The Complete 2006 French GP Review

The 2006 French Grand Prix was not an especially exciting race, and Juan Pablo Montoya was absent from it.

A few years ago, those two statements probably would have been mutually constitutive.

Even when Montoya wasn't fighting for victory, he would invariably be wheel-to-wheel with someone, somewhere. Or on his bad days, he would be hitting the headlines for being involved in some (often internecine) incident. There really was never a dull moment with JPM.

But at some point within the past 30 months, and for whatever reason, that flame fizzled out.

It is hard to think of any episodes in Montoya's recent career that compare with the feats he achieved in his halcyon days of 2001-3. The spark of inspiration that characterised his driving seemed to have gone.

His replacement Pedro de la Rosa made some feisty attempts to pass Mark Webber in the early stages at Magny-Cours. The 2006-version Montoya probably would have waited for the pitstops. It was time for him to go - not because he had to jump before he was pushed, but for his own sake, so he could recapture what it was that made him such a sensation in his early years.

While Montoya's dramatic departure did not really affect the French GP, it did provide a much needed talking point at the start of what is always a low-key race weekend.

Virtually everyone in the paddock was asked for their view on his NASCAR switch. Some were dismissive, or at best nonplussed, notably Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen. Others were more generous, including Fernando Alonso.

"He deserves to be happy," said the world champion. "He is a driver who has to have motivation to be quick, he has to have the aggression in his driving style, and maybe if he lost a bit of motivation then probably the best thing is to find a new one.

"I think in NASCAR he will do a great job, hopefully, and enjoy it. I like it a lot. I think it is a great championship."

Ron Dennis was mildly terse on the subject of his (almost certainly) former driver, hinting that ultimately Montoya's emotional nature was the cause of his downfall. McLaren are unlikely to encounter similar problems with their 2007 recruit Alonso, whose insight into Montoya's decision was all the more intriguing given his apparently very different character.

Aside from the odd waved fist in traffic, blips like Canada 2005, and the ever-intriguing victory dances, Alonso rarely shows emotion during the title pursuit. When the championship was conquered last season, he emitted a year's worth of tension with his victorious roar in the Interlagos parc ferme, showing just how much had been bottled up during the previous months.

This was evident again in France, as he remained stoically unmoved in the face of a second defeat by Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.

"I think here we were close, but not quick enough," said Alonso. "Same as Nurburgring and Imola, but at that point Ferrari seemed to have more development than anybody else and everybody thought that they would win all the races, and then we won four consecutive races."

Before the weekend, he had compared Schumacher's insistence that he could still win the 2006 title to Raikkonen's similar belief 12 months earlier.

"Kimi thought last year that he could catch me when he was 25 or 28 points behind," said Alonso. "It is the normal motivation for the guy who is behind, and for the leader it is the normal motivation to keep the advantage."

But the difference this year is that whereas Raikkonen's title hopes kept being battered by reliability problems, Schumacher's Ferrari seems as indestructible as Alonso's Renault. Plus as the rivals use different tyres, the potential for sudden and dramatic performance swings is much greater.

Schumacher's record eighth win at Magny-Cours was rather reminiscent of his 1997/8 victories at the same circuit. Both seemed to suggest that he had his title rival of the time (Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen respectively) on the ropes. But Schumacher could not maintain the advantage in either year, and had to wait a little longer to resume his title spree.

Given the confidence with which Alonso and Renault promised to resume normal service in France, their defeat must be unnerving - no matter how brave a face they put on it. Renault and Michelin have struck back once already this season when Ferrari and Bridgestone seemed to be edging ahead. Now they really must do so again.

It is definitely building into a thrilling, see-sawing, title battle that will surely remain wide open until October.

But is it as exciting as running three-wide around Daytona and Pocono and then celebrating with a victory doughnut? Depends what makes you happy...

Practice

After several weekends when BMW-Sauber's allegedly over-flexible wings had been the centre of photographers' attention, the lens were now pointing at the front of the car, and the vertical 'towers' that had sprouted in front of the cockpit.

These devices may have been the ugliest thing to appear on a Formula One car since Arrows dabbled with an upper nose wing in 2001, but they did seem to be effective, as BMW set the pace in each of the three practice sessions.

Robert Kubica's dominance of Friday was nothing new, but a one-two for Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld on Saturday morning was a little more unexpected.

