The Italian Grand Prix showed once more that you can never rule out Michael Schumacher or Ferrari. After a month in the doldrums, the German and his team completed an amazing comeback just when it was needed the most: in front of their home fans. Atlas F1's Pablo Elizalde reviews the entire weekend's events and results from the Monza race, the 14th round of the Championship

Michael Schumacher warned his rivals and detractors after winning the Italian Grand Prix never to underestimate him or his Ferrari team. If there was still anyone who had not learned that in recent years, few would dare to do so after the Monza race.

Only three weeks ago in Hungary, the German and the Italian World Champions were in the doldrums, finishing the race in eighth place and a lap down, having to suffer the humiliation of being lapped for reasons just related to their pace.

There were no excuses and Ferrari were a team in crisis that were under immense pressure from their president and from their country's press, who had no mercy after seeing the Maranello squad struggle badly where a year earlier they had clinched their fourth successive constructors' title.

"The tension we felt was as strong as our will to win," said team boss Jean Todt. "It was almost as if the team were trying to win for the first time ever."

But how fast things can change in Formula One.

Only three weeks later Schumacher and his team completed a comeback that could well be worth another Championship for the successful duo. Of course, three weeks in Formula One terms allow for a lot of action, both on and off the track, and it was certainly welcome to see that at the end of the race there were no comments regarding the tyre controversy that threatened to spoil the closest-fought season in a very long time.

With their new tyre leaving no questions about the legality of the Michelin rubber the Italian Grand Prix was all about racing, and at the end of the day Schumacher proved to be the driver he had not been for the past races, ending a five-race streak of negative results.

If at the Hungaroring the defying moment was Schumacher being lapped by Fernando Alonso, at Monza the picture of the day was the wheel-to-wheel battle between the five-time champion and his Williams rival Juan Pablo Montoya at the start of the race. It was a brief but epic battle that epitomised the fight for this year's title, and that perhaps won the race for Schumacher.

As Ferrari's technical director said after the race, it was a victory the Italian team needed in order to face the final two races of the season in the necessary state of mind that it is going to be required in two Grands Prix where any mistakes could prove lethal.

Schumacher's win left him only three points ahead of Montoya in the standings; three points that could vanish quickly, but that put the German in the driving seat ahead of the US Grand Prix. There is only one driver who could leave Indy with the title in his pocket, and that's Schumacher. The benefits of that fact are likely to give him wings.

Not that it is going to be easy for Schumacher to win again, though. Monza may have shown that Ferrari are back in form, but Montoya and Williams are still very much a threat. Montoya and his team knew that, despite Ferrari's Hungarian flop, Monza would be a case of limiting the damage, and the Colombian did just that after realising that there was no way to beat Schumacher.

With the Championship so close and every point proving ever so important, the Williams driver put on a measured performance that left him at a stone's throw of the lead in the standings. Montoya would not be Montoya if he had not tried his best to pass Schumacher when he got the chance at the start, but after the move did not work he just stayed out of trouble and kept his Championship hopes very much alive.

"I only lost two points to Michael and I'm three points behind him and it's not over," said the Colombian, who is now the only Williams driver who can clinch the title following Ralf Schumacher's unexpected withdrawal from the Grand Prix. "We're still right there in the Championship and the next race could be the other way round. We'll see."

The same applied to the third contender to this year's crown: Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn, in the most uncompetitive of the top three cars, did the best he could with the equipment available to him at Monza, although that could prove insufficient at the end of the year.

Raikkonen is now seven points behind Schumacher, and although Indianapolis and Suzuka are likely to suit the MP4-17D better than Monza, the gap might be just too big for the Finn unless he scores big in the United States in two weeks time.

In a season where reliability is something that is almost taken for granted in Williams and Ferrari, McLaren will need to raise their pace if their driver is to stand a chance of going to Japan still fighting for the title.

Qualifying Analysis

The big question after qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix was perhaps what was the influence of the recent tyre row in the final results. There was no denying that some Bridgestone-shod teams - namely Ferrari and BAR - looked much better in Monza than they had in recent races, while Williams, dominant lately, were more or less on the same level as Ferrari.

Michelin's recent dominance was less marked than in Hungary, with their partner teams occupying six of the top ten positions. Whether it was that Michelin's new tyres were not as fast as the old ones, or Bridgestone's progress in the recent Monza test, or that the nature of the track just favoured Ferrari, remained a mystery at the end of the day.

