Relieved Brawn Praises Schumacher

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn said he was relieved to see the back of the French Grand Prix after seeing Williams-BMW dominate for the whole race weekend.

Ralf Schumacher led home teammate Juan Pablo Montoya to complete their team's second consecutive one-two result while Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello could only manage third and seventh respectively.

The Williams pair led a blue-and-white-wash from start to finish after securing the front row of the grid in qualifying and Brawn admitted: "I am relieved that the race is at an end. Michael drove a great race, but clearly we weren't competitive again today.

"Our strategy didn't look good at the beginning of the race but we kept Michael in touch with McLaren."

Schumacher had dropped behind McLaren pair Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard after the first round of pitstops but he outpaced his Finnish rival and capitalised on Scot Coulthard's pit problems to come out third.

"It came together in the end and the few laps before the pitstop," said Brawn. "Michael did the business and to get back that third position was a real result for us."

Schumacher sealed the Drivers' Championship at Magny-Cours last year but this season Ferrari now stand just three points clear of Williams in the constructors' race heading to the British Grand Prix.