Ralf Schumacher led from start to finish to capture the French Grand Prix on Sunday, his second victory in a week and another another 1-2 finish for Williams-BMW.
It was the first time this season that a driver led from start to finish without losing the lead, even during pit stops. Juan Pablo Montoya was second, 13.8 seconds behind his teammate.
Michael Schumacher of Ferrari took third after languishing in fifth most of the race. He was helped when both McLaren cars ahead of him had problems. Kimi Raikkonen ended fourth and David Coulthard fifth.
PHOTO: AFP
It was the sixth career victory and second this season for Ralf Schumacher. "I still don't believe it -- two wins in a row and finally from the pole," he said.
He knows things can change against the Ferraris.
"In Formula One, you can never be confident. I think we are doing a very good job all together at the moment," he said.
"But you never know. All of a sudden they could make a big step. It is going to be very tough, I'm sure, but we will try and stay where we are and to keep basically going from race-to-race and trying to get the next result out of it."
"If the two of us keep working like this we can keep winning, but there are circuits where it will be quite tough for us," Ralf said.
Since June 1, the Williams team has won three of four races, with two 1-2 finishes to go along with a first and third and a second and third.
"It might look good at the moment but it can all change around. There is still quite a few races to go so I don't want to think about it at the moment," Ralf said.
In the season standings, Michael Schumacher still has the lead over Raikkonen, 64-56. Ralf Schumacher now has 53 points.
Michael Schumacher said he thinks things are not that bad for Ferrari yet.
"We realized earlier in the weekend that we were not going to be as competitive here as we expected,'' he said. "So third place was probably the best I could do. We had phases where we were behind and suddenly minor things make the thing turn," the five-time world champion said. "It is not like we are completely lost. I gained another point in the championship lead to Kimi [Raikkonen] today. So all-in-all, we know we are a bit behind the Williams, but we feel confident that we can change it around."
It was a sharp contrast to last year, when Michael Schumacher clinched the F1 title with the French win and six races to go.
Now with six races left, the point structure has changed to make it closer. The second place is worth eight points compared to six points a year ago with a victory still counting 10 points.
In Sunday's race, Michael Schumacher closed to 19.5 seconds at the end of the 70 laps of the 4.411km Nevers-Magny Cours circuit but it was never a race as the Williams moved away.
Mark Webber in a Jaguar was sixth and Rubens Barrichello in the other Ferrari was seventh with Olivier Panis driving his Toyota in eighth.
Barrichello spun while crossing the line for the first time and dropped to 20th and last. He spent the rest of race picking off cars to move into seventh at the finish.
Ralf Schumacher had the pole position for the third time in four races and held the lead over Montoya with Raikkonen third and Michael Schumacher fourth at the end of the first lap.
The two Williams cars were 1-2 virtually all the way. Ralf was the last of the leaders to have his first pit stop and stayed in first after his at the end of 18 laps.
"In the first part of the race it all seemed to go very well," Ralf said.
Michael Schumacher lost fourth to Coulthard and dropped farther behind first as Ralf began extending his lead over Montoya and the rest of the field.
Midway through the race, Ralf led by 8.1 seconds over Montoya with Raikkonen 16.8 seconds behind. Michael Schumacher was in fifth, almost 25 seconds back and losing nearly a second a lap.
After the second pit stops, the top five remained the same but Michael had lost another five seconds. On the third round of pit stops starting with about 22 laps to go, the McLarens came in early and it lost them a place to Michael Schumacher, who stayed out five laps longer before stopping.
He was helped when Coulthard left a bit early and had to stop and restart because of a problem with fueling. That cost him almost 10 seconds.
Ralf had a 2.5 second lead over Montoya before the pits stops. He came out just ahead of his teammate at the 51st lap and was less than a second ahead.
However, two laps later he was 3.5 seconds ahead and stretched it to nearly 10 seconds at the end of 60 laps and 13.7 seconds at 65 with five laps left and Michael Schumacher in third, 26 seconds behind.
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
Some of Clearlake Capital Group’s largest investors are growing increasingly concerned about how much time the company’s co-founders are spending on sports investments as they have struggled to complete the fundraising for the private equity firm’s latest flagship fund. One of Clearlake’s co-founders, Behdad Eghbali, has been spending what some investors described as a disproportionate amount of time on the firm’s investment in Chelsea Football Club in recent months. Now, co-founder Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, are nearing a record US$3.9 billion deal to acquire the San Diego Padres. That personal investment by Feliciano has set off the latest
RSS