Jenson Button had been the fastest of the select group of race drivers who joined the end of practice one, but it was Renault who seemed to have most cause for confidence after Friday, as Fernando Alonso went second quickest behind Kubica in the afternoon.

Michael Schumacher was half a second shy of Alonso's time, but within 0.02 seconds of his Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, suggesting that there might be little to choose between Michelin and Bridgestone in the very hot conditions.

Midland continued their run of attention-grabbing Friday performances as Adrian Sutil went fifth quickest in the morning and seventh in the afternoon.

Whether this was due to a light fuel/high-revving glory run, genuine progress by the team, or indicative of a Bridgestone advantage was a moot point.

Whatever the case, Lewis Hamilton's former Formula Three Euroseries rival Sutil looks very much at home in an F1 car.

Elsewhere, many drivers found it difficult to stay on the hot and green track, with a number of gravely excursions during practice. Rubens Barrichello and Scott Speed were the only drivers to make it as far as the barrier - both crashing at the Nurburgring chicane.

Red Bull started the weekend with the unusual tactic of issuing a pre-race preview that insulted most aspects of France and French culture (a reaction to the nation banning the energy drink on health grounds).

Perhaps some form of Gaelic voodoo was therefore to blame for their practice struggles, as the race drivers languished behind the Super Aguris on Friday. "As the tyres went off it got really, really bad - the worst so far this year," reported Christian Klien.

BMW's Saturday morning heroics were facilitated at least in part by the dramas that struck the big guns. Both Renaults took trips off the road and ended up 11th (Fisichella) and 16th (Alonso), while Ferrari's problems were technical - Felipe Massa having a clutch issue and Schumacher suffering a dramatic heat shield fire in the pit lane.

When the smoke cleared, the damage turned out to be superficial - allaying fears that an engine change might be necessary.

Practice round up

Sorted by total laps from all three sessions

Qualifying

Part one

Was this turning into a Bridgestone weekend? Q1 saw Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher's Toyotas sandwiching Michael Schumacher in a Bridgestone one-two-three, while the eliminated drivers included two big Michelin names - Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button.

The revised qualifying format meant that drivers could finish laps after the chequered flag in Q1 and Q2, reducing the pressure on the teams very slightly. But the cars still had to be quick enough and the laps needed to be traffic-free, and Button and Honda failed on both counts.

"I got shafted by two cars," said Button after falling to 19th. "Normally it wouldn't be a big issue, but because we haven't got the pace it made quite a big difference."

Rubens Barrichello came very close to joining his teammate on the sidelines, but managed the last lap improvement that Button could not, and jumped up to 15th.

Honda's slide down the order has been an ongoing theme of recent races, but BMW appeared to be in the ascendance, so Villeneuve's 18th place was a bigger shock.

"I had traffic on both my laps," he said. "Starting from the back could really kill our race."

With Nico Rosberg, Christijan Albers, and Ralf Schumacher all moving out of the bottom six in the final two minutes, Vitantonio Liuzzi found himself edged down to 17th. He also had traffic issues, ironically in the shape of the 'senior' Red Bull car of David Coulthard.

Tiago Monteiro was very gloomy in 20th - unhappy with his set-up, unhappy with traffic (specifically Coulthard, again), and unhappy with himself for going off the road on his second flying lap.

On the final row, the host country's sole representative Franck Montagny had the minor triumph of out-qualifying teammate Takuma Sato for the first time. It was a timely achievement as Montagny prepared to relinquish his race seat to Sakon Yamamoto from Hockenheim onwards.

Part two

After the shocks of Q1 and before the anticipated drama of Q3, Q2 provided something of a lull, as there were some fairly obvious candidates for elimination in this segment.

Albers ended up 16th but was within a tenth of Barrichello and Scott Speed, and achieved all this despite a nasty gum disease that required the emergency attentions of his team boss (and qualified dentist) Colin Kolles. With MF1 yet to translate their improved qualifying form into a strong race result, Albers promised "maximum attack" for Sunday.

Speed was a little perplexed with 15th after his car proved quicker on its second lap on new tyres, a quirk he felt boded well for consistent race pace.

Button confessed that even if he had made it into Q2, his Honda wasn't competitive enough to go any further - a point that teammate Barrichello proved by taking an underwhelming 14th.

