Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello scored strong second and third places behind Kimi Raikkonen in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. It was the Finn’s third win of the year, while it was Michael Schumacher’s second appearance on the rostrum. His performance, and that of Barrichello, starting from the pit lane, brought Ferrari to within two points of third place in the Constructors' Championship.

In front of a capacity crowd enjoying 32 degree temperatures, both front row drivers Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher found themselves overwhelmed by those behind at the start with the Renaults of Giancarlo Fisichella and Fernando Alonso sweeping past into first and second places, followed by Button in third, then Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikonnen.

Michael came by in sixth place before a gap to Jarno Trulli’s Toyota(up two places), Takuma Sato (down two places after a touch from Villeneuve), Felipe Massa (up two places) and Nick Heidfeld (up four places) in tenth. These remained the positions for the first 11 laps before Michael pitted on lap 12. Button came in on lap 15 and his teammate Sato a lap later, but he pulled straight into the garage to have a gearbox problem rectified which took many laps.

At the front, the Renaults were running in close formation but the pair were being gained on by the McLarens in third and fourth. On lap 24 and 25, a Renault and a McLaren pitted, but when they rejoined, Fisichella still led but was soon being hauled in by teammate Alonso. Montoya remained in third place from Raikkonen fourth, while Button was next from Michael Schumacher nearly 10s further back. Then came a large gap to Trulli, now being pushed by Barrichello.

Fisichella began to slow on lap 32 with a gearbox problem, and pulled into the pits to retire, leaving Alonso in the lead and being pushed by Montoya who was leaving Raikkonen behind as the Finn had a problem with his steering wheel which had turned to the left. Button was next from Michael. These two made their second stops on lap 34 and still emerged fourth and fifth. Trulli was next from a battle comprising Massa, Heidfeld and Ralf Schumacher.

But on lap 38 Alonso hit the wall at one of the back chicanes causing retirement and giving the lead to Montoya. Raikkonen was second from Button and Michael Schumacher. Trulli was next from Massa still being pushed by Heidfeld and Ralf Schumacher. But the Williams driver found his car overheating behind the Sauber and the engine failed on lap 44.

Three laps later Button crashed out of third coming out of the final chicane which caused the safety car to be deployed. Montoya was unable to pit in time, but everyone else did, and when Montoya came out, he failed to observe the red light at the pit lane exit and was disqualified. When the safety car did go in, Raikkonen was briefly ahead of Montoya until he pulled out, with Michael Schumacher now third from Trulli in fourth, and then Barrichello, Massa, Webber, Ralf Schumacher and then Coulthard.
 

In the closing laps, Raikkonen pulled out a 2.7s lead, but lost half of it when he went on the grass at a back chicane on lap 64. Behind Michael Trulli was heading for third but a brake disc broke on lap 61 and he retired, leaving the position to Barrichello. Massa just held off Webber for fourth place, while Ralf Schumacher was the first lapped runner in sixth from Coulthard and Klien just holding off Villeneuve. Monteiro and Albers completed the finishers.

Jean Todt : “This is an encouraging result, but we must not forget that our aim is to take the win, which escaped us again today. Having said that, prior to the race, I would have happily settled for both drivers on the podium, given that Michael, who had chosen a very aggressive strategy, had a problem at the start and Rubens, who went on to drive an extraordinary race, had started from the pit lane. It was a great performance from him. To finish third, starting where he did is exceptional. We cannot ignore the fact that several cars ahead of us retired and that the team also brilliantly exploited the opportunity presented by the Safety Car. We still have eleven races to go and we and all our technical partners, especially Bridgestone and Shell, will do our utmost, to get back to where we are used to being.”

Michael Schumacher : “We can be happy with this result, particularly with Rubens coming from last to third. We developed the car well over the weekend, but now we have to work on the package more to make it good in all track conditions. At the start, me and Jenson went backwards! I just had no grip. In the closing stages, I was able to close on Kimi, my pace was as good or a little bit better than his, but it was not enough to pass. He almost gave me a present when he ran wide at Turn 4, but he did not stay there long enough.”

Rubens Barrichello : “In over 200 grands prix, this is the first time I have ever started a race from the pit lane. It’s nice to do something new after so many races. In the early stages, the car was difficult to drive because it was so heavy. We changed our strategy by putting some extra fuel in at the start, as it would not have been any use to make my stops at the same time as everyone else. It took me a while to pass a Minardi, but after that I pushed all the time. The pit crew did a fabulous job to call me in at just the right time. I had a little bit of oversteer and was locking the rear brakes a bit, so I think my rear tyres suffered. I was lucky when Webber ran wide, Massa tried to avoid him and I passed both of them on the outside. Apart from that my only problems were with my drinks bottle and my radio which stopped working early in the race. What happened in qualifying was a shame but to come from last to third is a great achievement.”

Ross Brawn : “Obviously a very pleasing result given the problems we had in the last few races. However, at the start, things looked bad with Rubens in the pit lane and Michael getting swamped at the start. He actually made a good start and his initial acceleration was good and then he seemed to run out of grip. With our very aggressive strategy, running sixth on the road was a disaster. We worked out what could be done and had a pretty good race from then on. The car was good, well balanced, but not exceptional. We were still a little bit off the pace. We got the most out of it and with our strategy around the time of the Safety Car, everything worked extremely well. The guys did a fantastic job and the Bridgestone tyres worked well right to the end. With some new developments coming, I think we can look forward to some good races in the very near future.”

Race Result: Michael Schumacher: 2nd +1.137 70 laps chassis 245; Rubens Barrichello: 3rd +40.483 70 laps chassis 246; Temperatures: air 31/32 °C, track 41/42 °C