At the front,
Ferrari led as expected, but it was Massa who had seized the initiative with the better initial start. Beating team-mate Schumacher into the first corner, by virtue of having the inside the line, the Brazilian was out of the way of a potential incident between the past two world champions, as a fast-starting
Fernando Alonso came around the outside of the pack and attempted to take second as he held the inside for turn two. Fortunately, both the Spaniard and Schumacher gave each other enough room to make the corner, but Alonso had to settle for third, ahead of team-mate
Giancarlo Fisichella.
Massa might have also resisted pressure at the restart, had there been any, for the Brazilian caught his more seasoned team-mate napping as the pace car pulled off, and enjoyed a comfortable cushion into the first corner. Schumacher again found himself under attack from Alonso, but the Spaniard was also under fire from within the
Renault camp, as the more lightly fuelled Fisichella attempted to better his position.
At lap ten, the order remained the same - to the frustration of both Schumacher and Fisichella - while
Rubens Barrichello headed
Ralf Schumacher, Villeneuve, Trulli, Rosberg,
David Coulthard, Liuzzi and Albers in the chasing train. Fisichella finally got by Alonso into turn one at the start of lap 15, diving under the world champion with apparent ease - as if the call had come from pit-lane - but there was no such joy for Schumacher, who was forced to follow Massa's wing until the first of the pit-stops. That allowed Fisi to close in, but not enough to threaten the
status quo when it came to refuelling.