With the Ferraris (Schumacher fastest on an eye-opening 1:15.111), Renaults, Toyotas and McLarens breezing through Q2, the tension came from which of the Red Bulls, Williams and the remaining BMW would reach the top ten.

Nico Rosberg had an engine change penalty looming after his Cosworth was over-revved at Indianapolis, but maximised his chances of a respectable grid slot by taking ninth with a few seconds remaining.

David Coulthard snuck up to 10th shortly afterwards, making only his second Q1 appearance. "Hopefully we'll get a pleasant surprise," Coulthard had mused after struggling to 25th in practice. A top ten start was exactly that.

The Red Bull's late improvement left Mark Webber 11th after a "not so awesome" lap, followed by Nick Heidfeld and Christian Klien.

Although few thought that BMW's practice dominance would translate into similar results in qualifying, it was still a shock to see neither car in the top ten. But Heidfeld saw the slump coming.

"It often happens that we look very good on Saturday morning, but others make bigger improvements for qualifying in the afternoon," he said. "My personal expectations were not as high as you would expect."

Part three

The title rivals lined up wheel to wheel, but it was Alonso who blasted ahead on the sprint to Grande Courbe. Schumacher tracked him for a lap before slipping down the inside at the Adelaide Hairpin. The Renault cut in tight on the exit, and then had a very optimistic look on the outside into the Nurburgring chicane. This failed to pay off, but soon Alonso was back on Schumacher's tail and emulating his sparring partner's Adelaide dive to reclaim the advantage.

And that was just the race to be at the front of the pack during the inconsequential fuel burning laps...

The FIA's decision to shorten Q3 by five minutes had definitely taken away some of the monotony from the segment, and the leading drivers' decision to use the early laps for some impromptu overtaking practice made this much-maligned period one of the most exciting moments of the weekend. And they were hardly dawdling either - both Alonso and Schumacher lapping in the 1:17s, a very strong race pace.

The 'real' battle would come on light fuel and new tyres a few minutes later. Alonso's initial 1:16.0 provisional pole was immediately beaten by Schumacher's 1:15.7, and then Felipe Massa split the pair and ensured that Ferrari were firmly on top.

Alonso's retaliation began badly with a poor first sector time. This would prove costly, as he then set new benchmarks in sectors two and three. He returned to second, but it could have been better.

Those sector times only stood for a few moments before Schumacher lowered them as he improved to a 1:15.493, 0.3 seconds faster than the Renault.

There was more bad news to come for the home team. Massa's last lap was an excellent one, and he reclaimed second, just 0.017 seconds behind Schumacher.

Then Renault's hopes of at least filling the second row were dashed as Trulli, Ralf Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen all improved and pushed Giancarlo Fisichella - who was bothered by understeer - down to seventh.

"We will be starting the race as challengers rather than clear favourites," admitted Renault's engine boss Denis Chevrier, but the team remained quietly confident.

"The first lap on the performance on the Bridgestones looked very good today and the track temperature is up, so it came to them a little bit," said Pat Symonds. "I think Ferrari were a little bit quicker than we expected but we are still going to have a good race with them."

Bridgestone's pace was also very much on Ron Dennis' mind as he pondered the presence of the delighted Toyota drivers in fourth and fifth ahead of his cars.

"The grid positions reflect the tyre situation," he surmised.

Dennis could be satisfied with the recalled Pedro de la Rosa's performance, as the Spaniard took a creditable 0.351 seconds behind teammate Raikkonen.

Ninth and tenth went to Rosberg and Coulthard, and it looked like both had decided to opt out of the qualifying battle and run heavy fuel. This was true in the latter case, but Williams were actually on a similar strategy to the lead qualifiers, so the 2.8 second gap between pole and Rosberg boded ominously for their race chances.

Qualifying results

The grid

Pos  Driver        Team
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             (B)
 2.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)
 3.  Alonso        Renault             (M)
 4.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)
 5.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)
 6.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)
 7.  Fisichella    Renault             (M)
 8.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes    (M)
 9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)
10.  Webber        Williams-Cosworth   (B)
11.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (M)
12.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari    (M)
13.  Barrichello   Honda               (M)
14.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M)
15.  Albers        MF1-Toyota          (B)
16.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber          (M)
17.  Button        Honda               (M)
18.  Monteiro      MF1-Toyota          (B)
19.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth   (B) *
20.  Montagny      Super Aguri-Honda   (B)
21.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda   (B)
22.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth (M) *

* As well as Rosberg's anticipated penalty, Liuzzi also required a new engine on Sunday morning. They fell to 19th and 22nd respectively.

