Schumacher Happy to Hit 50

Triple World Champion Michael Schumacher was delighted to clock up his half century of Grands Prix victories at the French Grand Prix on Sunday, and finally admitted that it does mean something to him.

German Schumacher is now just one win away from equalling Alain Prost's all-time record of the highest number of Formula One wins, but he has always cast the record off as something he is not concerned about. However, after securing yet another victory in comfortable style, the scarlet-clad Ferrari driver admitted: "Number 50 is a great number.

"There is a priority which is to win the race and over the year to win the Championship, and that's what you're focused on - you're not focused to say 'I want to win the record for the most wins' or 'the record of the most Championships.' That's not my target.

"But obviously I'm very delighted having now achieved win number 50. People seem to misunderstand my feeling about these statistics - I always said they were second priority but they do mean something to me."

Schumacher has amassed his 50 victories in just 155 races - compared to Alain Prost's 51 wins in 199 races, and his win rate is one of the best ever seen in the business. And Schumacher admitted that the win at Magny Cours was not his hardest ever race, having been able to cruise to victory from the first set of pitstops.

"Winning is always enjoyable and in the way it went today it was fun," said a happy Schumacher, who now moves 31 points clear of nearest title rival David Coulthard. "For the championship it's a big step forward and so it was obviously a very exciting race in all means.

"I still have a bit of flu which I caught in Nurburgring, which is not yet gone, so I'm naturally a little bit more tired than normally. But the last stint of the race, because I had quite a big lead after the second stint, I could take it quite easy, so it wasn't too tough."