Scuderia Ferrari endured a tough Grand Prix in blazing hot conditions at the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir on Sunday. From the back row of the grid, Rubens Barrichello looked like he would score a single World Championship point until the very last lap when he was overtaken by David Coulthard as his tyres had gone off badly due to a lack of mileage.

The 57 lap race was won by Fernando Alonso but he was challenged by fellow front row man Michael Schumacher for the first 11 laps of the race. However, he then went wide caused by lack of hydraulic pressure preventing him from changing down through the gears, and this caused his immediate retirement. But on the plus side, he had been very competitive while still running.

It was 42 degrees with a track temperature of 55 degrees as the cars formed up on the grid for the race – even hotter than in Malaysia. Poleman Alonso held onto the lead into the first corner from Michael Schumacher in second withstanding an attack from Jarno Trulli (Toyota). Mark Webber had moved up a place to fourth, ahead of Williams teammate Nick Heidfeld, followed by Ralf Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen up two places to seventh, Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) up two places to eighth but soon to retired, followed by Pedro de la Rosa in the McLaren-Mercedes and Jenson Button driving the BAR.

For the first 11 laps, Schumacher pressured Alonso for the lead, but when he retired, the Renault driver was left with a three second lead over Trulli in second place, the pair progressively pulling away from Webber at around a second a lap. Heidfeld held fifth place until lap nine when he ran wide and Ralf Schumacher overtook, leaving Heidfeld to hold off Raikkonen. Behind them came a high speed procession of Takuma Sato, de la Rosa, Barrichello and Button.

Ralf Schumacher was the first to pit on lap 18, with Alonso coming in two laps later, then Trulli and Webber on lap 21. Heidfeld pitted on lap 23, Raikkonen on lap 24 and the last to pit were Sato and Barrichello on lap 25.
 

Alonso was still at the front, but he now had a 5.1s lead over Trulli, but the gap to Webber was now 20s. Moving ahead of both Ralf Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld – who had retired - was Raikkonen, now in fourth place. Schumacher was fifth, from Barrichello beginning to suffer from his lack of set-up mileage in practice and qualifying. Sato, pushed by de la Rosa, was next.

The latter battle came to a head when the McLaren driver overtook Sato on lap 33. Further ahead, teammate Raikkonen was closing on Webber. However, the Williams driver went wide and dropped two places, also behind Ralf Schumacher. As they approached the second round of pit stops, de la Rosa was having a great battle with Barrichello, but when he tried to overtake at the first corner, he ran wide, and dropped behind the Ferrari again.

The second round of stops began on lap 41 with Alonso the first to pit from what was now a 13s lead. Ralf Schumacher also came in; Trulli and Webber came in on lap 42, third placed Raikkonen next on lap 43 and his teammate a lap later. Button and Barrichello came in on lap 46.

In the closing stages, there were two battles midfield: fifth-placed Webber was now being pushed by de la Rosa who had overtaken Barrichello before the pit stops, Barrichello slowly dropping back, overtaken by Massa on lap 51. Webber was passed by de la Rosa on lap 55, the Spaniard unofficially earning driver of the day from most observers. Compatriot Fernando Alonso drove a superb race to his second consecutive victory from Jarno Trulli in second and Kimi Raikkonen in third. Ralf Schumacher finished fourth from de la Rosa, Webber and Massa. Coulthard claimed the final point after overtaking Barrichello and a collision with Villeneuve on the last lap.