There was a lot of speculation about how the new set of rules that debuted in this race would affect Ferrari, which were the ones to cause the changes after their dominant 2002 season.

Meanwhile Räikkönen quickly recovered from the back, while Coulthard, on dry tyres, set the fastest lap of the race.

Mark Webber's Jaguar had climbed to sixth, but his rear suspension broke just after the restart and he stopped in an awkward place, prompting a second appearance of the safety car.

Montoya, Trulli and Ralf Schumacher took advantage of the interruption to refuel, but the German driver lost a lot of time due to a spin and restarted at the back of the group.

The safety car returned to the pits at the end of lap 20, with Räikkönen in the lead threatened by Michael Schumacher, who was in turn followed by Coulthard, Villeneuve, Button, Montoya, Panis and Frentzen.

The race direction then displayed the black-orange flag to the German, which indicates the obligation to return to the pits within three laps for repairs.

When Williams seemed to have the first victory of the year in their pocket, Montoya spun after entering the first corner too fast, with eight laps from the end and without any pressure from his rivals.

[citation needed] Montoya returned to the track, but lost first place to Coulthard, who won what turned out to be his last race victory.