The race saw two serious accidents caused by Michelin tire failures in what would be a precedent for the 2005 United States Grand Prix, at which all Michelin-shod cars withdrew over safety concerns.

Later, Ralf Schumacher's Williams suffered the same fate, but in the most dangerous part of the track, causing him to hit the wall at a ninety-degree angle rearwards.

The impact left Schumacher with spinal fractures and concussion, which prevented him from racing until the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix, three months later.

Heading into round nine, the season had so far belonged to Michael Schumacher, driving for Ferrari, winning all but one race, in Monaco, owing to a crash with Juan Pablo Montoya, and so had 70 points out of a possible 80.

In the Constructors' Championship, however, Ferrari were dominating, with 124 points: more than double that of second-placed Renault, the only other team to win a Grand Prix that year so far, with Jarno Trulli triumphing in Monaco.

Lead driver Jenson Button, like his future teammate Barrichello, picking up six podiums and two other points finishes.

However, of the eight races so far, Takuma Sato, in the other BAR, had suffered five engine failures, three of which had occurred in the preceding three Grands Prix in Monaco, Europe, and Canada.

Jenson Button, driving for BAR, however, prevented Barrichello from a clean sweep in the second Saturday session: his time of 1:10.056 was 0.143 quicker than second-placed Michael Schumacher.

BAR locked out the second row, with Takuma Sato lining up ahead of team leader Jenson Button.

Jean Todt had told the media that Barrichello would be allowed to race Schumacher and would not be forced to concede to him, as in the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix.

Jarno Trulli moved up to eleventh place, having started last, partially helped by a big crash in turn two.

A gear selection issue for Cristiano da Matta meant that he lost momentum, and an unsighted Christian Klien ploughed into the back of him and speared across the track, hitting Giorgio Pantano's Jordan and Felipe Massa's Sauber.

On lap nine, Fernando Alonso, in a Michelin-shod Renault, crashed out from third place at the end of the main straight after his right rear tire deflated under braking.

He lost control of the car and it crashed nose-first into the barriers along the track, destroying the front end of the Renault and some polystyrene boards at turn one.

Michael Schumacher now led the race from Takuma Sato, Jenson Button, and Juan Pablo Montoya, none of whom had made a pit stop.

Kimi Räikkönen was now fifth, ahead of Barrichello in sixth, Trulli in seventh place, and Olivier Panis in the last points position in eighth.

The safety car pulled in at the end of lap nineteen, and as the BARs had not stopped, they were pressuring Michael Schumacher's much heavier Ferrari: the top three were within two seconds of each other for a long period of time.

Button's arrival in his pit box was messy, causing him to lose a couple of seconds whilst his mechanics readjusted their positions.

However, BAR's reliability problems continued: Button retired at the end of lap twenty seven with a gearbox issue.

[11] Barrichello was disappointed to have conceded the lead on the safety car restart and criticised the Ferrari technicians for indecision regarding his first pit stop, which lost him position to Kimi Räikkönen.

[11] Juan Pablo Montoya was frustrated to have lost points for the second race running due to a disqualification beyond his control.