Race report: Schuey Jr profits from clash

Ralf was running a one-stop strategy, which might have been the reason he decided to hold back at the first corner this time as Michael and Montoya duked it out. Pole sitter Schu Snr had swerved his Ferrari across the bows of Montoya off the line, so Juan Pablo was on the outside for Turn 1. He braved it out on the outside, but pinched Michael towards the apex.

Although there appeared to be ample room for Schumacher, he slid away from the inside kerbing into Montoya's Williams, removing his own front wing against Montoya's right-front wheel. The Colombian lost a heap of time and places, dropping out of the top 10, while Schumacher limped to the pits for a new nose.

"It was a racing incident," said Montoya. "He understeered and touched me, that was it." Schumacher shrugged off the collision too: "You can see this incident from both ways. He could have left me more room, but wasn't willing to do this."

That left Barrichello in a comfortable lead over Ralf Schumacher, with the McLaren duo of Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard benefiting from the delay to Michael, who dropped to 21st, and Montoya, who fell outside the top 10.

Juan Pablo made up two places when Takuma Sato took out his Jordan team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella at Turn 2 on the second lap, the Colombian climbing to sixth by the time he was slapped with a drive-through penalty for his clash with Schumacher - the first of its kind in F1 history - on lap eight, which dropped him to 10th. "This is bullshit," cursed Juan over the radio, shaking his head as he observed the penalty.

Both McLarens fell out of the race, with Coulthard losing power and Raikkonen's engine exploding. "It's a disappointment," said technical director Adrian Newey. "We had good pre-season reliability but one finish from four starts is disappointing."

With Barrichello stopping for the first of his two fuel stops on lap 20, Ralf assumed the lead until his sole stop 10 laps later. Barrichello was in for his second stop just five laps later, but his seemingly guaranteed runner-up spot went up in a cloud of smoke along with his Ferrari's engine with 16 laps to go.

"It was very unfortunate," said Rubens. "Williams' pace was very hard, and it was hard work to keep up with them."

That allowed Ralf to cruise home to the flag, almost 40secs ahead of his recovering team-mate Montoya, who stormed his way through the pack after his drive-through penalty. His sternest opposition came from Renault's Jenson Button, who held the Williams ace at bay for a lap before conceding second place with 13 laps to go.

Despite the fact that M Schumacher, like Montoya, had charged hard after his earlier delay, the German seemed unlikely to catch Button for third. But the Briton lost his first F1 podium finish when a suspected anti-roll bar failure caused his car to bottom out badly over the last two laps, and he was powerless to stop Michael from outbraking him at Turn 4 on the final lap.

"Fourth is a good position, but we deserved more," said Jenson. "It was an easy third for us, but the car was about 10secs off the pace over the last two laps."

Sauber also enjoyed a great day, with both Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa finishing in the points, the latter inheriting sixth when Allan McNish's final pitstop went horrendously wrong when his Toyota pit crew mixed up their final set of tyres for him. He finished seventh: "It was a bit frustrating, but it's still a fantastic result for my first real F1 start," he said somewhat diplomatically.

But for Williams, it was a dream result. Their one-two finish has propelled them eight points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' championship, and Montoya is just two points behind M Schumacher in the drivers' title race.

"It was a perfect race," said Ralf. "I'm amazed at how quick the car was today, and that's all thanks to the team. It was just so well balanced."

It wasn't just his team he had to thank, as the controversial stewards' decision to penalise team-mate Montoya meant the opposition, once again, were battling for second place behind a Schumacher.

For full race results, click here.

For full championship standings, click here.