Top four unchanged after pit stops

Ralf Schumacher came in on lap 30, overtaking the retiring BAR of Jacques Villeneuve on the slip road into the pit lane.

But he had not done enough to ultimately overtake Michael on his return to the track.

When Montoya followed a lap later, it meant the top four remained unchanged after the first round of stops, with Raikkonen and McLaren a long way adrift in fifth and sixth.

By the end of lap 37, Schumacher had lapped everyone up to and including seventh placed Panis, while maintaining a slender 3.5secs advantage over Ralf, with the fading Barrichello a further 3.8secs back.

Raikkonen then suffered a blown left-rear tyre on the next lap, limping back to the pits on three wheels as the rubber shredded across the track, with the change dropping him to 14th from fifth.

The retirements were soon starting to mount as Trulli trundled across the gravel and into a tyre wall at the Motordrome Complex on lap 39, followed swiftly by Panis dropping out two laps later at the Parabolika.

On lap 44, Michael Schumacher then set the fastest lap of the race with a one minute 16.462 to leave him in complete control of the race.

Barrichello pitted for a second time on laps 47, but a problem with the fuel hose led to a 21.2secs stop, effectively ruining his chances of second place.

Team-mate Schumacher again followed in on the next lap, but he avoided the problems which afflicted Barrichello and was out in 8.5secs.