5th for Juan Pablo in British Grand Prix

With Kimi Raikkonen in pole position he would lead the field around for the formation lap and take up his place on the grid. Several drivers including Panis, Fisichella, Alonso, Bruni, and Baumgartner would all be starting from the back of the grid after various penalties for engine changes were handed out by the FIA. With the adjusted grid Juan Pablo and Marc Gene would start from seventh and eleventh.

With the start Raikkonen would lead from Barrichello, Button, and Michael Schumacher. Sato would pass Juan Pablo for seventh, while at the front Kimi was quickly pulling away. After the first lap the Finn would be 3.5 seconds in front. Fisichella would be seventeenth, up from twentieth. Kimi would make a mistake at Luffield but keeps his car in the lead. His lead was now 4.3 seconds. Kimi would set a lap time of 1m:20.024. As they went through Becketts Juan Pablo was able to repass Sato for seventh. Gene was still in eleventh. Barrichello would start to close the gap to the McLaren as he was to set a new fastest lap, 1m:19.825.

Alonso was moving up the field passing Da Matta for twelfth. Barrichello would go fastest again on the next lap with a 1m:19.606. The start of lap six would see Trulli, in fifth, with Coulthard and Juan Pablo right behind him.

Michael would be challenging Button for third. Rubens would set another fastest lap as he attempted to close in onto Kimi, a 1m:19.558. Alonso would close in onto Gene while at the front Rubens would take 0.2 seconds out of Kimi's lead. Another fastest lap for Rubens, a 1m:19.463. Lap nine and Alonso would pit. Rubens would also stop on lap nine, 8.2 seconds. He would be joined by Marc Gene.

Michael would set a fastest lap with a 1m:19.241. Coulthard would pit returning in fifteenth. The next lap it would be the turn of team-mate Raikkonen to stop, 7.5 seconds. He would be joined by Button. Kimi would return behind Sato while on lap eleven Juan Pablo would pit. At the front we had Michael, Trulli, and Sato in the first three positions. Kimi would struggle to get past the BAR while Michael was pushing hard at the front. Button was able to get out in front of Rubens.

Trulli would pit on lap fourteen. Michael would again set a fastest lap, 1m:18.918. He was pushing very hard. Kimi had been able to pass Sato on the main straight, seeing him in second. Michael was 23.3 seconds in front of the McLaren. Juan Pablo was down in eleventh. Lap fifteen and Michael would stop, 9.3 seconds, and he would return still in the lead but with Kimi close behind. Lap sixteen and Sato, Da Matta, and Klein would all pit. Both Webber and Massa would pit releasing Button and Barrichello who were stuck behind them. Fisichella, in fifth, and Panis had yet to stop. Lap seventeen and Olivier would come in. At the front Kimi was 1.4 seconds behind Michael. Button would have a 6.9 second gap to second and Barrichello was a further 2.1 seconds back. Lap nineteen and Pantano would spin and recover.

Panis would retire after what appeared to be his fire extinguisher went off. Lap twenty and Juan Pablo was in sixth. Juan Pablo would set his personal best lap time with a 1m:20.443, while Kimi continued to close in on Michael. In ninth Webber would be fighting off the Renault of Alonso. Gene was still in a disappointing eleventh. Lap twenty two and Michael's lead was down to just 0.6 seconds. Fisichella had still yet to pit from his fifth place. But on the following lap he would finally pull in, a 8.5 second stop.

Barrichello would close in on Button with the gap now a 0.5 seconds. Alonso and Gene would pit. Lap twenty seven and Juan Pablo was now in fifth. He had just set another personal best lap time, a 1m:19.968. The next lap and Button would pit from third, 7 seconds. Both Kimi and Rubens would come in the following lap, leaving Michael out in front. Kimi would push setting a new fastest second sector, 33.6. Juan Pablo would pit on the start of lap thirty, 6.9 seconds. Coulthard would pit from fourth on lap thirty one.

