Williams dominated proceedings in France to take their second 1-2 in as many races, with Ralf Schumacher once again emerging victorious.

Juan-Pablo Montoya, even though he performed well during the second stint of the race, failed to match the overall pace of his team-mate and eventually finished 13.8 seconds behind the German.

Michael Schumacher extended his world championship lead over Kimi Raikkonen by one point, finishing the race in third spot. Although the Ferrari driver made a relatively poor start, allowing Raikkonen to overtake, he passed the Finn during the third - and final - pit stop of the afternoon.

David Coulthard was on target to finish fourth for McLaren, but the Scot suffered with a re-fuelling problem during his last pit stop on lap 49. The team were forced to switch to the spare rig, and this failed to disengage as Coulthard left the pits, pulling over two mechanics and hindering the driver’s misfortune even further. He eventually finished fifth, two seconds behind his team-mate.

Mark Webber drove a solid, yet uneventful race, to claim sixth spot and three valuable points for the Jaguar team. The Australian finished ahead of the two-stopping Rubens Barrichello, who ruined any chance of a podium finish by spinning at the final chicane on the opening lap of the race.

Olivier Panis claimed the final point-scoring position for Toyota, eventually finishing one lap down on the leaders.

It was a disappointing day for Renault who saw both of their cars retire during the latter half of the race. Fernando Alonso’s engine expired on lap 44, and Jarno Trulli retired just three laps later with a throttle-feed problem.

Jacques Villeneuve finished ninth for BAR, who saw Jenson Button retire from the race on lap 22 when he ran out of fuel. Antonio Pizzonia completed the top-ten line up for Jaguar.

Cristiano da Matta finished just ahead of Sauber duo, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Nick Heidfeld claiming 12th and 13th respectively. Justin Wilson performed well for Minardi to take 14th spot, ahead of Ralph Firman who suffered a problematic first stint for Jordan.

Jos Verstappen rounds of the results, finishing 16th - and last - for Minardi.