicane approach and sprays debris across the track.

* Lap 21: Doornbos pits.

* Lap 22: Räikkönen pits from fourth. Barrichello makes his first scheduled stop.

* Lap 23: Speed and Sato pit.

* Lap 24: With most of the stops done, M Schumacher leads Alonso by 5.1s. Massa is a distant third from Trulli, R Schumacher, Fisichella, Button, Räikkönen, Heidfeld, Kubica, Rosberg and Webber.

* Lap 25: Monteiro makes the last of the first scheduled stops.

* Lap 27: Alonso, closing, is within 4.2s. M Schumacher is catching a gaggle of Red Bull-backed midfielders.

* Lap 29: Trulli pits for a second time. Speed spins at Turn Nine and drops behind Liuzzi.

* Lap 30: R Schumacher comes in for fuel and tyres.

* Lap 32: Running 10th, Kubica runs wide at Turn Nine. He loses several seconds but no places.

* Lap 33: Fourth-placed Fisichella pits and emerges sixth.

* Lap 34: Rosberg and Liuzzi pit.

* Lap 35: Alonso and Massa pit.

* Lap 36: The leader comes in for fuel and tyres. He rejoins well ahead of Alonso. Coulthard retires.

* Lap 37: M Schumacher’s engine blows up. A 92nd F1 victory would have equalled the combined tallies of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna: that will have to wait. Alonso leads. Button and Kubica pit.

* Lap 38: Alonso is 8.7s clear of Massa. Webber pits.

* Lap 39: Webber crashes coming onto the pit straight.

* Lap 40: De la Rosa pits.

* Lap 41: Räikkönen pits.

* Lap 42: Alonso leads Massa by 10.2s. Fisichella is third from Button, Räikkönen, Trulli, R Schumacher, Heidfeld, Kubica, Rosberg and de la Rosa. The rest are lapped.

* Lap 47: Kubica has closed to within 0.6s of eighth-placed team-mate Heidfeld in the closest on-track contest. Alonso is 14.0s clear of Massa. Rosberg is now the last unlapped runner, in 10th. De la Rosa, Barrichello, Doornbos, Liuzzi, Sato, Speed, Monteiro and the twice-lapped Yamamoto complete the order.

* Lap 48: Yamamoto spins at Turn 14.

* Lap 49: Speed pits to retire.

* Lap 53: Alonso scores his first victory since Canada to open a 10-point lead over M Schumacher with one race to go. To take the title, the German needs to win in Brazil and hope Alonso fails to score. Massa is second, 16.1 sec in arrears. Fisichella, Button, Räikkönen, Trulli, R Schumacher and Heidfeld complete the scorers.