Schuey: French win 'big step' to title

The German leapt for joy on the podium as he scored his fourth win in six races, his sixth of the season, and the 50th of his career.

The Ferrari ace is now just one victory short of Alain Prost's all-time record.

And he is also a massive 31 points ahead of title rival David Coulthard, who was fourth after being hit with a stop-go penalty.

Added to that, Ferrari has a massive 108 points in the constructors' championship - nearly double McLaren's total of 56.

And Schumacher did it all despite suffering clutch problems and the lingering effects of the bad head cold he had at the last race a week ago in Germany.

"50 is a great number and this was a big step in the championship for us," he said, while still insisting it could still all go wrong.

"As you saw last year, when I lost all my points at two races, things can turn around so quickly. It is a comfortable lead, but there are seven races to go and 70 points to give away, so there is no reason to start celebrating until it is done."

He was nonetheless jubilant about his sixth win of the season.

"This was the perfect result for us," he grinned. "We've had a one-two with Ralf winning and now we've got a one-two with me winning.

"It is unexpected for (team mate) Rubens (Barrichello) coming from eight to finish third, so that was great too."

Schumacher started the race fearing clutch problems could destroy his day.

"The clutch problem at the start meant I almost lost a position to David at the first corner," he said. "I was inside, he was outside, but I kept it going.

"It was quite close. If I had got behind him, working our strategy would have been far more difficult."

Schumacher now has 78 points, Coulthard 47, Ralf Schumacher 31 and Barrichello, who finished third, is on 30.

For complete French Grand Prix results, click here.