...the latest news from around the world, courtesy of press snoop Lynne Huntting.
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER/
Ferrari won the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours from the pole, led the most laps, and set the fastest race lap - something not easily done in
Formula One all in one race. His victory Sunday was a record eighth win at the French Grand Prix.
The race was full of records and stats for the seven-time
F1 World champion: it was his eighty-eighth F1 victory; out of 242 starts, Schumacher has been on the podium 150 times; his fastest race lap was 1:17.111 on lap 46.
Schumacher beat FERNANDO ALONSO/
Renault by 10.1 seconds. Alonso led briefly during the race, but only during the pit stop swaps. Alonso was the filling in a Ferrari sandwich, with FELIPE MASSA finishing third, after running second much of the time.
Afterwards, Schumacher was jubilant and revelled in his victory, sharing it in one form or another with the entire Ferrari team. He said: "The tyres gave us excellent performance and things just seemed to be coming together. We need to keep the momentum going. It was a great result especially when you see the problems we had Saturday." He often thanked the team.
Alonso was anything but jubilant afterwards, obviously not quite as happy with his tires/car. He was brief and to the point: "It was a difficult weekend for us. It's good to finish second." More than 6000 Renault employees were at the track.
Third place finisher, FELIPE MASSA/Ferrari said he was "happy to bring points home and looking at my championship."
The Ferrari team opted for a three-stop strategy, while Renault went for two pit stops.
Fourth and fifth were RALF SCHUMACHER/
Toyota, despite a left rear wheel nut problem at his first pit stop; and KIMI RAIKKONEN/
McLaren.
The remaining points scorers were GIANCARLO FISICHELLA/Renault; PEDRO de la ROSA/McLaren in his first outing as replacement for the now-in-limbo JUAN PABLO MONTOYA and his first F1 race in a year; and NICK HEIDFELD/BMW-Sauber.
