Summary

Michael Schumacher has won the Grand Prix of France and extends his lead over Jacques Villeneuve who just managed to stay in front of Jean Alesi in the last corner. Villeneuve spun in a desperate manoeuvre when he tried to overtake third place man Eddie Irvine but he kept the motor running and spun back again in the right direction.

Schumacher was driving in a league of his own the whole race and many others were too, but the rain towards the end of the race made the competition fierce and exciting.

Ferrari is proving to be very reliable and above all fast. Ferrari has extended its lead in both the drivers as well as the constructors championship with this one-three result.

Notes

• Fisichella blows up his Peugeot engine on the lap towards the grid. He starts in the T-car.
• Hill goes through the gravel and his nose is damaged after the start. He rejoins the race one lap behind the others.
• Marques blows up his Hart engine on lap 5.
• Nakano spins off into the gravel trap on lap 7.
• Diniz hits Verstappen and needs to get new nose. Verstappen is okay.
• Verstappen crashes into the tyre barrier because his throttle gets stuck (full throttle). (lap 15)
• Hakkinen's Mercedes engine just quits on the straight. (lap 18)
• Magnussen retires in the pits on lap 33.
• Barrichello blows up a Ford engine on lap 36.
• Fontana retires on lap 40. He had some problems with the left front of his car but the team wasn't really able to fix the problem.
• Diniz retires in the gravel trap on lap 58.
• Wurz retires on lap 60.
• Salo retires on lap 61.
• Coulthard spins of the track but is still classified. (lap 72)
  • Weather during race: Clouds, towards the end some rain (20 Degrees)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.   13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

M. Schumacher (Ferrari) Frentzen (Williams) Irvine (Ferrari) Villeneuve (Williams) Alesi (Benetton) R. Schumacher (Jordan) Coulthard (McLaren) Herbert (Sauber) Fisichella (Jordan) Trulli (Prost) Katayama (Minardi) Hill (Arrows) Not Classified Salo (Tyrrell) Wurz (Benetton) Diniz (Arrows) Fontana (Sauber) Barrichello (Stewart) Magnussen (Stewart) Hakkinen (McLaren) Verstappen (Tyrrell) Nakano (Prost) Marques (Minardi)

1:38.50.492s + 23.537s + 1:14.801s + 1:21.784s + 1:22.735s + 1:29.871s 1 lap 1 lap 1 lap 2 lap 2 lap 3 lap   11 lap 12 laps 14 laps 32 laps 36 laps 39 laps 54 laps 57 laps 65 laps 67 laps

• Fastest lap: Michael Schumacher 1:17.910s

The Quotes

• M. Schumacher: "My predictions for this race were wrong and this was a convincing win. I could not do better than take pole position and win the race. There were no mistakes in the car's set-up, nor in our strategy as we planned for two pit stops and we stuck to that. In the final part of the race i was just watching to see what Frentzen would do. Our set-up was a good compromise for the two possible track conditions. I hope that at Silverstone we can continue to make good progress as we did here. The race there, which marks the halfway point of the season, will be very important for the Championship."

• Irvine: "After two bad races I am glad to be back on the podium. My start was not great, but others must have made worse ones. Villeneuve braked too early so I was able to pass him at the first corner. Towards the end of the race, Villeneuve was closing on me because I had blisters on my rear tyres. It was difficult to stay on the track and I even went off on the last lap at the second chicane."

• Verstappen: "The throttle was stuck in full and I hit the barriers with a speed of 160-170 kilometres/hour. It's real dangerous that something like this can happen. I was very lucky. I just have a aching toe."

• Hakkinen: "I was going through the right hander flat out in fifth gear and just lost the power. It's a technical problem."

• Brawn on Schumacher staying out: "We just had to cover Frentzen. What he did we were going to do."

• Hill: "I'm pleased we got a finish in. That was progress I suppose, but the race was a shambles as I got pushed out at the first corner onto the gravel. It was a shame as I think we could have been a lot more competitive in the race if I had a better start."

• Coulthard: "Ralf took a silly dive inside and Alesi rammed the back of me. It's not acceptable and I'm disappointed."

Drivers Championship table

M. Schumacher (Ferrari)	47
Villeneuve (Williams)	33
Frentzen(Williams)	19
Irvine (Ferrari)	18
Panis (Prost)	15
Alesi (Benetton)	15
Coulthard (McLaren)	11
Berger (Benetton)	10
Hakkinen (McLaren)	10
Fisichella (Jordan)	8
Herbert (Sauber)	7
Barrichello (Stewart)	6
R. Schumacher (Jordan)	5
Salo (Tyrrell)	2
Larini (Sauber)	1
Nakano (Prost)	1

Constructors Championship table

Ferrari	65
Williams-Renault	52
Benetton-Renault	25
McLaren-Mercedes	21
Prost-Mugen	16
Jordan-Peugeot	13
Sauber-Petronas	8
Stewart-Ford	6
Tyrrell-Ford	2