| Bevore the race the Toyota drivers Ralf Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta have a tyre damage in the banked high speed corner. Michelin announces that they can guarantee the safety only for 10 laps.
All tries to solve the problem fail, for example FIA offered to execute a speed limit for the Michelin teams in that corner.
The starting grid before the race looks quite normal and the rumors that the Michelin-teams (7 out of 10) don't want to race seem rather far-fetched.
But then the unimaginable happens: After the warm-up lap 14 out of 20 cars give up in the pits.
Left are only the Ferraris, Jordans and Minardis. Because the other 4 cars are hopelessly incompetitive and Ferrari obviously doesn't want to endanger their double-victory, Michael Schumacher and Barrichello drive rather casually around the track. Except for an incident after Schumacher's pit stop, nothing exciting happens.
All 6 cars safely reach the finish. Jordan and Minardi score their first (and probably also their last) championship points in the season.
Zynics remark that this race nevertheless was a very unique and special race.
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