It was a case of third time lucky at the A1-Ring this afternoon when Michael Schumacher took a well-deserved victory ahead of McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen and the second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello. Michael may not have earned the win here last season, but the German survived two aborted starts and a pit lane fire to take the chequered flag in a very dominant drive around the Spielberg circuit.

The initial start was aborted due to Cristiano da Matta stalling his Toyota on the grid and the race shortened as a result. The Brazilian went to the back of the grid, but just as they were set to start once again, waved yellow flags signaled that the Toyota had stalled for a second time. Finally they got away with Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso starting their race from the pits so as to fill up on fuel after making errors in the qualifying runs on Saturday. Alonso was in the spare car and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who stalled on the third formation lap, failed to take the start.

Jos Verstappen’s Austrian GP finished before the end of the first lap and the safety car emerged as a result. Panis and Wilson took the opportunity to pit in during the safety car period. However, it doesn’t do Panis a lot of good as his race comes to an end on lap 7. Mark Webber received a ten second stop and go penalty for ‘breach of parc fermé regulations’ basically ending his race on lap 14, the same time the rain started to fall on the A1-Ring.

Several drivers took to the pits when the rain started falling but Montoya continued to hunt down the leader Michael Schumacher, who had been pulling out over a second a lap on the Colombian driver.

The gap was coming down but the Williams pitted on lap 20 followed soon thereafter by Rubens Barrichello who suffered a fuel hose problem and was stationary for twenty seconds. Michael’s stop on the next lap wasn’t perfect either, the Ferrari driver encountering a small fire around the fuel nozzle. Through the chaos, Montoya took the lead followed by McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen.

However, Montoya’s day was soon to come to an end also when his BMW engine let go only laps later. Michael, who was running in third, got passed Raikkonen and reclaimed the lead. From there he continued to pull out fastest lap after fastest lap but he pits in soon afterwards as his F2003-GA failed to take on enough fuel in his first fiery stop. Ferrari’s pit problems continued with a long stop for Michael after another fuel hose problem.

Fernando Alonso’s run of points scoring finishes came to an end on lap 45 when he retired his Renault from the event. Raikkonen loses his lead when he comes in for his second fuel stop, the Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello following close behind. Michael reclaims the lead and never looked back.

Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button were having a strong race for the British American Racing team but when Villeneuve came in for his second stop, his BAR004 stalled and he eventually rejoins down the field to finish in 12th place. Jenson Button managed to hang on to finish fourth securing vital points for the Brackley based squad.

While his teammate was in the hunt for victory, Ralf Schumacher had a rather quiet race. Toward the end of the event he was up into fifth place, but his FW25 went wide and he relinquished the place to David Coulthard. The Scot did well to finish fifth from his 14th placed start, but teammate Kimi, despite finishing second, still holds onto the drivers championship lead, albeit by only two points.

Meanwhile, Jaguar driver Mark Webber, who started from pit lane and suffered a ten second stop and go penalty, finished in seventh place, more points for the Milton Keynes based squad. Teammate Antonio Pizzonia finished ninth. Giancarlo Fisichella retired his Jordan while Ralph Firman crossed the line in 11th.