The Race

It is a lazy cliche to say that Grands Prix are entirely decided by the outcome of the start, but Renault had already concluded that this would be the case in France.

If Fernando Alonso could get between the Ferraris off the line then they would attempt to race Michael Schumacher for the victory. If not, then the target would be to minimise the points loss by securing second.

But the short run from the grid to the Grande Courbe made it unlikely that Alonso would be able to repeat his move from fifth to third (and very nearly second) at the start in Indianapolis, and so it proved.

Although the Renault did get the best start of any of the leaders and drew alongside Massa, the Ferrari was able to turn in to Estoril ahead, and Alonso's only option was to let him go.

"I was nearly on the grass so I had to back off," he admitted.

Undeterred, Alonso tried again on the outside approaching the Adelaide Hairpin, but this left him very exposed to fourth placed Jarno Trulli, who almost managed to sneak up the inside on the exit.

While his deputy was keeping his arch rival under control, Schumacher was free to take control of the race, although he didn't exactly romp away at first.

"We knew that the tyres were a little bit delicate, but that was the choice we made to have the performance in qualifying," Ross Brawn explained. "So we managed the situation and didn't push too hard in the beginning."

But despite Schumacher only being five seconds ahead of Massa and Alonso after 10 laps, in Renault's eyes he was already long gone.

"We knew that if we didn't get past Massa on the first lap we were strategically in a little bit of a corner," said Pat Symonds. "That's exactly what happened. We had to just ensure the second position then."

A further four seconds back, the Toyotas of Trulli and Ralf Schumacher ran in close company, with Kimi Raikkonen and Giancarlo Fisichella tagging along behind.

Pedro de la Rosa ought to have been part of this group too, but Mark Webber had snatched eighth from him at the 180 on the opening lap. With the Williams up to two seconds slower than the leaders, de la Rosa was soon searching frantically for a passing opportunity that never arose.

Nick Heidfeld and David Coulthard ran 10th and 11th, comfortably ahead of the queue following Rubens Barrichello's slow Honda. Scott Speed, Jacques Villeneuve, Christian Klien, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Christijan Albers were all bottled up in Barrichello's wake.

Only Speed and Villeneuve managed to escape, the former benefiting when Barrichello slid a little wide on lap seven, and the latter diving past at Adelaide on lap 14.

The Super Aguri SA05's final appearance proved as inauspicious as the rest of its career. Takuma Sato's example coughed off the dummy grid with clutch problems and would retire before the opening lap was over.

Franck Montagny managed to pass Tiago Monteiro at the start and held the Midland off until it departed in wild fashion on lap 12. An unexplained technical problem at the rear of the car pitched Monteiro into a spin approaching the Nurburgring chicane. As it hit the inside kerb, the MF1 was launched high enough in the air to clear the rear of Montagny's car, before crashing back to earth and out of the race.

The first man to make a scheduled stop was Massa on lap 16. Anywhere else this might have been the moment when Alonso - who had lurked close behind the Ferrari throughout the opening stint - would be unleashed. But at Magny-Cours the advantage of fresh tyres far exceeded any gains that could be made by running low fuel on used rubber.

Massa proved this by setting quickest sector times on his out-lap and then producing a new fastest lap - a 1:17.141, six-tenths quicker than Schumacher's previous mark - next time through.

Alonso pitted only one lap later and his stop was just 0.7 seconds slower, yet he found himself 4.6 seconds behind Massa afterwards.

With Schumacher coming in from the lead on lap 18, the two-stopping Toyotas hit the front for a few laps. But the best they could hope for was an outside shot at a podium, for the victory contest had already become a one-horse race.

Schumacher began to inch inexorably away from his teammate during the second stint, while Massa did likewise to Alonso, who began to get more than a little frustrated in traffic.

The Ferrari one-two was not as assured as it seemed however, for Renault had decided as soon as they failed to profit from the start that switching to a two stop strategy could prove beneficial.

So while Massa and Schumacher pitted again for brief fills on laps 34 and 38 respectively, Alonso stayed out until lap 42 and took on enough fuel for the remainder of the race.

