Michael Schumacher Takes Easy Win - Spanish GP

World Champion Michael Schumacher claimed his fourth victory from the five races this season when he won Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix with another totally dominant performance at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Schumacher led second-placed Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, of Williams, by more than half a minute in the end with Briton David Coulthard, of McLaren, third. The German now leads the Championship by 21 points from Montoya.

Sauber drivers German Nick Heidfeld and, particularly, Brazilian Felipe Massa put on an exciting display of overtaking to claim fourth and fifth places and German Heinz-Harald Frentzen picked up a welcome first point of the season for Arrows with sixth.

German Ralf Schumacher's Championship hopes were dealt a blow when he damaged his car after going over the kerbs and ended up 11th when his engine blew after the chequered flag, while Jenson Button lost his title of top Briton when his car failed just before the end.

But Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was once again the unluckiest man on the grid when he was hit by more bad luck before the race had even started as his Ferrari would not select any gears as the cars moved off on the formation lap.

The unlucky driver, who had been so confident he believed he could win the race, was pushed back into the garage and forced to retire for the fourth time in five races. Schumacher led from the start and held off his brother Ralf into the first corner to claim the lead as Montoya tucked into third spot and Finn Kimi Raikkonen, in the McLaren-Mercedes, out-braked Button for fourth.

The race remained status quo for some time as Schumacher built an impressive lead at the front and the trailing Williams pair struggled to stay with the World Champion.

On lap four, Raikkonen suffered a rear wing failure as he drove down the main straight. He struggled back to the pits but was forced to retire after some careful inspection from the McLaren engineers and left the circuit before the race was over.

Once again, Jordan had a tough race and were also left to pack up early when Italian Giancarlo Fisichella departed after five laps and Japan's Takuma Sato lost control of his car coming out of the final corner and spun out of the race on lap 11.

The leading runners remained in convoy with Schumacher's lead ever growing until they began to come in for their first pit stops on lap 22. Once the pack-shuffling was over, Schumacher came out on top again, and with 35 laps gone he had built a commanding lead.

On lap 28, Ralf Schumacher was forced to pit after running wide and damaging his Williams car, and he spent 28.3 seconds at a standstill whilst his team changed his front nose and struggled to find a left front tyre.

That left Montoya in second, with Button in third ahead of Coulthard, Trulli and the two Saubers of Heidfeld and Massa as Schumacher junior re-joined in 13th place.

Coulthard took Button into turn one on lap 35 to take third place and his British rival slowly dropped back through the field with what looked like handling problems. Button was passed by teammate Trulli on lap 38 and was the first of the lead runners to make his second pit stop at the end of lap 42, when he was baulked by the slowing Eddie Irvine who was coming in to retire his Jaguar.

Button came in from fifth spot at the same time as seventh placed Heidfeld, and the pair raced out of the pits side by side with the Sauber driver getting the upper hand into turn one.

The leading drivers then came in one by one and as Montoya rushed to get out after a good stop he tried to leave too early, with the fuel hose still attached, and knocked over the two mechanics on that job.

One of the mechanics on the front left tyre was also knocked over but Montoya, after a short halt, soon left the pits and the stretcher that was wheeled down the pit lane later was fortunately not required.

By lap 50, with all the second stops over, Schumacher was 45 seconds ahead of Montoya, who had not lost out to third-placed Coulthard despite the pit dramas he suffered.

Trulli was now in a comfortable fourth, 11 seconds ahead of German Heidfeld's Sauber with the Italian's teammate Button sitting in sixth and holding off an aggressive attack from Massa for the final point.

Panis, who had been running in the top ten for much of the race, retired on lap 54 when he pulled into his garage, but then it all went wrong for Button, who hit problems and began to slow. He was passed by Massa, Heidfeld and Villeneuve and lapped by Schumacher as he battled on, while his teammate Trulli was passed by Heidfeld for fourth place to compound the Renault misery.

Massa then passed Trulli on lap 62 with a brave manoeuvre to take fifth place just before Button's Renault finally expired on his 62nd lap to end his run of three points finishes and Trulli called it a day just one lap from the end.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS The Spanish Grand Prix Catalunya, Barcelona; 65 laps; 307.323km; Weather: dry, windy. Classified: Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1h 30:29.981 2. Montoya Williams BMW (M) + 0:35.630 3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) + 0:42.623 4. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) + 1:06.697 5. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) + 1:18.973 6. Frentzen Arrows Cosworth (B) + 1:20.430 7. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) + 1 Lap 8. McNish Toyota (M) + 1 Lap 9. Salo Toyota (M) + 1 Lap 10. Trulli Renault (M) + 2 Laps 11. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) + 2 Laps 12. Button Renault (M) + 5 Laps Fastest Lap: M.Schumacher, 1:20.355, lap 49 Not Classified/Retirements: Driver Team On Lap Panis BAR Honda (B) 44 Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 42 Bernoldi Arrows Cosworth (B) 41 Sato Jordan Honda (B) 11 Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 6 Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 5 de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 3 Barrichello Ferrari (B) 0 World Championship Standing, Round 5: Drivers: Constructors: 1. M.Schumacher 44 1. Ferrari 50 2. Montoya 23 2. Williams-BMW 43 3. R.Schumacher 20 3. McLaren-Mercedes 13 4. Coulthard 9 4. Sauber-Petronas 8 5. Button 8 = Renault 8 6. Barrichello 6 6. Jaguar-Cosworth 3 7. Heidfeld 5 7. Minardi-Asiatech 2 8. Raikkonen 4 = Toyota 2 9. Irvine 3 9. Arrows 1 = Massa 3 11. Webber 2 = Salo 2 13. Frentzen 1 All timing unofficial

