World champion Michael Schumacher equalled his best start to a formula-one season in Italy on Sunday with his fourth consecutive victory of the year and a record sixth win in the San Marino Grand Prix.
German Schumacher started second behind Jenson Button after missing pole for the first time this season but he took the lead in the first pit stops and never looked back to continue his perfect record with another dominant drive.
Briton Button, who scored his first formula-one podium just two races before in Malaysia, achieved his best result to date with second after a lonely race while Juan Pablo Montoya claimed third for Williams.
But on a day when the sport remembered Brazilian great Ayrton Senna, 10 years after his death here in 1994, it was his successor, Schumacher, who displayed his supreme talent to take his points tally to 40 with a sublime victory.
”It is a fantastic emotion,” said Schumacher, who is an ambassador for San Marino. ”It is a dream come true to come home and deliver a perfect result and it was really fantastic for our supporters, the Tifosi.
”But at the start it was mind-blowing what Jenson put up in front — I thought it was raining for me and dry for him! He was disappearing and it took a few laps to get everything going and chase him.
”His first stint was very quick and I was thinking it would be a busy and tough afternoon but for whatever reason we kept our pace throughout the race and they dropped off.”
Button was satisfied with his second place and added: ”The first lap was a fantastic feeling. I was wringing the neck of the car and it worked. The pace in the first stint I was very happy about but the second stint we struggled.
”In a race it is difficult to have a perfect car and I think that it was windier today. The car was a bit twitchier and it was tough to drive but it was still good.”
Renault duo Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli claimed fourth and fifth after holding off a late push from Schumacher’s sixth-placed teammate Rubens Barrichello.
German Ralf Schumacher, in the second Williams, finished seventh and Kimi Raikkonen, of McLaren, was promoted to the final points-scoring place when the engine in Takuma Sato’s BAR-Honda blew up just six laps from the end.
Button made a perfect start while Schumacher dropped into the clutches of Montoya, who attempted to get around the Ferrari at the Tosa corner but was forced wide on to the grass.
Montoya was not happy with Schumacher’s tactics and said: ”Michael had a poor start and he was slow. I went to pass him and he closed the door twice then came straight at me and hit me and put me on the grass.
”It is disappointing to have racing like that and I will be surprised it he gets away with it. We were surprised by Jenson’s pace — it was like he was on rails — and we were just not quick enough.”
Montoya forced Ralf Schumacher on to the grass on the other side of the track as he tried to protect third place at the start while Coulthard hit a Renault and ploughed off the track before returning to the pits.
At the end of the first lap Button had a 2,7-second lead but Schumacher soon closed as the leading duo strode off into the distance more than seven seconds ahead of Montoya.
Italian Giorgio Pantano became the first retirement of the race when the debutant parked his Jordan on the seventh lap. Montoya started the first round of pit stops at the end of lap eight.
Button pitted to hand Schumacher the lead at the end of lap nine and was stationary for 9,7 seconds in a long stop. Schumacher then put in two record lap times and retained the lead after a stop 2,1 seconds quicker than BAR on lap 11.
By the end of the 16th lap Schumacher’s lead over Button was just less than 10 seconds with Montoya, Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, Alonso and Sato completing the top eight.
Button stopped for the second time on lap 27 and was stationary for 8,4 seconds before Schumacher, with a lead of 18,6 seconds, came in for a typically perfect 7,5-second stop one lap later.
The Briton gained three seconds in the in-and-out laps and, after running slower than Schumacher in the second stint, he returned to the pace of the leading Ferrari.
Montoya led a Williams three-four with Ralf Schumacher keeping Trulli, Barrichello and Alonso at bay, Sato completing the top eight and Raikkonen, on a different strategy, up to ninth after starting from the back.
Italian driver Gianmaria Bruni, of Minardi, became the second home driver to retire from the race during the second set of stops.
Toyota’s Brazilian Cristiano da Matta and Jordan’s German Nick Heidfeld also retired.
The final stops passed without incident for the lead pair and with both completed by 27 laps, Schumacher, continually lapping at a record pace, led Button by a comfortable 26,5 seconds.
Montoya remained in third place while Alonso passed Ralf Schumacher after the pair collided and the Williams driver spun.
Alonso then leapt to fourth past Trulli and Barrichello thanks to some quick work from his Renault pit crew.
The collision between Alonso and Schumacher, who was reprimanded for dangerous driving at the last race in Bahrain, is under investigation and punishments could be handed out following the race. — Sapa-AFP