And who should be at the front of the Grid? Schumacher? Alonso? Barrichello?

No. Jarno Trulli's blue and yellow Renault takes pride of place in Pole position. And that man Button is in second.

The parade lap got under way but at the end Olivier Panis failed to take his correct Grid position, stopping six feet short and having stalled. A re-start was required but Panis stalled again! The marshalls managed to push Panis to the pit exit and get his engine re-started in time for the 'off'.
Lap 1 saw a good start by Alonso, who quickly moved up into second place. Klien, however, managed to lose the nose cone from his vehicle and with it the control at speed. Consequently he failed to negotiate the hairpin at Loews and ran head on into the barrier.

Lap 2 and Sato's engine begins smoking. On lap 3 it finally blows sending a thick plume of inpenetrable, white smoke out behind him. Raikonnen, who was following, pulled out and round the stricken Japanese but his team mate, Coulthard, braked and stopped. He took Fisichella by surprise and the Italian hit DC's rear. The Sauber launched into the air and crashed down at a 45 degree angle against the track wall. Fisichella walked away unhurt but both he and Coulthard were out of the race. The Safety Car was deployed.

Lap 8 and the race resumes as the Safety Car leaves. The leaders were Trulli, Alonso, Button, Raikonnen and Michael Schumacher. Things stayed pretty stable for some time until lap 24 and the pit stops.
Michael Schumacher was able to pit quickly enough to get ahead of Button and Raikonnen and take third position.

Lap 30 saw Raikonnen retire with an engine or gearbox fault. Only twelve runners were left by this stage. Ralf Schumacher was showing signs of problems, possibly gear loss.

Lap 42 and the first of two bizarre tunnel incidents. Alonso attempts an overtake on Ralf Schumacher and runs wide onto the 'marbles', the debris thrown to the sides of the track. These items are well named as vehicles are prone to losing all steering control whilst passing over them. Inevitably, Alonso hit the side wall of the tunnel and was out. During his spin, Alonso still found time to give Ralf the 'bird'!

Lap 46 and the second tunnel incident. Having gone under the control of the Safety Car whilst Alonso's vehicle was cleared from the track, Michael Schumacher in first place braked heavily. This caught second place man Montoya by surprise and, having nowhere to go, he collided with the German. Schumacher was sent veering into the track wall and lost his front nearside wheel. His chances of victory and record of six successive Grand Prix wins went in one highly unusual moment.

Lap 47 and the Safety Car pulls in and racing resumes. The remaining thirty laps consisted of Button's valiant attempts to gain first place from Jarno Trulli. It was, however, not to be but the developing Englishman finished a mere 0.4 seconds behind Trulli who achieved his first ever Grand Prix win.

The final points placings were:
1. Trulli
2. Button
3. Barrichello
4. Montoya
5. Massa
6. De Matta
7. Heidfeld
8. Panis

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