This made little difference to Schumacher, who had pulled out such a lead that he rejoined after his second stop right behind Alonso and even looked like he might try to pass (and thoroughly embarrass) the points leader.

But it did leave Massa's second place looking a little shaky. He had done well to pull away from Alonso during his short middle stint, but - troubled by tyre wear - Massa couldn't do enough in the crucial 11 laps between Alonso's second stop and his third pit visit.

The Brazilian's 11 second advantage became a 7.4 second deficit when he pitted, and Massa could do nothing about Alonso in the closing laps. Bridgestone might have had the edge on pace at Magny-Cours, but Michelin could take satisfaction from their tyres' performance in Alonso's final stint. For a used set to manage 28 laps on heavy fuel and split the dominant Ferraris was a good effort.

Not as good an effort as Schumacher's, however. He could have won by half a minute had he pleased, but he let his advantage dwindle to 10 seconds before crossing the line to set yet another new record by taking an eighth French GP win. Until now, no-one had ever won the same grand prix more than seven times.

More remarkable than that was that Ferrari had dominated a race that they had - by their standards - been poorly prepared for, as the dramas of Saturday practice prevented them from carrying out their scheduled long runs.

"It was a bit of a guess where and how the race would go," Schumacher admitted, "but I have to say that the car, the tyres, the whole package really worked superbly."

So Schumacher was all smiles, and had every right to be. Hints of grimaces infiltrated his podium neighbours' smiles as Alonso said that second was "a perfect result ... in the circumstances" and Massa insisted that he had not failed in his Ferrari duty by falling behind Alonso...

While 'perfect' might have been an over-generous description of Alonso's second place, at least no-one got between himself and Schumacher this time.

There were times when the Toyotas and Raikkonen closed in, but in reality they were always fighting for fourth.

Toyota's race slumped a little after their brief moment of one-two glory. Ralf Schumacher lost several seconds to an errant wheel nut in the pit stop, while Trulli's pace tailed off as first his engine and then his brakes wilted. Raikkonen - putting on a spurt during his short second stint - passed him for fourth on the exit of Adelaide on lap 27, and Trulli retired 11 laps later.

"It's an unbelievable season for me," he said. "There is not one race when something goes right."

Ralf Schumacher's poor pit stop put him behind Fisichella, who was having one of those low-key races that give his critics ammunition in abundance. Schumacher quickly closed in and jumped back ahead in the final pit stops.

It looked like fifth would be Schumacher's limit as Raikkonen appeared to have enough of an advantage over the Toyota before his final pit stop. But the McLaren's service was fractionally too slow, and Raikkonen rejoined between Schumacher and Fisichella. Perhaps surprisingly, he proved unable to challenge the Toyota in the remaining laps, and Ralf duly made up for his late loss at Indianapolis by claming fourth in France.

De la Rosa set a series of eye-catching lap times in the second half of the race as he fruitlessly pursued the top six. He was relieved to get ahead of Webber at the first pit stops, but his relatively early pit visit dropped the McLaren to 13th, in the thick of the two-stoppers. By the time De la Rosa reached clear air, he was 20 seconds adrift of Fisichella and had an additional pit stop to make compared to the Renault, so had no real chance of catching up.

He did enjoy the easiest overtaking move of the race, as Heidfeld effectively waved the McLaren past, after apparently being shown blue flags.

This was the only glitch in Heidfeld's serene run to eighth. He got ahead of Coulthard on the first lap and stayed about five seconds ahead of the Red Bull throughout the race.

They were comfortably ahead of the rest of the midfield, but that was no consolation for Coulthard.

"We're just the vultures of the paddock at the moment, picking up points when other people fall out," he said.

One person who did drop out was Webber. Depending on the success of his three-stop strategy, he might have beaten Heidfeld to eighth had he not suffered a dramatic tyre failure and consequent spin at the Imola chicane. Williams ascribed the incident to the left rear tyre overheating, and eventually retired the car after a long pit stop, further similar problems, and due to aerodynamic damage sustained as the rubber flailed.

Speed therefore completed the top ten after a brave drive. The after-effects of his Friday crash left him with back pain and breathing difficulties, yet apart from a brief visit to the Chateau d'Eau gravel, he drove a flawless race and pulled clear of Villeneuve, Klien and Liuzzi, who finished close together in 11th, 12th and 13th after frustratingly uneventful races.

