Schumacher closes gap with French GP win
Michael Schumacher bolstered his world championship ambitions with a dominant victory in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours today.
The Ferrari driver disappointed a capacity 84,000 crowd on Renault’s home turf with a masterful display, controlling the race from pole position.
Schumacher took the flag 10.1 seconds clear to become the first driver to win a grand prix eight times and further trim Fernando Alonso’s championship lead.
The Renault driver needed a clever pit stop strategy to pip Schumacher’s Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa to second.
He opted for two stops to Ferrari’s three and cashed in late on by edging ahead of Massa and limiting the damage to his championship lead, which stands at 17.
Massa drove a solid race, holding Alonso at bay before eventually settling for a third place which moves Ferrari within 21 points of Renault in the constructors’ championship.
Well behind the top-three scrap, Ralf Schumacher continued Toyota’s resurgence with a superb fourth place after holding off a late charge from McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen in fifth.
Giancarlo Fisichella was sixth in the other Renault with Pedro de la Rosa scoring seventh in his first McLaren race for over a year. Nick Heidfeld was eighth for BMW-Sauber.
Jenson Button suffered another race to forget after struggling to overcome his qualifying disaster.
The Honda driver started down in 18th but was unable to make up much ground and retired on lap 62, making it five races in succession without a point. David Coulthard was ninth for Red Bull after losing ground at the start, which saw Massa bravely fight off Alonso as Schumacher scampered into the distance.
Massa held firm despite two lunges from Alonso, giving Schumacher the chance to make his escape and establish a five-second lead within 10 laps.
By the first stops, Schumacher had stretched that further and both Ferraris were able to pit without losing a place to Alonso.
Massa’s predecessor at Ferrari, Rubens Barrichello, was enduring a torrid race which ended on lap 20 when his Honda expired.
Honda’s bitter rivals Toyota translated their fine qualifying form into race pace and briefly ran one-two due to late pit stops.
Jarno Trulli’s went smoothly but Ralf Schumacher suffered a stuck wheel nut and lost time. Trulli did lose a place soon after though when Raikkonen took fourth on lap 27.
However, he was denied more points on lap 40 when he suffered a problem immediately after his second pit stop and retired.
Two laps later Alonso made his second stop later than the Ferraris and dropped to third, although unlike Schumacher and Massa he had enough fuel to reach the end.
When Schumacher and Massa pitted for the final time on lap 53 and 55 respectively, Alonso crept up to second but he was too far adrift of Schumacher, who cruised to the flag.
FIA Formula 1 French Grand Prix, Magny-Cours, France
70 Laps: 1 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1hr 32mins 07.803secs, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:32:17.903, 3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:32:30.303, 4 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 1:32:34.903, 5 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 1:32:40.603, 6 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:32:52.803, 7 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren 1:32:56.903, 8 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber at 1 lap, 9 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull at 1 lap, 10 Scott Speed (USA) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 lap, 11 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) BMW Sauber at 1 lap, 12 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull at 1 lap, 13 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 lap, 14 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams at 2 laps, 15 Christijan Albers (Ned) Midland at 2 laps, 16 Franck Montagny (Fra) Super Aguri at 3 laps
Not Classified: 17 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 61 laps completed, 18 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams 53 laps completed, 19 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 39 laps completed, 20 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 18 laps completed, 21 Tiago Monteiro (Por) Midland 11 laps completed, 22 Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri 3 laps completed
Fastest Lap: Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 1:17.111 (Lap 46)
World Championship Standings
Drivers’ Championship: 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 96pts, 2 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 79, 3 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 46, 4 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 43, 5 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 42, 6 Juan Montoya (Col) McLaren 26, 7 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 16, 8 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda 16, 9 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 13, 10 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 13, 11 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 10, 12 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 8, 13 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) BMW Sauber 7, 14 Mark Webber (Aus) Williams 6, 15 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 4, 16 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) McLaren 2, 17 Christian Klien (Aut) Red Bull 1, 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1
Manufacturers’ Championship: 1 Renault 142pts, 2 Ferrari 121, 3 McLaren 71, 4 Honda 32, 5 Toyota 21, 6 BMW Sauber 20, 7 Red Bull 11, 8 Williams 10, 9 Scuderia Toro Rosso 1
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