Ralf: Beating DC in the Championship No Easy Task

Ralf Schumacher moved up to third place in the standings after finishing in second position at Sunday's French Grand Prix, but the Williams driver believes gaining another place in the Championship will not be an easy task.

The 26-year old German had started from pole position for the first time in his Formula One career ahead of his brother Michael, but the Williams driver was unable to maintain the Ferrari at bay after a bad set of tyres forced him to slow down significantly.

Ralf, who admitted he was lucky to finish second after his problems with the Michelin tyres, closed on McLaren's David Coulthard in the standings after the Scot finished fourth following a stop-go penalty. The German, who hinted his brother will take the title in 2001, claimed finishing ahead of Coulthard will not be easy.

"I think it's possible but second or third doesn't really change a lot does it?," said Ralf. "I want us to win and obviously he (Michael) is on that for this year. I'll try next year. It would be nice if it is possible but McLaren seems to have closed the gap a little bit in performance.

"They had a bit of bad luck today so I'm sure it's going to be difficult. I am actually happy to sit here in second today because it was a disaster and really difficult to drive."

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya endured a promising race before an engine problem forced him to retire for the eighth time in ten races. Montoya, who got to run in second place before retiring, was disappointed not to finish.

"I am a bit frustrated, but yesterday we sacrificed the performance in qualifying for the race and it paid off as I was running second," said Montoya.

"I was pretty pleased with the performance of the car in the race. The main thing was being on a different strategy to Ralf to try and beat him and I was ahead of him."