BULLETIN No 4

RACE FACTS AND INCIDENTS

* Lap 1: At the start Michael Schumacher makes a slightly better start than Juan Pablo Montoya and the two men go into the first corner with Montoya on the inside. Montoya goes ahead but drifts slightly wide and Michael challenges at the second corner. The two men go side-by-side through the turn but Schumacher has the inside line in turn three and so goes ahead as the two men head down the back straight. Montoya is quicker but the front wing of the Williams clips the rear wheel of the Ferrari and is ripped off. Montoya manages to stay on the road but begins to drop back. Ralf Schumacher is third ahead of the two fast-starting Renaults with Jarno Trulli ahead of Jenson Button. Then comes David Coulthard while Rubens Barrichello gets ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the course of the first lap. In eighth place is Nick Heidfeld in the Sauber ahead of his team mate Felipe Massa and they are chased by the two Jaguars, Eddie Irvine having got ahead of Pedro de la Rosa. In the midfield Allan McNish and Giancarlo Fisichella have an incident and both pit at the end of the first lap. Montoya also pits for repairs. At the end of the first lap Michael Schumacher is 1.5 seconds ahead of his brother.

* Lap 2: Michael Schumacher sets a fastest lap and the gap goes out to 2.3 seconds while the gap between Ralf Schumacher and Trulli is now a second, Barrichello passes Coulthard for fifth at the first corner, suggesting that the Ferrari is running with a light fuel load.

* Lap 3: Michael Schumacher sets another fastest laps and increases the gap to 3.5 seconds. Further back Barrichello overtakes Button to move to third place. In the midfield Mika Salo overtakes de la Rosa to take 11th place.

* Lap 4: The gap between the leaders is 4.3 seconds and Barrichello is still closing in, overtaking Trulli to take third place.

* Lap 5: The order has now settled down at the front although Barrichello is closing on Ralf Schumacher. In the midfield Irvine id overtaken by Salo for 10th place and then loses another position to de la Rosa as well.

* Lap 6: Barrichello passes Ralf Schumacher to make it a Ferrari 1-2.

* Lap 7: Barrichello begins to close on the leader. In the midfield 12th placed Irvine falls behind Jacques Villeneuve. At the back of the field Fisichella retires with an engine failure.

* Lap 8: Barrichello creeps closer to Schumacher while Irvine drops to 14th behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Arrows.

* Lap 10: Barrichello has closed the gap to Schumacher to just 1.9 seconds and is looking likely to take the lead. Further back there is status quo except for 16th place which is taken by Takuma Sato, who passes Olivier Panis.

* Lap 12: In the midfield Villeneuve overtakes de la Rosa to move to 11th. At the back of the field Bernoldi pitted with a broken rear track rod. This replaced and he rejoins several laps behind.

* Lap 13: At the first corner Coulthard passes Button to take fifth place. Further back Frentzen overtakes de la Rosa for 12th.

* Lap 14: Barrichello takes the lead at the end of the back straight.

* Lap 15: Barrichello sets the fastest lap of the race to build up a lead of 2.1 seconds. In the midfield Irvine loses 14th place to Sato.

* Lap 16: Barrichello sets another fastest lap and builds his lead to 2.8 seconds. Mika Salo overtakes Massa to move to ninth place.

* Lap 17: Barrichello retires with a hydraulic problem, leaving Michael Schumacher with an eight second lead over Ralf. Trulli is third with Coulthard fourth, Button fifth and Raikkonen sixth.

* Lap 18: Alex Yoong spins and this allows Montoya to make up his first place, the Williams driver moving to 17th place.

* Lap 20: Villeneuve and Massa have been having a big fight for ninth place. Villeneuve gets ahead.

* Lap 21: Massa gets ahead of Villeneuve again.

* Lap 22: Massa makes a mistake and drops behind Villeneuve and Frentzen. Sato overtakes de la Rosa for 12th.

* Lap 23: At the tail of the field Yoong pits.

* Lap 24: Michael Schumacher's lead over Ralf is up to 8.4 seconds. The first scheduled pit stops begin with Villeneuve dropping from ninth to 14th. At the back of the field McNish and Bernoldi both pit.

* Lap 25: Massa pits and falls from 10th to 15th. Frentzen slows and pits with a broken rear track rod. Both Arrows are retired.

* Lap 26: Olivier Panis stops with a mechanical problem.

* Lap 27: Sato stops and drops from 12th to 14th.

* Lap 28: The gap at the front is stable while there is a half minute gap back to Trulli and Coulthard. Behind them Button and Raikkonen are fighting a similar duel and behind them there is a third battle between Heidfeld and Salo. Montoya is able to overtake Irvine to move to 10th place.

* Lap 30: It is becoming clear that Michael Schumacher and Bridgestone have surprised everyone by going for a one-stop strategy when it was expected that they would have to stop twice. Montoya continues to make up places, passing de la Rosa for ninth place.

* Lap 33: Ralf Schumacher's Michelins are holding up well and he is able to close the gap on his brother to just over five seconds. Further back Webber pits for fuel and tyres (a littler earlier than expected for a one-stop strategy).

* Lap 34: Michael Schumacher responds to his brother's challenge by setting the fastest lap of the race, indicating that he has been nursing his tyres and letting Ralf close in.

* Lap 35: At the tail of the field McNish catches and overtakes Yoong.

* Lap 36: Michael Schumacher sets another fastest lap and increases the lead to 7.6 seconds.

* Lap 38: Two more fastest laps take Michael's gap to 8.4 seconds. Further back Raikkonen finally manages to get ahead of Button. Salo is the first of the one-stoppers to pit. He drops from eighth to 12th.

* Lap 39: Michael Schumacher pits and Ralf moves into the lead. The gap between the two brothers is 22 seconds.

* Lap 41: Nick Heidfeld pits and drops from eighth to 10th.

* Lap 42: Montoya and de la Rosa both pit. McNish spins into retirement. On the same lap Massa and Webber clash and the Brazilian spins off. Webber has to pit.

* Lap 43: The pit stops continue with Trulli dropping from third to sixth.

* Lap 44: Ralf Schumacher pits and falls behind his brother again. The gap is three seconds. Button pits and falls from fifth to sixth.

* Lap 45: Coulthard pits from third place and is able to rejoin ahead of Trulli.

* Lap 46: Raikkonen pits and he emerges ahead of both Renaults but just behind third placed Coulthard. Also pitting is two-stop racer Villeneuve who drops from ninth to 13th. At the tail of the field Yoong has his second stop.

* Lap 48: Sato has his second stop and falls from 10th to 13th.

* Lap 56: The order has been set for several laps but Ralf Schumacher is gradually catching his brother, having found his car better after an adjustment to the front wing during his pit stop. Heidfeld pits with a brake problem but rejoins in 12th place.

* Lap 60: Ralf is within a second of Michael Schumacher, while back in seventh place Montoya sets the fastest lap of the race. Further back Villeneuve overtakes de la Rosa for 10th place. Alex Yoong spins into retirement.

* Lap 61: Trulli retires with an engine failure. Heidfeld retires because of a loose brake disc.

* Lap 63: As the Schumacher Brothers dice for the lead, Webber pits for a third time.

* Lap 68: Raikkonen goes off with a rear wheel problem. This elevates Salo to sixth place.

* Lap 70: Villeneuve stops with a mechanical problem.

* Lap 71: The two Schumacher Brothers cross the line nose to tail and both back off although there is no chequered flag. Coulthard is third with Button fourth just ahead of Montoya.