Raikkonen retires after engine blow

The Williams duo soon got past Heidfeld but by then the damage was done as the Ferrari pair had sped away.

After just four of the 71 laps, Barrichello led Schumacher by one second with Ralf six seconds further back.

Heidfeld was now fifth from David Coulthard whose fellow McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen soon suffered another disappointment.

The Finn was forced to pull-over after just six laps when his Mercedes engine blew.

Raikkonen has now not finished a race in five attempts since taking third spot on his debut for the team in the season opener in Australia.

Brazil’s Felipe Massa (Sauber), Enrique Bernoldi (Arrows) and the Jaguar of Spain’s Pedro de la Rosa also followed Raikkonen into early retirement.

Barrichello had increased his advantage to 2.5 seconds over Schumacher - who had never won on the track at Zeltweg - after 15 laps.

It already looked a private duel between the Ferraris with Schumacher junior almost 25 seconds behind Barrichello.