Missing from the points battle, however, was the unlikely figure of Christijan Albers, who had made the most of the first lap melee to run above expectation, but then retained a top ten place, climbing to ninth before the Midland-
Toyota let him down. A points finish was unlikely given that no-one ahead of him ran into problems in the closing stages, but it was a solid run from plumb last by the Dutchman.
The battle between Alonso and Schumacher quickly turned into one of cat-and-mouse, with the Spaniard struggling in the slower parts, but able to pull away again in the quick stuff. Both men ran some 13 seconds adrift of leader Massa, but the Brazilian was also involved in the scrap, if only because the outcome of his race rested heavily on Schumacher's ability to regain second place. Should the seven-time champion make the most of Alonso's problems, there is little doubt that his team-mate's car would have developed 'a problem' that would have caused it to slow before the finish.....
As it was, Schumacher was unable to make the most of his repeated attempts to find a chink in Alonso's armour, despite both making minor errors and the Spaniard being the first to encounter traffic. After one unscheduled excursion at turn eight, Schumacher dropped back from his rival, but immediately showed what he and the
Ferrari were capable of by banging in the fastest lap of the race.
With a couple of laps to run, the pair were back together, Schumacher taking a look into turn seven with a view to setting Alonso up ahead of the favoured overtaking place into the turn eleven chicane. Massa's lead was down to seven seconds by this stage, the Brazilian ostensibly backing off to protect his equipment, but also putting his car within striking distance should Schumacher's pressure pay off.
