Ralf Schumacher took his second straight victory for Williams at the French Grand Prix and in the process opened up the world championship title race. With his team mate Juan Pablo Montoya following him home it was the team's second consecutive 1-2 finish. Two wins and a second place in the last three Grands Prix has left Ralf Schumacher just eleven points adrift of his championship leading brother.

The Williams-BMW pair dominated practice, qualifying and the race, and it was left to Michael Schumacher's Ferrari to fend off McLaren opposition to claim the final podium position and score six valuable championship points as the rest of the field struggled to match the Williams' winning pace.

Ferrari had problems from the green light. Schumacher made a slugglish start and lost third to Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren, while Barrichello spun at the end of the opening lap and had to wait while the entire field had passed before he could rejoin.

David Coulthard passed Michael Schumacher at the first round of pitstops, but after clingling onto the silver car's, the world champion got ahead of both McLaren's in the final stops, aided by Coulthard suffering dramas as his refuelling probe failed to disconnect. Mark Webber can home a distant sixth, while Barrichello was next up and lapped.

FERRARI

Jean Todt: 

"As we had expected, this was a difficult race. Michael managed to limit the damage in the Drivers' championship with his third place finish, while Rubens' two points helped us to maintain the lead in the Constructors.' Undoubtedly, the balance of power in the last four races between ourselves and the BMW, Williams, Michelin package has shifted in their favour. Both Championships' are now wide open. With six races remaining, there are four drivers within 17 points and three teams covered by 18." 

"Now we are about to tackle a week of testing, the last before the summer break and it will be very important. We will be in action at Mugello, Barcelona and Fiorano, working along with Bridgestone, on the entire package. We will put all our efforts into improving the situation, with the aim of maintaining our lead in both Championships to the very end of the season." 

Michael Schumacher: 

"We realised earlier in the weekend that we were not going to be as competitive here as we had expected, so third place was probably the best I could do. At the start, Kimi got ahead because he made a better start: we will have to see if it was my reaction time or something on the car. David nearly came past as well and we ran side by side for a couple of corners which was exciting. I got back ahead of the two McLarens, because they pitted earlier for the first two stops, so we knew they would have to take on a heavier fuel load at the end." 

"I pushed hard at that point and that gave me the advantage. The car was as good as it could have been, although I struggled a bit on the second set of tyres. We have a good car, but so has BMW-Williams. Of course we are aware of the situation, but we will now work very hard with Bridgestone to improve the situation. We are definitely not going through a crisis. I have extended my championship lead over Kimi and I am confident we can put an end to this current run of poor results." 

Rubens Barrichello: 

"I got my line wrong at the new chicane at the end of the first lap, as I was unsighted because I was following Alonso's Renault in front of me very closely. When I turned, I went up on the kerb, the car didn't want to respond and all I can say is that it was my mistake. My chances of a good result ended at that moment. For the rest of the race, I tried to climb back through the field, making the most of the change to a two stop strategy. I managed to do just that and at least I picked up a couple of valuable points for the Constructors' championship." 

Ross Brawn: 

"Given the situation, we can be satisfied with Michael's third place. It was a shame for Rubens, whose car was going well. After his spin, we changed the strategy and at least we managed to get him home in the points. We were not competitive enough today. We still lead both championships, but our advantage in the Constructors' is now much reduced. We know we have to work around the 360 degrees of the whole package. As from next Tuesday, we will be running in Barcelona, Mugello and finally at Fiorano to try out new solutions on the car and with the tyres.' 

Michael Schumacher: 3rd  + 19.568 70 laps  chassis 229 
Rubens Barrichello 7th  + 1 lap 69 laps  chassis 230