The Renaults were fast off the line as was expected, but a suspension failure put Jarno Trulli out of the race before he'd reached the second corner.

Christian Klien's Jaguar was hit from behind, propelling him into the McLaren of Coulthard, which also resulted in a collision with Mark Webber who was forced to pit with a punctured tyre, but later retired with suspension failure.

As the race progressed, Rubens Barrichello moved ahead of Kimi Räikkönen into 6th position, as Glock was forced back by faster cars.

Räikkönen's afternoon couldn't get much worse, as he served a drive through penalty for crossing the white line on his exit from the pit lane.

Minardi's Gianmaria Bruni was hauled in for a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, but retired with gearbox failure shortly after.

In the second stint, Barrichello was seemingly much faster than his teammate Michael Schumacher, but could not find a way past the reigning champion.

As the final stages of the race approached, Michael Schumacher led brother Ralf, with Barrichello, Button, and Montoya following, and Räikkönen in sixth.

With a few laps left to go, Felipe Massa suffered a rear suspension failure at the hairpin, a wheel flying beyond the retaining fence (nobody was injured) as his Sauber flew into the tyre barrier.

The front runners remained the same until the chequered flag, Michael Schumacher and Scuderia Ferrari coming away with a 7th victory of the season.