Michael Schumacher maintained his mid-season revival in the Formula One world championship when he drove his Ferrari to a polished victory in the French Grand Prix. The 37-year-old German, seven-times drivers’ world champion, drove a faultless race Sunday from pole position to the chequered flag to finish ahead of defending champion Fernando Alonso of Spain in a Renault. A week after Italy beat France in a penalty shootout in soccer’s World Cup final, this was another defeat for ‘Les Bleus’ by an Italian scuderia. But on this occasion there was no doubting the winners’ superiority.

Schumacher won by 10.1 seconds and his victory cut Alonso’s advantage in this year’s title race from 19 points to 17. It was Schumacher’s second win in succession. The German said: “We had a good start and drove our race from there. We were not sure how it would go because we had problems when we did long runs on Friday and Saturday. “It was a bit of a guess really, but the whole car and tyre package was absolutely fantastic.”

Schumacher’s Ferrari team-mate Brazilian Felipe Massa finished third ahead of German Ralf Schumacher in a Toyota, Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen in a McLaren Mercedes-Benz and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Renault. It was Schumacher’s eighth victory in the French Grand Prix, the 88th of his career and his fourth win in 11 races this year.

Yahoo/AP

RESULTS:

1. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1h32′07″803
2. 1 ALONSO Renault M + 0′10″131
3. 6 MASSA Ferrari B + 0′22″546
4. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota B + 0′27″212
5. 3 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M + 0′33″006
6. 2 FISICHELLA Renault M + 0′45″265
7. 4 DE LA ROSA McLaren Mercedes M + 0′49″407
8. 16 HEIDFELD BMW Sauber M 1 lap(s)
9. 14 COULTHARD RedBull Ferrari M 1 lap(s)
10. 21 SPEED Toro Rosso Cosw. M 1 lap(s)
11. 17 VILLENEUVE BMW Sauber M 1 lap(s)
12. 15 KLIEN RedBull Ferrari M 1 lap(s)
13. 20 LIUZZI Toro Rosso Cosw. M 1 lap(s)
14. 10 ROSBERG Williams Cosworth B 2 lap(s)
15. 19 ALBERS Midland Toyota B 2 lap(s)
16. 23 MONTAGNY S. Aguri F1 Honda B 3 lap(s)
17. 12 BUTTON Honda M 9 lap(s)
18. 9 WEBBER Williams Cosworth B 17 lap(s)
19. 8 TRULLI Toyota B 31 lap(s)
20. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda M 52 lap(s)
21. 18 MONTEIRO Midland Toyota B 59 lap(s)
22. 22 SATO S. Aguri F1 Honda B 70 lap(s)

DRIVER QUOTES:

Michael Schumacher:

“A fantastic result, even if in all honesty it was unexpected. We did not know how the race would pan out, especially as we had not been able to do many long runs over the previous days. For these ten points, I have to thank the great guys in the team and our exceptional technical partners, starting with Bridgestone.” “The whole package - car, engine, tyres - was excellent today. I got a good start and from then on I could run my own race. Now we have to keep this momentum going. The championship is far from over and these two points we have made up on our main rivals are very important. I hope we can soon make up more ground.”

Felipe Massa:

“I think this was a very good result for us, although of course I would have liked to keep second place. I was on a three stop strategy and Fernando was switched to a two stop race and that meant I was not able to fight with him on the track. I also had a lot of traffic in my second and third stints and this effectively spoilt our three stop strategy and cost me second place.” “But overall, sixteen points in the bag means we make up a bit of ground on our rivals in both championships. The 248 F1 and the Bridgestone tyres worked better than I expected, possibly because of the extra rubber which gradually got put down on the track.”

Fernando Alonso:

“That was a long, tough race for me but in the circumstances, a perfect result. We went into the race with two possibilities on the strategy, and once we saw that Ferrari would be three-stopping then we knew it would be hard to pass them on the track. So we chose to rely on the consistent tyre performance, and make two stops. The car balance was consistent all the way through the race, and I pushed hard to make sure I could get ahead of Felipe in the final part of the race.” “Given where I started on the grid, I think second is everything I could have hoped for because we knew that Michael was a bit quicker this weekend — like in Imola and the Nurburgring. Back then, everybody thought that Michael would win all the races after two wins in a row, and we responded very strongly. Hopefully, we can do the same at Hockenheim in two weeks’ time.”

Giancarlo Fisichella:

“This wasn’t a great race for me to be honest. The car was getting more and more difficult to drive during the race, with tyre graining in the second stint that meant I couldn’t build a gap over Ralf and Kimi to stay ahead, and then a lot of problems under braking in the final part of the race as well.” “We need to have a look at what happened, but you have to take the positive part from the results. I finished in the points, I am still third in the championship after a tough weekend and we completed a second race on the C spec engine without any problems. I am optimistic for the next races, and confident we can regain our advantage.”

Ralf Schumacher:

“We can be very satisfied with what we achieved today. It’s a pity that we had a problem with the wheel nut at the first pit stop because we could probably have made the podium but these things happen. It was also a pity that Jarno had his problem but apart from that it was a very good weekend. We expected the car to be competitive because that is the way it has looked ever since Friday practice.” “The race was good for us too - the car was quick and the Bridgestone tyres were very good too. Our tyres have had the edge all weekend and we made a very good choice aimed at this two-stop strategy for the race. Our package has improved at every race recently so we can now look forward to maintaining this kind of performance for the rest of the season.”

Jarno Trulli:

“That was a real pity because everything was running smoothly in the first stint. The car was quick and our Bridgestone tyres were great. Because I was on a two-stop strategy while everyone else was on three stops I was confident that I could have fought for the podium. Unfortunately after the first pit stop I felt a slight drop-off from the engine. Soon after that the brake pedal started getting longer and longer and it was too dangerous to continue so I had to come in.” “So again it was very unlucky and I’ll add it to a long list of things that have happened this season. I’ve had some good races this year but points have been hard to find. But you can’t blame the team because it is never the same problem twice. Our pace has been great all weekend so despite the difficulties we are definitely on the up. Step by step we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Kimi Raikkonen:

“A disappointing race as the car was handling really well. We were lacking the speed to win, but I lost a few tenths in the second pit-stop which cost me fourth place today, so we definitely could have done better today. The car is steadily improving and we have further developments at the next test so we now look forward to the next race at Hockenheim in two weeks time, where hopefully we will score better in front of Mercedes-Benz home crowd.”

Pedro de la Rosa:

“The car had the speed today and felt really good to drive. I feel I really could have scored more points if I had not lost position to Mark Webber at the start of the race. This meant that I lost a lot of time in the opening stint trying to pass him and when I eventually got passed during the pit stop I was behind a lot of traffic on different strategies.” “As a result following the first round of stops I was over 20 seconds behind Ralf Schumacher, so it was very difficult for me to improve on my position. I really enjoyed the race and I am pleased to have scored some points for the team and be one the fastest of the Michelin runners.”

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