Alonso retired after crashing trying to lap Ralf Schumacher, and a second safety car period ensued.

After briefly leading, Michael Schumacher retired behind the safety car following a collision with Juan Pablo Montoya, who subsequently finished fourth.

The retirement of Michael Schumacher, the defending Drivers' Champion, brought to an end his run of five successive victories from the inaugural race of the season.

[5] The Sauber team decided to use the soft Bridgestone tyre and their performance had suffered, with their drivers qualifying 10th and 16th.

[4] Takuma Sato qualified seventh after a fast time in the first sector of the circuit, but a driving error damaged his chances of a quick lap.

"[4] The race began with Trulli on pole and BAR's Jenson Button behind; Renault's Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher occupied the second row.

As the race began, BAR's Takuma Sato made an excellent start, moving from eighth to fourth in seconds.

Out came the yellow flags, and the race proceeded under the safety car until the eighth lap, at which point Alonso fought Trulli for the lead, followed by Button.

When the race restarted, Juan Pablo Montoya moved past Rubens Barrichello to take sixth position, and Trulli set three consecutive fastest laps, but was only able to increase his lead to 1.2 seconds over Alonso.

On lap 28, Räikkönen retired with mechanical troubles, joining Jaguar's Christian Klien and Mark Webber, as well as Jordan's Giorgio Pantano and Minardi's Gianmaria Bruni on the sidelines.

The safety car was immediately deployed, and all of the front-runners (except Michael Schumacher and Montoya) took the opportunity to pit.

While following the safety car, Schumacher locked his left front tyre in the tunnel in an apparent attempt to generate heat in his brake pads and discs ahead of the restart.

The top three were a lap in front of the rest of the field, and the only drivers with a chance of winning the race.

Barrichello needed to pit with 22 laps remaining, and rejoined too far behind the top two in order to make a challenge.

[12] The bottom 6 teams in the 2003 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Thursday.