That hence allowed Räikkönen to immediately charge past him as the Italian hit the brakes as the lights went out, and would result in a drive-through penalty later in the race.

The first lap was marked by Midland cars colliding in a tight hairpin, Albers dropped out of the race and Monteiro had to go to the pits to repair the damage.

Schumacher was stuck behind Trulli for a large proportion of the race before finally managing to overtake him, although Alonso had gained a considerable lead over him by this point.

Thanks to this, Raikkonen could win the race, but during a pit stop there were problems with the rear right wheel, and the Finn returned to the track, losing 5 seconds to Alonso.

With just a handful of laps left the safety car was out for a second time, as home-town hero Jacques Villeneuve crashed into the wall due to brake failure.