Fernando Alonso scored a dominant home victory for Renault in the French Grand
Prix at Magny-Cours to tighten his grip on the world championship.
The Spaniard cruised to a comfortable win from pole position to the delight of
80,000 French fans, extending his championship advantage over McLaren's Kimi
Raikkonen to 24 points.
Raikkonen performed superbly though to limit the damage after starting 13th
following his 10-place grid penalty for an engine change.
The Finn's McLaren team opted for a clever strategy which allowed Raikkonen to
slice through the field and take second place, with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher
ensuring a podium made up of all three world championship challengers.
Jenson Button finally scored his first points of the season with fourth place,
like Raikkonen aided by a two-stop strategy.
The BAR-Honda driver, who has suffered poor form, a disqualification and a
two-race ban in a turbulent season, got on the scoreboard thanks to a quiet run
to five points.
Jarno Trulli took fifth for Toyota while Giancarlo Fisichella finished sixth
to extend Renault's advantage in the constructors' championship to 18 points.
Ralf Schumacher ended up seventh in the other Toyota with Jacques Villeneuve
claiming the final point for Sauber with eighth. David Coulthard just missed out
in his Red Bull, finishing 10th.
Alonso seized the advantage at the start with a textbook getaway to beat
Trulli into the first corner as behind them Barrichello overtook Sato for
fourth.
Christian Klien's race was over just seconds after it began. The Red Bull
driver ran wide on lap one before pulling off the track to retire.
Alonso began to pull away at a rapid rate thanks to a series of fastest laps
which put clear track between himself and Trulli, who had his hands full
defending second place from Schumacher.
With overtaking difficult at Magny-Cours, Schumacher had to wait until the
first round of pit stops to make his move. Both drivers pitted simultaneously on
lap 18 and Ferrari's quick work enabled Schumacher to sneak out ahead of
Trulli.
That move was replicated by Button a lap later, who vaulted past Fisichella,
whose team-mate Alonso had no such worry and was able to refuel without losing
his lead.
The first genuine overtaking move of the race took 22 laps to arrive and saw
Sato take advantage of traffic ahead to squeeze past Barrichello at the hairpin
for sixth.
The Japanese driver immediately set his sights on Trulli ahead but tried too
hard and ran wide on lap 27, losing three places two laps before Felipe Massa
pulled his Sauber into the pits to retire.
Raikkonen's alternate strategy allowed him to slice through the order as he
stayed out while most rivals pitted. He took full advantage to move up to second
place by the time he stopped on lap 28 when he was able to resume without losing
ground.
Alonso made his second pit stop at the end of lap 40 without losing top spot
while Juan Pablo Montoya began to struggle badly in third, dropping four seconds
a lap on his rivals.
The McLaren driver lost third place to Schumacher on lap 47 as his problems
began to look terminal. Half a lap later that proved the case and he pulled on
to the grass to retire.
Sato made his second mistake of the day and bounced through the gravel on lap
50
Fisichella made a crucial error at his final pit stop stalling the car to lose
valuable time but at the front his team-mate Alonso was flawless to win with
ease, having lapped all but two of his rivals.
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