The fact was that after the Hungarian Grand Prix disaster Ferrari and Michael Schumacher were back in top form and ready for a fight. The tyres alone, however, were not the only factor that helped the World Champions, as the nature of the fast Italian track perfectly suited the F2003-GA package, which proved amazingly quick down the straight, even when compared with the BMW-powered Williams.

The Grid

1. Michael Schumacher Saturday time: 1:20.963
Friday Qualifying: 3rd, 1:21.268

As Schumacher said it himself, his return to form could hardly have come at a better time, and his joy after qualifying reflected the German's happiness. The five-time champion returned to the top spot for the first time since the Austrian Grand Prix, but more importantly he did it at home, where Ferrari have not been treated as gently as usual following the Hungarian Grand Prix fiasco. At Monza, however, Schumacher roared back to his usual form with a perfectly judged lap that was right on the edge. Crucially, the German was ahead of both his Championship rivals, even if Montoya was just too close for comfort.

2. Juan Pablo Montoya Saturday time: 1:21.014
Friday Qualifying: 1st, 1:20.656

Montoya's flying lap on Saturday was not as neat as Schumacher's, an error at the Variante Ascari costing him some time. Had it not been for that mistake, the Colombian, having set the fastest time in the first two splits, would have probably ended ahead of his rival. But Formula One is always full of "ifs" and Montoya missed his third consecutive pole position at the Italian track. "We were five kph down on the Ferraris on top speed," said the Williams driver. "Some people have chosen top speed and some have chosen downforce. We will see who is right tomorrow."

3. Rubens Barrichello Saturday time: 1:21.242
Friday Qualifying: 2nd, 1:20.784

After three consecutive races outqualifying his teammate Schumacher, it was back to routine for Barrichello, who could not match the German's flawless lap. At the start of the weekend, however, it looked like the Brazilian was set to repeat the feat, on Friday setting a time that was almost half a second quicker than Schumacher's. On Saturday, however, Barrichello's chances of beating the World Champion were dashed at the start of his flying lap, when he blocked his brakes at the first chicane and lost two tenths he was unable to regain in the remaining part of the lap.

4. Kimi Raikkonen Saturday time: 1:21.466
Friday Qualifying: 5th, 1:21.966

With a McLaren that was never going to be as competitive as the Williams or the Ferrari at the fastest track of the calendar, Raikkonen did just the best he could have done considering Ralf Schumacher was out of the Grand Prix. The MP4-17D lacked top speed to mix it with the top two cars. The Finn, however, had pretty much a trouble-free Saturday, and his flying lap was the fastest he had gone all weekend, which was good enough to put him a second clear of Coulthard.

5. Marc Gene Saturday time: 1:21.834
Friday Qualifying: -

For someone who had to jump into the car on Saturday and take part in his first ever one-shot qualifying, Gene's performance at Monza was superb and surprised a lot of people, even at Williams. It's true that the Spaniard had completed zillions of miles testing for the Grove-based outfit, but having just two practice sessions before his flying lap, his fifth quickest time was no mean feat for a man who had not driven an F1 competitively since the end of the 2000 season. Gene's flying lap was far from perfect, but the Catalan was still pleased with his effort and more so with his return to racing, even if at the expense of a still unfit Ralf Schumacher.

6. Jarno Trulli Saturday time: 1:21.944
Friday Qualifying: 7th, 1:22.034

Despite introducing a new spec engine for Monza, Renault was never close to repeating their Hungarian Grand Prix performance, as their lack of top speed was always going to be too big of a drag for the French squad at the fastest track of the calendar. With that in mind, Trulli's performance was as good as it could have been and the Italian was happy with sixth position, even if one second behind pole-setter Schumacher.

7. Jenson Button Saturday time: 1:22.301
Friday Qualifying: 11th, 1:22.495

Whether it was down to the tyres or the nature of the Monza track, the BAR cars looked faster than they had looked for quite some time, especially in qualifying trim, and they were finally able to fight for a position among the top ten. Button was again the man who extracted the best from his package, returning to a position in the top ten for the first time since the Austrian Grand Prix. In doing so, the Briton also outqualified his teammate Villeneuve for the seventh time in 14 races.

8. David Coulthard Saturday time: 1:22.471
Friday Qualifying: 14th, 1:23.154

With his place at McLaren secured for 2004, and with all his Championship chances gone a long time ago, the Scot seems to be taking a back seat and qualifying at Monza was another example. Coulthard, a man who has never shone in qualifying at the Italian track, put on another reasonable performance that saw him finishing behind teammate Raikkonen for the sixth consecutive time. On Saturday, unlike in opening qualifying, Coulthard had a trouble-free lap, yet he still finished a whole second behind the fastest of the McLarens.

