Schumacher cruises to victory Spanish GP

Michael Schumacher produced a flawless performance to win the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on Sunday.

The German cruised home ahead of Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya in second and McLaren's David Coulthard in third to seal his fourth victory out of five races this season.

The win saw Schumacher maintain his stranglehold on the Drivers Championship, leaving him with a 21-point lead over Montoya in the standings.

Driving a back-up car after his 2002 Ferrari broke down with a hydraulic problem in the morning practice, Schumacher got off to the perfect start.

But the same could not be said for team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who had to pull out immediately before the race due to gear problems, leaving Schumacher to speed away from pole position alone and build an unassailable lead over the 65 laps.

"The guys in our team have done a tremendous job over winter time and again this circuit shows what our engineers have done," Schumacher said in the post-race press conference.

"You have circuits that favour us and some that are very close. There will come circuits that are much more difficult for us," Schumacher said.

"Our car is simply phenomenal. It shows very much here," Schumacher said, adding that he had not been bothered about using a reserve car.

"It was obvously very competitive and we have no difference between the cars," he said.

After 20 laps Schumacher had built nearly a 18-second lead and began to lap the back markers.

After a pit stop at the end of the 26th lap, Schumacher went out still in the lead and went on to increase it dramatically when Ralf Schumacher went off the track on the 29th lap.

Ralf's car lost part of its front wing, forcing him to pit again for a replacement. He dropped more than a minute behind in 13th place before his older brother lapped him on the 34th lap.

Coulthard did some overtaking of his own, passing Jensen Button's Renault also on the 34th lap to move into third.

With Schumacher building steadily on his lead, the race for the remaining podium places continued between Montoya and Coulthard.

After 40 laps Schumacher held a 36-second lead over Montoya, who drove into the pits after lap 46 and, despite being given the okay to move, he drove over the foot of chief mechanic Carl Gaden.

"He said I could go and then he tried to stop me with his body," Montoya said. "I managed to stop the car very quickly. I was lucky enough to have my hand on the clutch and didn't stall the car."

Gaden was dragged out of the way but not seriously injured.

"When they pushed me back he was standing by himself. I knew he was all right. As soon as I got out of the car after the finish they said he was all right," Montoya said.

Schumacher avoided such problems when he made a pit stop a lap later, and he coasted the rest of the way towards his fourth victory in five races.

The next race is the Austrian Grand Prix May 12.