Barcelona, Spain ? So far, it’s the perfect year for Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher won his fifth straight race Sunday, capturing the Spanish Grand Prix and matching the best start to a Formula One season.

The six-time world champion overcame an exhaust problem to record his 75th career victory and fourth straight at the Spanish GP, six times overall since 1991. He equaled Nigel Mansell’s record start in 1992.

“A lot of nice numbers on one weekend to come together, which I am proud of,” Schumacher said.

The winner’s trophy was presented by King Juan Carlos of Spain, and four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon watched the race from the stands.

Rubens Barrichello was second, 13.2 seconds behind, giving Ferrari it’s third 1-2 finish this season. Renault’s Jarno Trulli finished a further 19 seconds behind in third, his best result of the season. Teammate Fernando Alonso was fourth.

Schumacher leads the drivers’ standings with a perfect 50 points, ahead of Barrichello with 32.

The start was tense, with archrivals Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya leading the pack until the first turn. However, Trulli squeezed through an opening between them and took the lead in the curve ahead of Schumacher.

Trulli held off the world champion until the first round of pit stops. Just as he did to Jenson Button at Imola two weeks ago, Schumacher stayed out longer and used that time to build an edge over Trulli.

Barrichello, with more fuel, led until the 17th lap, when he went in, and Schumacher took over the lead, 5.7 seconds ahead of Trulli. After 50 laps, Schumacher was nearly 10 seconds ahead of Barrichello and 17 ahead of Trulli. It stayed that way until the end.

“Our strategy worked superbly well,” Schumacher said.

Slower speeds at Indy

Indianapolis — Indy Racing League officials hope slower cars will improve safety at this year’s Indianapolis 500.

They’ve accomplished the first part of their goal.

Speeds were down drastically from a year ago at Sunday’s opening practice for the race, and they were even slower than in open testing less than two weeks ago. There were no crashes.

Until the final hour Sunday, only one driver, Dan Wheldon, topped 218 mph. Four drivers beat that speed in the final 60 minutes, but only two — Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves — were faster than 219.

Drivers believe things could change significantly when qualifying begins Saturday.

“I believe there will be many factors to improve the speed, and everybody’s going to test the whole week long what they think is right the decision,” Castroneves said. “I do think it will be 5 mph, at least, faster.”

Smaller engines and a new aerodynamic package will be used for the first time in the race May 30.

IRL officials cut the size of the engine from 3.5 liters to 3.0 in an effort to drop speeds by 10 mph. Only five drivers topped 218, and of the 33 cars on the track, only 12 were over 217 — nearly 15 mph slower than last year’s pole-winning speed.