Highlights of the race:

Formation lap - Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) stalled and will now have to start from the pit lane, rather than his qualification position of second on the grid.

Lap 1 - Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) got a great start from pole and led into the first corner from Ralf Schumacher (Williams) and Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams). Barrichello did not start.

Lap 2 - The field stood almost as it did on the grid, with the exception of Barrichello. Jarno Trulli (Renault) moved up two places to 7th.

Lap 3 - The only Spaniard in the race, Pedro de la Rosa (Jaguar), spun off the track and out of the race.

Lap 4 - Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) lost his rear wing on the main straight and he was forced back into the pit lane. Giancarlo Fisichella (Jordan) also went into the pits with a hydraulic problem.

Lap 7 - Michael Schumacher leads from his brother Ralf, with Montoya in third. Jenson Button (Renault) is fourth ahead of fellow Briton David Coulthard (McLaren). Raikkonen and Fisichella have retired from the race.

Lap 12 - Takuma Sato (Jordan) went wide on a corner and lost control to finish his and his team's race in the gravel.

Lap 13 - The world champion now leads by more than 10 seconds from his brother. Montoya is third ahead of Button, Coulthard, Trulli. McLaren have decided to let Coulthard race on despite Raikkonen's problem.

Lap 20 - Race order as it was with the Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa seventh and eighth, then Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Arrows), Olivier Panis (BAR).

Lap 23 - Schumacher now setting his fastest laps of the race, stretching his lead over his brother to more than 20 seconds. Montoya, in third, is within two seconds of his second-placed team mate Ralf Schumacher.

Lap 24 - Trulli the first to take a scheduled pit stop, followed by Allan McNish (Toyota), Ralf Schumacher and Button.

Lap 26 - Montoya had a relatively slow pit stop. Michael Schumacher took his first scheduled pit stop and returned to the race in the lead. Coulthard in second place but he has not taken his pit stop yet.

Lap 28 - Coulthard took his pit stop and returned to the race but behind Button into fifth.

Lap 30 - Ralf Schumacher went wide and threw up lots of debris and gravel. Returned to pit lane to replace front wheel and nose. Montoya moves into second, Button into third.

Lap 33 - Coulthard, in fourth, put pressure on Button before passing him on turn 13.

Lap 38 - Schumacher has a comfortable lead and has lapped his brother. Montoya is second from Coulthard in third. Trulli has also passed team mate Button, who clearly had a problem with his car, to take fourth place.

Lap 40 - Enrique Bernoldi (Arrows) made a long and unscheduled pit stop. Ralf Schumacher back in the pits for a new nose.

Lap 42 - Heidfeld and Button took pits stops at the same time and the German just managed to squeeze out of the pit lane ahead of the young Briton.

Lap 43 - Eddie Irvine (Jaguar) withdrew from the race. Bernoldi also out.

Lap 46 - Montoya took his second stop but ran over the left leg of one of the pit crew on the way out, while trying to leave before the fuel pump had been withdrawn. Mechanic is not badly hurt.Michael Schumacher and Coulthard have smooth second stops.

Lap 52 - With 13 laps to go, Schumacher had a lead of over a minute from Montoya. Coulthard was third ahead of Trulli, Heidfeld and Button, who was still struggling and coming under pressure from Massa.

Lap 56 - Massa kept Button under pressure, but was himself coming under pressure from Frentzen in eighth place. Button seemed to pull over to let Massa and Frentzen through.

Lap 57 - Heidfeld passed Trulli to take fourth place as both Renault cars seemed to be experiencing problems. Button dropped to ninth.

Lap 63 - Schumacher heading towards his fourth win in five races this season after dominating the race. Montoya second, five seconds ahead of Coulthard in third. Button pulled off the track to end his race.

Lap 65 - Schumacher won, Montoya second then Coulthard, Heidfeld, Massa and Frentzen in the points. Ralf Schumacher suffered an engine failure on the final lap and did not finish the race.