Michael Schumacher closed the championship gap to title rival Fernando Alonso by another two points to 13 as he took the European Grand Prix victory from the Spaniard in what was a pretty processional race decided over a handful of laps during the second round of stops.
The start of the race saw Alonso lead away from his Pole Position with Schumacher close behind. The gap remained around the one second mark for the next 39 laps until Alonso pitted his Renault for the second time. Schumacher had enough fuel on board his 248 F1 to put in two blistering laps and then make his pit stop. Schumacher emerged from the pits with a comfortable lead over Alonso, one he would control to the chequered flag.
Alonso seemed to effectively concede defeat after losing out in the second round of pit stops, controlling his pace and ensuring that the hard-charging Felipe Massa would not try and get the jump on him in the closing stages.
Massa put in a solid performance in the second Ferrari, recovering well from a badly judged pit stop in which he lost a great deal of time behind Jarno Trulli, to take the chequered flag less than a second behind Alonso and secure his first Formula One podium position.
Kimi Raikkonen got the jump on Rubens Barrichello on lap one of the race and ran a long first stint to ensure a comfortable fourth position on a day when McLaren Mercedes did not have the pace to win. The fourth position keeps the Finn in the championship chase, but he slipping further and further away from the leading duo.
It was a tough race again for Honda, but Barrichello drove a steady, if unspectacular, race to finish in fifth position a minute behind Raikkonen and holding off a late challenge from Giancarlo Fisichella and Nico Rosberg. Jenson Button retired from the race while running fifth mid-distance with an engine failure.
Sixth position for Fisichella was a reasonable result, aided in part by a slick second stop that moved him ahead of Jacques Villeneuve. Fisichella would take the chequered flag 1.5s behind Barrichello with Nico Rosberg putting in a storming performance in his Williams Cosworth. Starting flat last in 22nd, a long first stint worked well for Rosberg and he finished a fine seventh less than half a second behind Fisichella.
Jacques Villeneuve picked up the final point after a very impressive drive once again. Sixth position certainly could have been on for the Canadian, but he lost out in the second round of stops with first Fisichella and then Rosberg gaining track position. Ralf Schumacher looked set for a sixth position finish as he fended off Fisichella with just six laps to go. Sadly for the Toyota driver, his engine failed and his race was over. It was a similar situation for Juan Pablo Montoya on the very same lap, only that the Colombian was running out of the points in ninth position.
Only another five drivers finished the race with Jarno Trulli ninth and lapped in his Toyota but ahead of Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW Sauber. Scott Speed was 11th in his Toro Rosso while Tiago Monteiro held off his MF1 Toyota team-mate Christijan Albers to take 12th position.
Tonio Liuzzi's race was over right at the start as he was sent into a half-spin by Ralf Schumacher at the first turn. David Coulthard was unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as he was struck by Liuzzi's Toro Rosso.
Mark Webber gained seven places at the start to move up to 12th. Soon however the Williams Cosworth driver was touring with yet another hydraulics / gearbox issue. Christian Klien was next to retire as he pulled his Red Bull Ferrari off track with some kind of mechanical drama, while Franck Montagny had his Honda engine fail and Takuma Sato pulled into the Super Aguri pit with a problem.
It was a great race for Michael Schumacher who has proven that Imola was not a flash in the pan. Alonso now knows that wins will not be so easy over the remainder of the season and heading to his home Grand Prix, will be more than keen to turn the tables on his German rival.