| For the
BMW WilliamsF1 team the Spanish Grand Prix would see, despite the fact that
the teams cars would start the race from 2nd and sixth, only Ralf come away
with a sixth position. BMW's Dr Mario Theissen would describe this as a poor
result.
 Prior to the of
the Spanish Grand Prix as the cars were on their parade lap we would see a
spectator take to the track in what was some form of demonstration. He would be quickly removed by the
marshals just prior to the arrival of the cars.
The start of the race would see Trulli make a brilliant start to be leading from Michael, Sato, and Montoya. Juan Pablo
would again make a poor start. Renault's Fernando Alonso was in sixth. Barrichello was in fifth. Lap two would see Sato the quickest driver on the track. Jaguar's Mark Webber would also make a poor start and drop from ninth to twelfth.
McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen would move from thirteenth to tenth. Out at the front and Jarno Trulli would set a fastest lap, only
to be just beaten by Michael with a lap of 1m:18.545. Sato was 2.4 seconds back. Juan Pablo was 0.8 further back. Ralf would be involved in a fight with Coulthard for eighth. Lap five and both Sato and Juan Pablo would start to drop back from Michael. Alonso would continue to pressure Rubens for fifth. Trulli would set the fastest lap with a time of 1m:18.422. Lap seven and Sato would set a fastest first sector. He was easily holding off Montoya.
 Lap eight and the leading two drivers are the only ones lapping in the 1min 18's. Lap nine and Alonso was the first to pit. Alonso would come out in front of Heidfeld, who he would quickly pass. Lap ten and Trulli would pit seeing Michael in the lead. Montoya would also come in and the Williams crew would make some changes to the front wing setup.
Michael would pit the following lap and would come back out in front of Trulli. Ralf would get ahead of Coulthard in the pits. BAR's Takuma Sato would stop from the lead allowing Barrichello, who had set the fastest lap, to lead the race. Michael would start to pull away from Trulli. Lap fourteen and Rubens had still yet to pit while Juan Pablo would pass Massa for seventh.
It looks like several drivers including Rubens, Jaguar's Christian Klien, and the two Sauber's are on a two-stop strategy. Lap fifteen and Rubens was leading Michael by ten seconds. Ralf was fighting with Klein for ninth. Down in fourteenth is Jenson Button, not having the race he had hope for. Rubens would slowly extend out his lead over Michael. Ralf would pass Klein going into the La Caixa corner.
Lap seventeen and Rubens would finally pit allowing Michael to regain the lead.
Fisichella would stop the next lap. Rubens would return in third ahead of Sato. In second was Trulli just under six seconds behind Michael. Lap
nineteen and Felipe Massa would make his first stop. Michael's lead would grow out to 7.3 seconds. He would set a lap time of 1m:17.749 which was a second quicker than Trulli.
 Ralf would close in on to the back of Juan Pablo who was running in sixth. Lap twenty two and Alonso was closing in on to Sato in fourth, to be just a second behind the Japanese driver. Juan Pablo was having problems with his front brakes which were apparently flaming. Lap twenty four and Trulli would pit from second, 5.3 seconds. This would give us the sight of a Ferrari one-two. But Rubens was over twenty seconds behind Michael. Lap twenty five and Michael would pit, 8 seconds, and returns still in the lead. Both Alonso and Ralf would stop. Juan Pablo would stop the next lap, joined by Sato.
Montoya's mechanics would again adjust the front wing of his FW26. After his stop Alonso would fly, setting the fastest times in sectors two and three. Lap twenty eight and Coulthard would stop from eleventh. Toyota's Da Matta would also pit.
Alonso would pass Sato for fourth. Panis would get a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. At the front Rubens would gain half a second on Michael as he hits traffic. Juan Pablo would be right behind Fisichella challenging for sixth. So as the half way point of the race was passed it would still be the Ferrari's at the front, with Trulli third.
 Rubens was yet to make his second stop. From the noise his car was starting to make Michael possibly had engine trouble. The engine was sounding rough as it passes the pit straight but he was still lapping quickly. Bruni and Heidfeld would both retire, the Jordan driver with gearbox failure.
In respect of Michael the Ferrari team would say: "We are controlling the situation, but Michael is turning the engine down inside the cockpit." Panis would retire with hydraulic failure on lap thirty eight. Lap forty one and Michael was to lap the two
McLaren's as Fisichella would pit for his second and final stop. Lap forty two and Jarno Trulli would pit from third. The following lap and Alonso would pit returning behind Montoya who was yet to stop. Barrichello would pit, with his pit crew late with his tyres as there was a mix up over the tyres for Rubens. He would stop for 10.2 seconds. He would return behind Sato.
Next Juan Pablo would stop followed by Coulthard the next lap. Michael would pit, and was stationary for 8.3 seconds. Klien would retire his Jaguar from fifteenth. Sato would pit from third. Disaster for Juan Pablo as he would come in for a fourth stop, climbing out of his car with smoke coming out the back of it. Juan Pablo would have brake failure, not having enough brakes to stop his car in the pit box. Juan Pablo would say that he had brake problems from lap three, then it came back ok and then there was nothing.
 Lap fifty one and Button would pass Massa and was now in the points in eighth, chasing Fisichella. At the front Michael was keeping his lead over Rubens. Lap fifty four and Jordan's Pantano would retire in the pit lane. With twelve laps to go Sato was closing in on Alonso and Button was still chasing Fisichella. Alonso was 3.3 seconds behind Trulli in third. Lap sixty two and Michael's lead was 11.3 seconds over Rubens.
It was looking very much like would achieve his 75th career victory. Ralf was running in sixth in what was to be a disappointing race for the WilliamsF1 team. Button would loses two seconds to Fisichella falling back and looking like eighth would be his final result. For McLaren this race still showed that they have a lot of work to do with Coulthard and Raikkonen both been lapped.
Michael would start his final lap and would cross the finish line to make it five race victories out of five race. Rubens would be second with Trulli third. Renault team-mate Alonso would finish fourth ahead of Sato, Ralf, Fisichella, and Button. |
