France News

From pole position the Finn scorched into an immediate lead from Alonso, with Michael Schumacher making a fabulous start to get the jump on Jenson Button. Behind them, pandemonium was breaking loose in the scrabble for positions that marked the first corner. By braking late and running out wide on the Tarmac apron, Felipe Massa shot from his 13th starting slot to grab seventh, separated from Button by Nick Heidfeld and equally fast-starting David Coulthard. But for Jarno Trulli, Mark Webber and Takuma Sato that opening lap was a disaster. The Australian and the Italian both ran out wide after Webber had been pushed by Sato. Then, further round the lap as they all kept battling away, Sato ran into the back of Fisichella's Renault and destroyed his own front wing. The three of them made pit stops for repairs, which handicapped their races from that point onwards, but Fisichella was able to keep going even though the Renault was momentarily airborne. Webber was the biggest loser, restarting after 11 laps had gone by after having his suspension repaired; this in order to get a slightly better qualifying run for the next Grand Prix at the dusty Budapest circuit next weekend.

Things weren't much better for Rubens Barrichello or Jacques Villeneuve, either. Somebody pushed the Ferrari driver into the side of the Sauber at the hairpin, and that would not be the only attack that the former champion would suffer.

For the first 35 laps Raikkonen was untouchable. From lap 30 onwards he held a lead of more than 11 seconds, but suddenly at the end of lap 35 he slowed and was 2 seconds per lap slower; he only made it as far as Turn Five on lap 36 before his McLaren ground to a halt with low hydraulic pressure, the same problem that had taken Montoya out in France. It was another piece of cruel luck for the man who currently has the fastest car in the business but none of the good luck or perhaps reliability that's needed.

From this point on Alonso only had to keep a steady pace to the end as his only challenger, Juan Pablo Montoya, was already well behind having had to start from the back of the grid, jumping from last to 11th at the end of the opening lap. Montoya ran further than anyone else and had thus jumped up to third place when he finally refuelled for the first time on lap 27. Raikkonen's demise left him second, and another long stint kept him clear of Jenson Button to the end. The Englishman drove a superb race, biding his time in fourth place early on before hunting down Michael Schumacher as the champion's tyres were getting badly worn. He had a couple of attempts at passing the champion, before finally getting past him at the hairpin on the 45th lap in a great move. Unfortunately, being trapped behind the red car had allowed Montoya to close in; without the Schumacher problem Button might have been able to hold on for second.

Behind them, Fisichella recovered from a poor start (he dropped from fourth on the grid to eighth at the start) and he too hunted down Schumacher. Their dice was a little bloodier; twice the Italian had a good look, only to get chopped so sharply that he had to lock his Renault's brakes to avoid contact with the Ferrari. In the end he too made his move at the hairpin, with one lap to go. By the finish, Schumacher had brother Ralf breathing down his neck after the Toyota driver's best performance of the year, and the time he and Fisichella had lost bottled up behind the Ferrari also allowed Red Bull's David Coulthard to close in. The three of them were separated by a second as they crossed the line. Massa's start kept him in play for the final point, which he took with ease ahead of Christian Klien, who twice passed Rubens Barrichello but marred an otherwise strong run with a trip through the gravel in Turn 12 on lap 22. By the finish he was well ahead of the second Ferrari, Barrichello possibly rueing his choice of Bridgestone's harder tyre.

Jarno Trulli lost way too much time after his opening lap problem and later received a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags while fighting with Heidfeld. Jacques Villeneuve was 15th, having tangled with rookie Robert Doornbos on lap four, and was later pushed off the road inadvertently by Tiago Monteiro on lap 27 when the Portuguese driver didn't see him following closely. Narain Karthikeyan had several scary moments but the most serious was a ride through the gravel and a spin late in the race on his way to 16th, while Monteiro at least maintained his finishing record with 17th after repairs. Doornbos too had his car fixed, so with Webber completing 55 laps (albeit not being classified as a finisher), once more we had a race with unusual reliability.

One can only feel great sympathy for Kimi Raikkonen who, seeing a great gaggle of TV cameras outside his motorhome managed to sneak out through the kitchen to a waiting car which whisked him off to some privacy.