the race began with trulli on pole and bar's jenson button behind; renault's fernando alonso and michael schumacher occupied the second row. after two aborted starts (olivier panis stalled his toyota and trulli's renault leaked coolant onto the track) the parade lap began; panis stalled again and started the race from the pits. as the race began, bar's takuma sato made an excellent start, moving from eighth to fourth in seconds. presently sato's engine began smoking; on the third lap, it exploded spectacularly and released an enormous cloud of smoke, in which sauber's giancarlo fisichella collided with mclaren’s david coulthard and overturned. both drivers were unhurt but out of the race, as was sato.