Brazil's Rubens Barrichello triumphed in one of the most dramatic British Grands Prix of recent years after a demonstrator risked his life by running along the Silverstone track.

The Ferrari driver won by just over five seconds from the Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya after the leaderboard had been radically upturned by the sudden arrival of the man dressed in a kilt and tam-o'shanter.

McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen finished third but only cut his championship deficit to Michael Schumacher by one point after his Ferrari rival forced his way back to fourth after dropping to 14th after the 12th-lap incident.

Barrichello triumphed in Germany three years ago when a protester last got onto the track at Hockenheim.

But the 30-year-old fully deserved the sixth victory of his career - and first in 11 races since the United States Grand Prix when he was handed the win by Schumacher - after producing a series of thrilling overtaking moves in the 60-lap battle.

Barrichello did his title chasing team-mate the favour this time as at one stage Raikkonen threatened to snatch the lead in the championship with just five races left.

The protester suddenly appeared on lap 12 and started running down Hangar Straight - the fastest part of the circuit - with cars accelerating towards him at 150mph.

Several of the clearly-stunned drivers had to swerve to avoid the man - whose white banner said 'Read The Bible: The Bible Is Always right' - as he got closer to the racing line before a marshal finally rugby-tackled into the grass.

The protester was then unceremoniously dragged from the circuit before being taken away but he had had a dramatic effect on the leaderboard with the second arrival of the safety car seeing the majority of the drivers dart into the pits.

But several had to wait for their team-mate to be refuelled and the end result left Toyota's Cristiano da Matta leading a race for the first time of his rookie season from team-mate Olivier Panis with David Coulthard third.

The Scot had plummeted down the order after being forced into the earlier stop to have a new foam-filled safety ring fitted into the cockpit around his head after it had suddenly ripped off.

Schumacher dropped from fifth to 14th before spending the rest of the race forcing his way through to the field - dropping two places at one stage when he briefly went off - before finishing to retain his slender championship lead.

Raikkonen found himself fifth having been second but within the space of a few laps he had sliced his way to second before taking the lead at the mid-way point of the race when da Matta pitted.

The Finn driver led until his second stop five laps later and regained the advantage at the end of lap 39 when Barrichello darted into the pits.

But Raikkonen was unable to fend off an inspired Barrichello with the Brazilian forcing him to drift onto the grass on lap 42 while seven laps later he was passed by Montoya who finished second for the third race in succession.

Coulthard finished fifth after slicing past Renault's Jarno Trulli, who had made a flying start to grab the lead from second on the grid, with just a couple of laps left.

Da Matta was seventh while Jenson Button, who had had a fierce scrap with BAR team-mate Jacques Villeneuve, picked up the final point in eighth place despite starting last.

Rookies Ralph Firman (Jordan) and Justin Wilson (Minardi) finished their maiden home grand prix in 13th and 16th places respectively.

Germany's Ralf Schumacher, winner of the past two races, finished ninth and saw fellow Williams-BMW driver Montoya overtake him for third place in the championship.

Montoya now has 55 points - 14 behind Schumacher - with Ralf two points further adrift while Barrichello is still fifth 20 points off his team-mate.

"I had a problem on the warm-up lap," said Barrichello, who broke down in tears on the victory podium, and triumphed having lost his pole advantage at the start.

"Jarno made me slow up a lot and I had to wait a long time on the grid as my tyres got cold and I lost two positions. The pack should stay together but Jarno dropped back.

"It was make or break for me today. I could use my car to pass people and it was fantastic. I was fair with Kimi but I was aggressive.

"It's a fantastic feeling, I am never down. Of course its hard because in the last two weeks people have been saying things about me but I hope they shut up now."

Montoya said of the incident: "I had to wait behind Ralf in the pits and I came out 13th but I managed to get past people."

Raikkonen said of being passed by Barrichello: "I was able to hold him off for two corners but I slid wide and he got past."