Trullli holds lead after 10 laps

Jarno Trulli holds a 0.6-second advantage over Raikkonen by the end of 10 laps, with Barrichello a mere half a second back followed closely by the Schumacher brothers and then Montoya, with the top six separated by just 4.4secs.

Button was making superb progress as he had moved up to 11th, with Justin Wilson 14th in his Minardi, Coulthard 17th and the Jordan of Ralf Firman 18th.

Barrichello then made a superb pass on Raikkonen to claim second on lap 11, only for the race to be interrupted in amazing circumstances.

A protester wearing a kilt and a tam o’shanter ran down the middle of Hangar Straight brandishing a banner, forcing the leaders to swerve out of his way to avoid a collision.

After about 40 seconds, a steward finally rugby-tackled the man to the ground, and again the safety car was deployed, resulting in virtually every car pitting.

It led to a remarkable shake up of the field as the Toyotas of Cristiano da Matta and Olivier Panis were out in front, followed by Coulthard, Trulli, Raikkonen and Ralf Schumacher.

Brother Michael had been relegated to 14th, with Wilson 17th and Button 18th, while Firman was up to seventh.