9. Olivier Panis Saturday time: 1:22.488
Friday Qualifying: 10th, 1:22.372

Although Panis was pretty pleased with his performance at the end of Saturday, there was no doubt that more was expected from Toyota, who use one of the most powerful engines of the field. The Frenchman's weekend, however, was quite troubled and he lost quite some time on Friday, when he used the spare car for qualifying because he did not feel comfortable with his racing one. On Saturday things were better and despite some electronics problems in practice, Panis recovered well to finish within the top ten..

10. Jacques Villeneuve Saturday time: 1:22.717
Friday Qualifying: 13th, 1:22.858

Like teammate Button, Villeneuve enjoyed a return to form at Monza, thanks to the combination of the improved Bridgestones and the power of the Honda engine. The under-pressure Canadian, like Button, performed betted on Saturday than on Friday, although the World Champion was unable to match the pace of the Briton after making a mistake in the second chicane "when the brakes reacted differently to how they did during free practice this morning."

11. Mark Webber Saturday time: 1:22.754
Friday Qualifying: 6th, 1:21.966

Another team without a good top speed, Jaguar were not expecting to repeat the strong form showed in Hungary three weeks earlier. Considering that, it was somewhat of a surprise that Webber managed to set the sixth fastest time on Friday, even if the Australian by now is no stranger to the top placings. Saturday showed a more realistic picture, with Webber completing a clean lap to just miss out the top ten. Still, he was pleased with his lap, although he feared a difficult race.

12. Cristiano da Matta Saturday time: 1:22.914
Friday Qualifying: 4th, 1:21.829

The Brazilian driver confirmed on Friday what many pundits suspect: Toyota have one of the best engines of the field. In the grid-deciding session, however, da Matta was very far from repeating his impressive early performance and was more than a second slower than on Friday. A mistake at the Ascari corner during his flying lap did not help his cause, but despite that, the Toyota man was unable to find an explanation for his lack of pace when compared to the opening day.

13. Giancarlo Fisichella Saturday time: 1:22.992
Friday Qualifying: 16th, 1:24.179

After suffering a torrid day on Friday, when he was forced to use the spare Jordan for his flying lap because he felt there was something wrong with it, Fisichella's mood improved a bit on Saturday, as he enjoyed a more promising qualifying. With the under-powered, under-developed Jordan, the Italian managed an error-free flying lap that again placed him with an outside shot of finishing in the points for the second time this season.

14. Heinz-Harald Frentzen Saturday time: 1:23.216
Friday Qualifying: 9th, 1:22.203

Frentzen and Sauber got off to a promising start in the opening session, but the continuous balance problems that have been hampering the Swiss squad all year were patent again on Saturday, with the German struggling with his car's handling. On his flying lap he was also hit by problems with his tyres which forced him to brake softer than needed at the Italian circuit.

15. Justin Wilson Saturday time: 1:23.484
Friday Qualifying: 15th, 1:23.609

Wilson's stay at Jaguar continued to look rather dim in Italy too. When the Ford-owned squad replaced Antonio Pizzonia, the Brazilian had been outqualified by Webber by an average of 0.698 seconds. After Italy, Wilson's average gap to the Australian is 1.203 seconds, and the Briton has only two races left to prove himself. His performance at Monza did not help his chances of staying at Jaguar next year much either, as the Briton was again more than seven tenths off Webber's pace, even if only four positions behind.

16. Nick Heidfeld Saturday time: 1:23.803
Friday Qualifying: 12th, 1:22.547

For the umpteenth time this season, the Sauber driver had to cope with problems with the balance of his car during most of Saturday following a more promising Friday session. Heidfeld complained that he had less top speed than Frentzen, and on his flying lap he was too cautious as he feared a problem with his brakes that in the end was not there. The result: he finished almost half a second behind his teammate.

17. Jos Verstappen Saturday time: 1:25.078
Friday Qualifying: 20th, no time

There was little novelty in Verstappen's qualifying when compared to the majority of the previous races. After being hit by engine problems on Friday, the Dutchman put on a respectable performance that saw him outqualify his teammate by over 1.5 seconds after an error-free lap. His efforts, however, went unrewarded once again, and his Minardi only allowed him to finish more than a second behind the closest of his rivals.

