For only the fourth time this year, someone other than Michael Schumacher is on pole position. The question is, can the Brazilian emulate Jarno Trulli and convert pole into a win?

Rubens has been looking good all weekend, topping the timesheets in all but one session, in addition to pre-qualifying. However, starting alongside the Ferrari driver is his teammate, who has won here twice before, including last year.

As ever, the big question is strategy, are both Ferraris running on the same strategy, and if so how does it compare with what their rivals are doing?

The first three rows of the grid are symmetrical, with the two Ferraris followed by the BARs and WilliamsF1s. After that it becomes a little jumbled, though it would be foolish to write off the Renaults, despite their low-key performance this weekend. Talking ahead of the race, Pay Symonds seemed to be hinting at a big surprise from the blue and yellow cars. However, with Jarno Trulli starting from the back of the grid, it looks like it's up to Fernando Alonso to uphold French honour.

The smart money however, has to be on the winner coming from the first three rows of the grid, and in particular the first one. If it's not going to be a Ferrari however, could Indianapolis witness Jenson Button's first win, or could Takuma make F1 history? Then again, will WilliamsF1 prove that Canada - other than the disqualification - was no fluke?

All will be clear soon enough.

As the car line up on the grid, the ambient temperature is 24 degrees, while thr track temperature is 45 degrees.

As the cars prepare to head off on the parade lap, Juan Pablo Montoya jumps out of his car and runs straight back to the pits to get into the spare. It was at Indy last year that his World Championship challenge fell to pieces following an incident with Rubens Barrichello.

As the cars are on their parade lap, the Colombian is still being strapped into the spare FW26. The engine fires up while Juan Pablo's race car is pushed back to the pits. This will aid Raikkonen who now has a gap in front of him on the grid.

A great start from Barrichello as Michael goes wide to block Sato, as Button loses valuable ground. Alonso meanwhile has moved from ninth up to third, incredible.

At the first corner there's a coming together involving Massa, Klien, Pantano and Bruni. The safety car is immediately brought out, while all four cars are cleared from the track.

At the end of the first lap, behind the safety car, it's Barrichello ahead of Michael, Alonso, Sato, Raikkonen, Button, Ralf, Panis, Webber and Coulthard. Montoya is up to fourteenth ahead of Fisichella and da Matta, who has pitted.

The field continues to follow the safety car, as da Matta pit again, clearly the Toyota has a serious problem.

The safety car pulls off at the end of lap 5.

On the main straight, Michael makes his moves and leads his teammate into Turn one. Basically, Rubens screwed it up, and consequently paid the price.

At the end of lap 6, Michael leads Rubens, who is followed by Alonso, Sato, Raikkonen, Button, Ralf, Panis, Coulthard and Webber.