At the front Michael would lead Kimi by 23.9 seconds, enough to see him retain the lead when he stops. Juan Pablo was down in seventh and Marc in a very disappointing fifteenth. Lap thirty three and Trulli would pit. Rubens was in third with Button fourth. In fifth was Fisichella with Juan Pablo now in sixth, some 50 seconds behind the leader. A few points would be the best that BMW WilliamsF1 could hope for.

Kimi would start to push hard trying to reduce the gap to Michael. Sato would pit from tenth on lap thirty seven, making a very long stop. He could be fuelled to the finish of the race. The following lap it would be Michael's turn to stop, 9.5 seconds, to see him with enough fuel to finish the race. He would come out just ahead of Kimi. Gene was now in thirteenth. This race and the last in France would be doing little to improve his chances of securing a full time drive in 2005.

Lap thirty nine and Massa would stop from seventh. Kimi would be right behind the Ferrari, 0.3 seconds, after having taken four tenths off Michael on lap thirty nine. Rubens was just 2.5 seconds further back. But would Kimi have to stop again, most likely. On lap forty one Trulli would have a major accident on the exit from Bridge bringing out the safety car. We would have the sight of the field bunched up. Trulli would get out of his car limping but OK. Kimi would stop under the safety car, joined by Barrichello, Button and Montoya. Kimi would come out in front of Rubens.

Trulli had lost control coming out of Bridge and he was to flip his car several times thankfully coming to rest right way up. So Raikkonen was able to make his third and final stop under the safety car allowing him to close right behind Schumacher. Juan Pablo was now in fifth. From the replays it appeared to be that something broke on Trulli's Renault. On lap forty six the race would go green.

Button would be challenging Barrichello while at the front Raikkonen was only two tenths behind Michael. Juan Pablo was in fifth and challenging Button. Lap forty eight and Michael was 1.4 seconds ahead of Kimi. The following lap and Jordan's Pantano would be in the gravel trap after spinning off. lap fifty and it looked like Michael was able to hold off the McLaren. He was able to pull out this lead to be 2.1 seconds the next lap. Juan Pablo had dropped back to be 2.5 seconds behind Button. But for Juan Pablo his big worry was Fisichella who was only 0.9 behind the FW26.

With eight laps left in the race it was looking more likely that it would be win number ten for Michael. With gasp between the majority of the top eight runners it looked like there would be no changes to the points scoring positions. Michael was able to pull out a few tenths on the McLaren. The gap on lap fifty six was now 3.8 seconds, making it look like Kimi had settled for second. Marc Gene was down in twelfth. For Juan Pablo his fight with Fisichella was far from over with the Sauber driver pushing hard to secure fifth place. Also looking to get one place up the order was Rubens who had closed to be just 0.9 behind Raikkonen.

But with just two laps left to run it was most unlikely that Rubens would move into second. But with the final lap Rubens was not able to pass but team-mate Michael would go onto win another race. Had it not been for the safety car his win would have again been very easy. This would be Michael's 80th career victory.

For the BMW WilliamsF1 team Juan Pablo was able to finish in fifth at least scoring points for the team. Second went to Raikkonen with Rubens third, Button fourth. Fisichella was in an excellent sixth after starting last. Seventh and eighth was Coulthard and Jaguar's Mark Webber.

Pos Driver Team-Engine Time

1. M. Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1h24:42.700
2. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) + 2.130
3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) + 3.114
4. Button BAR-Honda (M) + 10.683
5. Montoya WilliamsF1-BMW (M) + 12.173
6. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) + 12.888
7. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) + 19.668
8. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) + 23.701
9. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) + 24.023
10. Alonso Renault (M) + 24.835
11. Sato BAR-Honda (M) + 33.736
12. Gene WilliamsF1-BMW (M) + 34.303
13. da Matta Toyota (M) + 1 lap
14. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) + 1 lap
15. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) + 1 lap
16. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) + 4 laps

Fastest Lap: M. Schumacher, 1:18.739

Not Classified/Retirements:

Driver Team On Lap
Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 48
Trulli Renault (M) 40
Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 30
Panis Toyota (M) 19