The rest of their pack encountered miscellaneous problems. Albers had tagged along gamely until he lost ground with a slow first pit stop and subsequent issues with first gear. But he was at least able to close in on Rosberg near the end after the Williams had to make a precautionary stop following Webber's tyre problems.

Williams aren't the only team whose season appears to be in free-fall. Both Hondas retired with apparent engine problems, Barrichello dropping out of 14th on lap 18, and Button reaching 11th before stopping on lap 61.

"It was a weekend from hell really," said Barrichello. "It was not going anywhere. Since I got used to the car, this is the worst pace we've had for the whole year. We don't need to do much - just keep our feet on the ground and work, work, work."

Button tried to look on the bright side. At least his strategy had worked well, as running a short first stint gave him the clear laps on fresh rubber that he needed to jump ahead of fellow two-stoppers Villeneuve and Klien.

"It was good, for where we are at the moment..." he said. "balance was there, it's just a lack of overall speed, and that comes with engine power and downforce, and that's all we're lacking at the moment. And reliability..."

At least one Honda-powered driver made it to the chequered flag. Montagny completed his home - and possibly last - grand prix at the tail of the field in 16th place.

Race results

70 laps; 308.586km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              (B)  1h32:07.803
 2.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  +    10.131
 3.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +    22.546
 4.  R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  +    27.212
 5.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  +    33.006
 6.  Fisichella    Renault              (M)  +    45.265
 7.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  +    49.407
 8.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (M)  +     1 lap
 9.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  +     1 lap
10.  Speed         Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  +     1 lap
11.  Villeneuve    BMW-Sauber           (M)  +     1 lap
12.  Klien         Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  +     1 lap
13.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Cosworth  (M)  +     1 lap
14.  Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth    (B)  +    2 laps
15.  Albers        MF1-Toyota           (B)  +    2 laps
16.  Montagny      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +    3 laps

Fastest lap: M.Schumacher, 1:17.111

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Button        Honda                (M)    63
Webber        Williams-Cosworth    (B)    55
Trulli        Toyota               (B)    41
Barrichello   Honda                (M)    19
Monteiro      MF1-Toyota           (B)    12
Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 11:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        96        1.  Renault              142
 2.  M.Schumacher  79        2.  Ferrari              121
 3.  Fisichella    46        3.  McLaren-Mercedes      71
 4.  Raikkonen     43        4.  Honda                 32
 5.  Massa         42        5.  Toyota                21
 6.  Montoya       26        6.  BMW-Sauber            20
 7.  Button        16        7.  Red Bull-Ferrari      11
 8.  Barrichello   16        8.  Williams-Cosworth     10
 9.  R.Schumacher  13        9.  Toro Rosso-Cosworth    1
10.  Heidfeld      13
11.  Coulthard     10
12.  Trulli         8
13.  Villeneuve     7
14.  Webber         6
15.  Rosberg        4
16.  de la Rosa     2
17.  Klien          1
18.  Liuzzi         1

Team-by-Team

RENAULT

Alonso qualifies third but is optimistic that he can challenge Ferrari in the race. In the end the best he can manage is to split them after a canny switch to a two-stop strategy puts him up to second ahead of Massa. Fisichella cites understeer after qualifying seventh, and tyre graining after finishing sixth, having been unable to challenge those ahead of him.

Verdict: Will start looking vulnerable if they don't beat Schumacher in Germany.

Raikkonen and returnee de la Rosa qualify sixth and eighth, McLaren feeling they have been shuffled back by the resurgent Bridgestone teams. A three-stop strategy doesn't quite work out for Raikkonen, and he has to settle for fifth behind Ralf Schumacher. De la Rosa loses a lot of time behind Webber in the first stint and then comes out in heavy traffic. Recovers to seventh, setting some impressive times.

Verdict: Needed a big result to draw attention away from their driver situation. It didn't happen.

A major scare on Saturday morning as a heat shield fire on Schumacher's car and a clutch problem for Massa give the team a lot of work to do to get the cars serviceable for qualifying. They succeed, and the drivers reward them with a front row sweep. Schumacher then dominates the race, but Massa is unable to prevent the two-stopping Alonso from stealing second.

Verdict: A superb performance that probably should have been a one-two.

