If you just looked at the numbers, it might look like the 90th French Grand Prix was another Schumacher stroll, as the German took his ninth victory of the season at Magny-Cours. The German is well ahead of any other rival in the world championship, with 90 points.
However, the race wasn’t short on excitement, although it was, above all, a tactical duel, as the French circuit is not the easiest on which to overtake. Fernando Alonso led into the first corner from pole position, and kept his lead until Michael Schumacher’s first stop. With the German stopping early on lap 11, Fernando was able to attack in the three laps preceding his stop to retain the lead even after his first pit-stop. From that point on, the race for the win was a simple two-horse race. What’s more, the performance of the two cars was extremely close: the Renault was quicker early in a stint, but then lost ground after ten laps owing to differing tyre performance. However, the Spaniard was forced to cede ground in the following stint: Ferrari had chosen to modify their strategy, and opted for a lightning-quick second stop in order to grab the lead, then make two more stops. “We had nothing to lose, and it was maybe the only way of getting the win today,” explained the World Champion after the race. Schumacher came out of the pits ahead of Alonso, who also fuelled short in order to keep pace. However, the Renault F1 Team chose to remain on three stops, and owing to rain on Friday, had not been able to full judge tyre performance over long runs. Fernando’s 25 lap stint saw him lose ground, and Schumacher was thus able to make an additional stop and still retain the lead ahead of the R24.
Behind the two leaders, Jarno Trulli battled to maintain third place throughout the race. The Italian kept Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button behind until his last lap, but was passed by the Ferrari into the penultimate corner. Jarno finished fourth, helping Renault to stretch its advantage over BAR in the Constructors Championship and allowing him to gain on point on Jenson Button in the drivers’ standings.
