Schumacher wins, Alonso in second

The race proved that Ferrari are again well on the pace with recent developments. Michael Schumacher could easily gain some ground on his competitors, while Felipe Massa was close to Alonso during the whole race. A special strategy at Renault however allowed the Spaniard to become second and only lose 2 points to Schumacher in the race for the championship.

As the cars warm up for the start, temperatures are a little down on yesterday, with 34°C in the air and 52°C on the track. However, according to Alonso, these should be temperatures that favour the Bridgestone tyres.

At the start that expectation is not really confirmed as Fernando is able to challenge Massa into the second corner. The Brazilian is anyway able to hold on to his advantage. Webber, Villeneuve and Rosberg made the best starts as they all gained two places. Monteiro on the other hand lost three, while Sato did not even manage to complete the first lap with apparent car problems.

6 laps in the race, some couples have formed as Alonso is closely behind Massa. Alonso is really challenging Massa and will be a bit disappointed to not have passed Felipe at the start of the race. Michael Schumacher on the other hand can build up a margin. Fisichella is part of the second couple as he is just behind Raikkonen. Both men are still on the same positions as they started, being 6th and 7th. De La Rosa is also just behind another car, namely the well started Williams of Mark Webber. Behind 13th placed Barrichello, a train has formed including the likes of Villeneuve, Coulthard, ...

In lap 14, Villeneuve is the first to complete a succesful overtake as he passes Barrichello in the hairpin.

Two laps later, Alonso can unleash his powers as Massa joins his crew in the pitlane. The joy is however short lived as only one lap later Alonso also comes in and rejoins the track once more behind Massa. After 18 laps both Toyota cars are in the lead as the other cars in front of them have all already pitted without position changes. When Ralf came in for his pit, he pushed the throttle a bit too early as his left rear wheel was not yet fitted. As a result he only rejoined the track in 7th place, ahead of Heidfeld.

Trulli sees himself get passed by Raikkonen, while the other Toyota of Ralf Schumacher is challenging Fisichella who is in 6th place at the time. Behind Ralf is David Coulthard who has not yet pitted. He does so after 29 laps in the race. In lap 32 Liuzzi and Klien pit together from P12 and P13. Seconds later, Raikkonen is already in for an early second stop and takes a lot of fuel with him for his third stint.

Fernando Alonso is hoever on a longer second stint as he runs longer than both Massa and M. Schumacher. As a result, Alonso takes the lead in lap 38 and is just ahead of Schumacher as the latter exits the pitlane. Meanwhile, Trulli abandons the race as his car let him down, while Mark Webber suffered a flat tyre and enters the pitlane for the third time, after his second pitstop also appeared to be caused by a tyre problem. The Australian is then pulled into the pitbox but later restarts running in 18th place.

Only at lap 41 Fernando Alonso enters the pitlane for his second stop. The world champion is fitted with used tyres and rejoins the track in 3rd place. The second driver at Renault is on a similar strategy with an even longer second stint. The Roman lost his 5th place to Ralf Schumacher over the pitstops.

While Fernando is battling a bit with his car, Kimi Raikkonen closes in with 0.5 seconds a lap and is only 4 seconds behind Alonso. This may be explained by the different strategies, as Renault as really pulling off an unusual one here in France.

With 17 of the 70 laps to go, Massa and Raikkonen come in for their stops, putting Alonso in 2nd place. He is 7 seconds ahead of Massa in third place and 19 seconds ahead of fourth places Ralf Schumacher.

At last, after 5 pitstops, Mark Webber gets out of his Williams and retires from the French GP. Few laps later, Button as the last Honda in the race also abandons on the pitlane after Barrichello suffered an engine blow early in the race.

As the race comes to an end, both Ferraris go for safety as Massa looks uninterested in gaining the second place from Alonso. The top three therefore remain the same, followed by Ralf, Raikkonen, Fisichella, De La Rosa and Heidfeld.