Schumacher extends race lead

After 28 laps the gap between Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya was less than one second while the two title rivals now had the added inconvenience of coming up against backmarkers.

But with every tenth of a second counting, Montoya saw his disadvantage back over one second on lap 30 after he made a slight mistake.

It was Montoya who came in for the second stop first at the end of lap 32 – as did Coulthard – with Schumacher coming in two laps later with Raikkonen also stopping at the same time.

Schumacher re-emerged behind a Williams but it was that of Gene although he did not have a chance of holding up the reigning champion and aiding Montoya as he quickly made his second stop.

That left Schumacher leading by 1.6 secs with just 18 laps left. And he edged it out further as the Colombian failed to get through backmarker Heinz Harald Frentzen in a speedy fashion - losing more than a second.

Italian Grand Prix latest (after 43 laps):

1 M Schumacher, Ferrari

2 JP Montoya, BMW-Williams

3 R Barrichello, Ferrari

4 K Raikkonen, McLaren

5 D Coulthard, McLaren

6 M Gene, BMW-Williams

7 J Villeneuve, BAR-Honda

8 HH Frentzen, Sauber