Another good weekend for the improving team. Trulli and Schumacher qualify fourth and fifth on relatively heavy fuel loads, and run one-two for a while before their late first stops. Trulli then drops back and retires due to engine and brake problems. Schumacher is delayed a little by a problematic wheel nut at his first stop, but recovers well to beat Raikkonen to fourth.

Verdict: Impressive progress continues.

Rosberg qualifies ninth but has to take an engine change penalty, which moves Webber from 11th to 10th. The latter gets up to eighth on the first lap and successfully fends off the faster de la Rosa until their first stops. A spectacular tyre failure ultimately leads to his retirement when a point was possible. Rosberg has to make an extra stop for checks after Webber's incident, and eventually finishes a distant 14th.

Verdict: Lacking both luck and speed at the moment.

A decent Friday practice time apart, it's an abject weekend for Honda. Button is a disastrous 19th on the grid and Barrichello can only salvage 14th. Both have traffic issues but pin the blame mainly on the car's lack of speed. Barrichello holds up a train of cars in the race before an early engine failure. Button shows some improvement as he advances to 11th before retiring for similar reasons.

Verdict: Can it get any worse?

Poor practice form suggests a difficult weekend, but Coulthard in particular is highly competitive, qualifying 10th and finishing ninth, although he had fancied his chances of a point or two. Klien cannot match his teammate. He is 13th in qualifying and 12th in the race after an equally uneventful run.

Verdict: Less than they wanted, but still pretty respectable.

Fastest times in all three practice sessions somehow precede 12th (Heidfeld) and 18th (the baulked Villeneuve) in qualifying. But a proactive first lap and a few problems ahead help Heidfeld to eighth. Villeneuve makes up ground at the start but does not advance much further. Fends off Klien for 11th.

Verdict: Did not live up to the promise of recent races or practice form.

Another star Friday performance sees test driver Sutil seventh even in the well-supported afternoon session. Albers maintains the momentum by reaching Q2, although he can't progress beyond 16th. Falls back at the start but stays with the midfield group until a slow stop and then difficulties with first gear. Finishes 15th, but with Rosberg's Williams in sight. Monteiro's scrappy and frustrating weekend features a lowly 20th place in qualifying and a spectacular departure from last in the race when an unexplained failure sees him launched sideways over a kerb.

Verdict: Moving in the right direction, but need to carry their Friday and Saturday form to race day.

Speed crashes on Friday and is in pain for the rest of the weekend, yet produces his best race yet. Qualifies 15th, progresses to 10th thanks in part to penalties and problems ahead, but holds the place, despite a brief off. Liuzzi qualifies 17th but has to take an engine penalty. Clear the backmarkers off the line, then chases Klien all afternoon and takes 13th.

Verdict: 10th for an injured rookie and 22nd to 13th for his teammate - a very strong performance.

Montagny says farewell by out-qualifying Sato and getting to the end of the race, albeit in last position. Sato needn't have bothered staying until Sunday, as a clutch problem prevents him from completing a lap. New car and new race driver (Friday tester Yamamoto) expected for Hockenheim.

Verdict: The last race when they had the excuse of a compromised, hybrid chassis. More will be expected from now on.

Lap-by-Lap

Pre-race: Takuma Sato struggles to get off the line at the start of the final formation lap, but the car finally coughs into life and he makes it to the grid.

Lap 1: On pole position for the fourth time this season - and the 68th in his F1 career - Michael Schumacher gets away cleanly ahead of teammate, and fellow front-row starter, Felipe Massa. The Brazilian repels world championship leader Fernando Alonso's vigorous early challenge. Jarno Trulli runs fourth. Ralf Schumacher is beaten away initially by Kimi Raikkonen but reclaims fifth before the end of the lap.

Michael Schumacher leads his teammate Felipe Massa and the field through the first turn © LAT

Giancarlo Fisichella settles into seventh ahead of Mark Webber, Pedro de la Rosa, Nick Heidfeld, David Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello, Scott Speed, Jacques Villeneuve, Christian Klien, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg (docked 10 places on the grid for an unscheduled engine change), Christijan Albers (who is competing despite a painful mouth ulcer), Vitantonio Liuzzi (also penalised 10 starting positions for an engine switch), Franck Montagny and Tiago Monteiro. Sato pulls off to retire at Turn Six.

Lap 2: Liuzzi passes Albers for 18th.

Lap 3: Michael Schumacher extends his lead to 1.9s.