18. Zsolt Baumgartner Saturday time: 1:25.881
Friday Qualifying: 17th, 1:24.872

Unlike in Hungary three weeks earlier, Baumgartner drove the second Jordan in all the timed sessions at Monza. He had also replaced Ralph Firman in the test there the previous week, so the Hungarian should have benefitted from it. Baumgartner had a clean flying lap but finished almost a whole three seconds behind Fisichella, which was a disappointing result, even for a man with so little experience at the wheel of a Formula One car.

19. Nicolas Kiesa Saturday time: 1:26.778
Friday Qualifying: 18th, 1:26.299

Kiesa's weekend started out poorly, as his Minardi was hit by all sort of problems. In testing he could only complete 11 laps, and practice saw him covering only three. As if that wasn't bad enough, all the chances the Dane had of a decent result that could have seen him close to teammate Verstappen were dashed with an error on his flying lap when approaching the Ascari corner. Kiesa went off the track slightly and had a big moment he was lucky to survive, albeit losing a lot of time.

20. Fernando Alonso Saturday time: 1:40.405
Friday Qualifying: 8th, 1:22.103

Fresh from his maiden win in Hungary, Alonso's qualifying in Italy could hardly have been more disappointing. From the start of the weekend, it was obvious that, despite the latest specification of the Renault engine, the French squad were never going to get close to repeating the Hungaroring feat. Still, Alonso was hoping for a place on the third row that would allow him to fight to keep his fifth place in the Championship. It was all gone, however, when he spun coming out of the first chicane on his flying lap due to a problem with the traction control system.

The Race

A rainstorm overnight did not stop the sun from shining on Sunday morning, and the race start took place on a totally dry track. Local hero Fisichella was the first man to hit trouble with his unreliable Jordan, the Roman having to come straight into the pits at the end of the formation lap due to an electrical problem that was solved and allowed him to return to the race at the back.

When the lights went off Schumacher made the most of his pole position and was able to keep Montoya at bay, the Colombian making a similar start to the Ferrari star. At the always potentially dangerous entry of the first chicane, Schumacher left his braking too late and was close to overshooting the corner, but the German kept the car on track and was able to stay ahead of his Colombian rival, who was followed very closely by a fast-starting Trulli.

At the back of the field, the second of the Renault drivers was not so lucky. Wilson had a problem with his gearbox and did not move at the start, and while Verstappen tried to avoid hitting him he got into Alonso's way, who touched the Minardi's rear wheel, his Renault flying into the air. Amazingly the car only lost its front wing, and despite having to come into the pits, Alonso was able to continue in the race.

Up in front, Montoya was right behind Schumacher at the exit of the Curva Grande and got alongside the Ferrari when braking for the second chicane. Both cars entered the corner side by side, and for a moment it looked like Montoya had pulled it off. But Schumacher had other ideas, and the German pushed hard, almost going wide at the exit of the chicane, and was able to emerge ahead of the Colombian.

"It was already tight in the first corner," said Schumacher. "I had a lock-up into the first corner and almost didn't make the chicane. I had the option to go straight on or make the chicane in a sort of not very good way. I thought it was better to do the chicane, although I might lose a position which almost happened, because Juan came on the outside and we had a nice fight through these two corners, very hard but fair and I think that's what people love to see."

Trulli, who as usual had made a blinding start, was right behind Montoya at the exit of the second chicane and the Italian tried to move ahead of the Williams driver at the first Lesmo. Montoya kept his position and by the second Lesmo Trulli's car lost all speed and stopped a few meters later with a hydraulic problem that saw him failing to complete the first lap.

Following his spat with Montoya, Schumacher began to open a slight gap to the Colombian. By lap five, the Ferrari driver was some two seconds ahead of his rival, with Barrichello another two behind the Williams. The McLaren drivers were fourth and fifth, with Raikkonen ahead of Coulthard, who was followed by a slow-starting Gene. Panis and Villeneuve were completing the top eight positions.

The laps went by quietly for most of the field as the two Ferraris began to look stronger and stronger. Schumacher had opened the gap to Montoya to almost four seconds after the first ten laps, and the Williams driver was getting caught by Barrichello, who along with his teammate was the fastest man of the field.

Coulthard kicked off the first round of pitstops on lap 11, and the Scot was followed by Toyota's Panis, who also pitted on the same lap. Fourth-placed Raikkonen and fifth-placed Gene followed suit of the following lap, and their position remained unchanged. Barrichello came into the pits next, standing still for 8.2 seconds before he rejoined the race.

