Michael Schumacher used an aggressive four-stop strategy today at Magny Cours to record his ninth win of the season and his seventh French Grand Prix success. Pole Position man Fernando Alonso pushed hard, but could not keep up with Schumacher's pace on his three-stop strategy and he duly finished in second place for Renault. Rubens Barrichello drove an aggressive race and a last-lap pass on Jarno Trulli rounded out a near perfect day for Ferrari.

With passing all but impossible at Magny Cours, the start of the race would prove significant as ever. As the 70-lap French Grand Prix got underway, Alonso led the field from Schumacher while Trulli vaulted from fifth position to third - a place he would keep until the final turn of the final lap.

The battle for the lead saw Michael Schumacher push Alonso hard, but after the first round of pit stops, he was still behind the Renault driver. Ferrari strategy then decided that he could take a lighter fuel load in the next round of stops, moving from three stops to four. This ensured that he gained track position after Alonso made his final stop. It worked out perfectly as Schumacher managed to build up a 22 second lead before pitting for the fourth time - enough to regain the lead and the Grand Prix victory.

Rubens Barrichello started from tenth position on the grid and worked his way up through the top ten until he ran in fifth position. As Jenson Button exited the pits for the final time in his BAR Honda, Barrichello took advantage of Button's cold tyres and took fourth place. The final lap of the race saw Barrichello all over the back of Trulli. Heading towards the final complex of turns, Barrichello made the move and was though to third position.

The French Grand Prix provided some high speed close action largely thanks to Jarno Trulli. The Renault driver's fast start put him into third position but the Italian never had the pace of either Alonso or Schumacher. As the leaders pulled away, the traffic backed up behind Trulli and it remained that way until the final lap.

Trulli was caught out on the last lap and really should have been more aware of Barrichello, but as it was his one slight lapse of concentration of the day denied Renault their desire of having both Renault's on the French Podium.

Jenson Button could well have finished in third place. Stuck behind Trulli for much of the race, The BAR Honda driver looked set to take the third place as he headed towards the pits for the final time. However, BAR had left his tyres out of their tyre blankets for more than a lap and this combined with a slow getaway from the pit-box, allowed Button to exit the pits right behind Trulli once again To make matters worse, on colder than normal tyres, Barrichello took advantage and pushed Button back another place. Team-mate Takuma Sato suffered yet another Honda engine failure.

David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen battled hard all day to finish in fifth and sixth positions in their new McLaren Mercedes MP4-19B. The new car is certainly an improvement over the old car, but until the British Grand Prix is over, it would be foolish to say that the car is a major step as McLaren always run well at the smooth Magny Cours circuit.

Juan Pablo Montoya ran sixth early on in the race, only to take too much kerb and spin away three positions. After another off track excursion, he brought the BMW Williams home in eighth place. Marc Gene had a low key race in what was his big chance to shine. The Spaniard finished in tenth position in the second Williams, but significantly, finished behind Mark Webber in the Jaguar. Webber of course is expected to take a drive at Williams in the near future.

With Webber having a lonely race to ninth, six seconds ahead of Gene, Christian Klien finished in 11th place in the second Jaguar. Sauber started the race with a heavy fuel load and still made three pit stops like their immediate rivals. The strategy was odd and really did not work out too well as Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa finished a distant 13th and 14th.

For Toyota, the French Grand Prix was a disaster. Olivier Panis made a slow getaway at the start of the race and fell to the back of the pack. From this point on the Frenchman suffered an off track moment, battled frantically to pass the Jordan of Nick Heidfeld and eventually finished in 15th place some 38 seconds behind team-mate Cristiano da Matta.

Nick Heidfeld finished 16th over 40 seconds behind Panis while Giorgio Pantano was a further lap adrift in the second Jordan and was classified in 17th. Neither Minardi made it to the chequered flag.

The Formula One circus packs up and heads to the UK for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone next weekend. With nine wins from ten races, it's hard to see anyone but Michael Schumacher winning once again...