Lap 5: The leader sets a new fastest lap: 1:17.913. He leads by 2,8s. Alonso is pushing Massa very hard, as he has since the start.

Lap 6: Barrichello runs wide and drops to 13th, behind Speed.

Lap 10: Michael Schumacher leads by 4.7s. Monteiro takes off after clipping a kerb and proceeds to the pits at slow speed. He retires.

Lap 11: Michael Schumacher ups his pace: 1:17.761.

Lap 14: Michael Schumacher goes faster again: 1:17.581. Villeneuve passes Barrichello for 13th.

Lap 16: Massa makes the race's first scheduled stop.

Lap 17: Alonso and Raikkonen both pit. Alonso rejoins 4.1s behind Massa.

Lap 18: Michael Schumacher, Fisichella and de la Rosa pit. Massa sets fastest lap: 1:17.141. Trulli and Ralf Schumacher run 1-2 for Toyota. De la Rosa vaults Webber when he rejoins.

Lap 19: Webber and Montagny pit. Barrichello's Honda emits a puff of engine smoke and he pulls off.

Lap 20: Leader Trulli peels in for fuel and tyres. Ralf Schumacher takes over at the front.

Lap 21: Button and Rosberg pit.

Felipe Massa pits his Ferrari © LAT

Lap 22: Ralf Schumacher comes in - but it's a slow stop and he slumps to seventh, behind Raikkonen and Fisichella. Michael Schumacher regains the lead.

Lap 25: Michael Schumacher leads Massa by 5.8s and Alonso by another 5.0s. Raikkonen is pressing fourth-placed Trulli. Heidfeld pits.

Lap 26: Albers pits.

Lap 27: Raikkonen passes Trulli for fourth. Villeneuve pits.

Lap 28: Speed pits.

Lap 29: Coulthard pits.

Lap 30: Raikkonen and de la Rosa, fourth and eighth, are lapping at about the same pace as Michael Schumacher.

Lap 31: Klien and Liuzzi are the final drivers to make their first scheduled stops.

Lap 32: Raikkonen comes in for a second time.

Lap 34: Massa makes his second stop.

Lap 35: Half-distance: Michael Schumacher leads Alonso by 16.2s. Massa is third from Trulli, Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher, Raikkonen, de la Rosa (who pits), Webber, Heidfeld and Coulthard. The rest are all lapped. Tail-ender Montagny makes his second stop.

Lap 38: Michael Schumacher, Trulli and Webber pit. Michael Schumacher rejoins in second, right on Alonso's tail.

Lap 39: Webber suffers a deflated left rear tyre on his out lap. He spins and returns to the pits for lengthy repairs. Trulli comes straight back to the pits and retires with a technical problem.

Lap 42: Alonso pits for the second time. Michael Schumacher reclaims the lead, 13.6s clear of Massa. Alonso is third, another 10.6s adrift.

Lap 44: Rosberg pits.

Lap 45: Fisichella pits, as does Button.

Lap 46: Michael Schumacher laps in 1:17.111 - the race's fastest so far. Ralf Schumacher and Heidfeld pit. Ralf Schumacher resumes in fifth, ahead of Fisichella.

Michael Schumacher wins the French Grand Prix for Ferrari © Reuters

Lap 48: Albers pits.

Lap 50: de la Rosa and Speed pit.

Lap 51: Montagny pits.

Lap 52: Coulthard and Liuzzi pit.

Lap 53: Massa, Raikkonen, Villeneuve and Liuzzi pit. Massa rejoins third, several seconds behind Alonso.

Lap 55: Michael Schumacher pits and rejoins without losing his lead.

Lap 56: Michael Schumacher leads Alonso by 18.7s. Rosberg makes his third stop.

Lap 60: Just 10 laps remain and seven cars - Michael Schumacher, Alonso, Massa, Ralf Schumacher, Raikkonen, Fisichella and de la Rosa - remain on the lead lap. The closest gap is that between Ralf Schumacher and Raikkonen: 1.9s. Heidfeld lies eighth.

Lap 61: Button, 14th, retires to the pits.

Lap 70: Michael Schumacher scores his fourth victory of the campaign, beating Alonso by 10.1s. The Spaniard leads the world title race by 17 points. Massa is third from Ralf Schumacher, Raikkonen, Fisichella, de la Rosa and Heidfeld.