The leaders pitted next, with Schumacher's service taking 8.6 seconds, two tenths more than Montoya, who returned to the track behind his German rival, although the gap had been reduced to some three seconds as the Colombian began to push harder to catch the Ferrari.

In the space of five laps Montoya managed to get to within two seconds of Schumacher, whose second set of Bridgestones were not performing as well as the first one. For a few minutes it looked as the Williams driver would be able to challenge the World Champion once more, as the gap between them was less than a second by lap 29. The Colombian, however, was never close enough to try a move on the German.

Apart from Alonso fighting his way back to the front, there was hardly any action on track as the second round of pitstops loomed. Barrichello, some seven seconds behind his teammate, was the first of the top runners to come in for service for the second time, staying stationary for 9.8 seconds before rejoining the race.

Montoya was next into the pits and after nine seconds he was back out in fourth place and pushing as hard as he could to put pressure on Schumacher, who dived into the pits two laps after the Colombian. The pitstop was flawless and Schumacher returned to the track quickly, but that did not stop the German from suffering the scare of the race, as he saw a Williams passing him at the end of the straight.

"Our team wasn't absolutely aware of who was who at that moment," said Schumacher. "Initially they said 'you should be fine' and then suddenly they screamed in the radio 'watch out, he's coming' and I suddenly saw a Williams coming and thought 'how did he do that?' I almost went off in one of the corners because I was pushing so hard to get a go at him but luckily it was Gene."

Indeed Montoya was further behind the German, who only had to follow Gene for one lap before the Spaniard came into the pits for the second time, clearing the way for Schumacher, who was around two seconds ahead of the Williams driver. Barrichello was a distant third and was followed closely by Raikkonen, who had raised his pace and had managed to close the gap to the Brazilian.

The gap between Schumacher and Montoya stayed stable for several laps, with only the backmarkers influencing the distance between the two. In that respect, the Colombian suffered more, first being slowed by the Sauber of Frentzen, and later losing more than two seconds as he tried to lap Baumgartner with nine laps to go.

"I am going down the straight and the only thing I see is like 10 or 12 blue flags down the straight, it's like a parade and they don't move," said the angry Colombian. "The Jordan guy suddenly just stands on the brakes in the middle of the corner to let me by. I nearly ran into the back of him and everything. It's just crazy."

After that, Montoya never managed to get close to Schumacher, who increased his lead to up to more than seven seconds over the remaining laps of the race. Behind the two, Barrichello was still getting Raikkonen's attention, but the Finn, who was the only McLaren driver left after Coulthard retired on lap 45, was unable to make a move and had to settle for a place outside the podium.

The final laps were dismal for the Sauber team, who first lost Frentzen while he was running in the points, and then saw Heidfeld being overtaken by Alonso for eighth position, the Spaniard completing a good recovery with a damaged car. He finished behind Webber, who scored again two points for Jaguar. Gene and Villeneuve were fifth and sixth respectively, the Spaniard completing a successful return to racing.

No one, however, completed a better comeback than Schumacher and Ferrari, who celebrated their victory as if they had not won a race in years. "I think this is one of the greatest days in my career," said Schumacher. "I'm so thankful to everybody in the team because those guys have done a tremendous job, everybody from the test team, every engineer in the factory down to the lady who is doing the cleaning."

Schumacher's joy was understandable though, as his triumph puts him in an enviable position ahead of the final two races of the season. Even so, chances are he will have to sweat blood to celebrate his sixth title ahead of the final race in Japan.

Race Results

1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari            (B)     1h 14:19.838
 2.  Montoya       Williams BMW       (M)     +      5.294
 3.  Barrichello   Ferrari            (B)     +     11.835
 4.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes   (M)     +     12.834 
 5.  Gene          Williams BMW       (M)     +     27.891
 6.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda          (B)     + 1 lap
 7.  Webber        Jaguar Cosworth    (M)     + 1 lap
 8.  Alonso        Renault            (M)     + 1 lap
 9.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas    (B)     + 1 lap
10.  Fisichella    Jordan Ford        (B)     + 1 lap
11.  Baumgartner   Jordan Ford        (B)     + 2 laps
12.  Kiesa         Minardi Cosworth   (B)     + 2 laps
13.  Frentzen      Sasuber Petronas   (B)     + 3 laps

Fastest Lap: M.Schumacher, 1:21.832, lap 14

Not Classified/Retirements:

Driver        Team                     On Lap
Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes   (M)    45
Panis         Toyota             (M)    36
Verstappen    Minardi Cosworth   (B)    29
Button        BAR Honda          (B)    24
Da Matta      Toyota             (M)     4
Wilson        Jaguar Cosworth    (M)     3
Trulli        Renault            (M)     1

World Championship Standing, Round 14:

Drivers:                  Constructors:             
 1. M.Schumacher  82       1. Williams-BMW      141
 2. Montoya       79       2. Ferrari           137
 3. Raikkonen     75       3. McLaren-Mercedes  120
 4. R.Schumacher  58       4. Renault            79
 5. Barrichello   55       5. BAR-Honda          18
 =  Alonso        55       6. Jaguar-Cosworth    17
 7. Coulthard     45       7. Toyota             14
 8. Trulli        24       8. Jordan-Ford        11
 9. Webber        17       9. Sauber              9
10. Button        12
11. Fisichella    10
12. da Matta       8
13. Frentzen       7
14. Panis          6
 =  Villeneuve     6
16. Gene           4
17. Heidfeld       2
18. Firman         1

Pos  Driver        Team                  Lap  Time              
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  14   1:21.832         
 2.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  32   1:22.032 +  0.200
 3.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  31   1:22.126 +  0.294
 4.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  13   1:22.171 +  0.339
 5.  Gene          Williams-BMW     (M)  12   1:22.413 +  0.581
 6.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  10   1:22.427 +  0.595
 7.  Villeneuve    BAR-Honda        (B)  13   1:23.039 +  1.207
 8.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  47   1:23.195 +  1.363
 9.  Button        BAR-Honda        (B)  13   1:23.225 +  1.393
10.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  10   1:23.303 +  1.471
11.  Frentzen      Sauber-Petronas  (B)  14   1:23.518 +  1.686
12.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  10   1:23.778 +  1.946
13.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Petronas  (B)   9   1:24.225 +  2.393
14.  Fisichella    Jordan-Ford      (B)  52   1:25.133 +  3.301
15.  Baumgartner   Jordan-Ford      (B)  38   1:25.549 +  3.717
16.  Verstappen    Minardi-Cosworth (B)  22   1:25.816 +  3.984
17.  Kiesa         Minardi-Cosworth (B)  49   1:26.127 +  4.295
18.  da Matta      Toyota           (M)   3   1:26.148 +  4.316
19.  Wilson        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)   2   1:59.265 + 37.433

Pos  Driver        Team                  Time      Lap
 1.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Petronas  (B)  29.333  35
 2.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  29.599  16
 3.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  29.735  14
 4.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  29.967  32
 5.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  30.032  15
 6.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)  30.136  32
 7.  Gene          Williams-BMW     (M)  30.633  13
 8.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)  30.679  34
 9.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  30.863  13
10.  Frentzen      Sauber-Petronas  (B)  30.873  34
11.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  30.900  34
12.  Baumgartner   Jordan-Ford      (B)  30.961  35
13.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  31.058  11
14.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes (M)  31.145  11
15.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  31.173  33
16.  Webber        Jaguar-Cosworth  (M)  31.177  13
17.  Gene          Williams-BMW     (M)  31.255  35
18.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)  31.342  31
19.  Button        BAR-Honda        (B)  31.383  15
20.  Panis         Toyota           (M)  31.585  31
21.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Petronas  (B)  31.739  13
22.  Kiesa         Minardi-Cosworth (B)  31.855  13
23.  Baumgartner   Jordan-Ford      (B)  32.069  19
24.  Frentzen      Sauber-Petronas  (B)  32.081  15
25.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  32.480  29
26.  Kiesa         Minardi-Cosworth (B)  32.566  32
27.  Fisichella    Jordan-Ford      (B)  33.551  27
28.  Verstappen    Minardi-Cosworth (B)  33.812  26
29.  Verstappen    Minardi-Cosworth (B)  39.636   1
30.  Verstappen    Minardi-Cosworth (B)  44.353  16
31.  Alonso        Renault          (M)  45.153   1

Lap 53: Michael Schumacher wins his 69th Grand Prix victory and his 50th win with Ferrari. In doing so he also breaks the record for the fastest ever Grand Prix with an average speed of 247.615kph, beating the record which was set by Peter Gethin at the Italian GP in 1971 at 242.585kph. Montoya is second with Barrichello third, Raikkonen fourth, Gene fifth and Villeneuve sixth. Webber picks up two points for seventh and Alonso grabs the last point on the final lap when he passes Heidfeld.