The start of the French Grand Prix would see Ralf leading Juan Pablo followed by Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, and David Coulthard in fifth. For Michael it was not a good start and he was overtaken by Kimi Raikkonen. Coulthard would also challenge Michael for fourth but the Ferrari would keep him behind.

Behind Coulthard came the two Renaults. At the end of the lap Barrichello would spin at the final corner and would have to spin his car around on the main straight. He would drop from eighth place to the tail of the field.

At the front Ralf would set the fastest lap and pull out a lead of 1.9 seconds over
Juan Pablo. Both WilliamsF1 drivers were quicker than Raikkonen. Lap three and Ralf would set a fastest lap with a time of 1m:16.762. Ralf was now leading by 3.3s, with Michael just behind Raikkonen.

Barrichello would start to make his recovery, passing Fisichella for seventeenth. Lap six and Rubens would pass Frentzen for sixteenth. He would soon overtake Verstappen for fifteenth, and by lap eight he was just behind Heidfeld. The order at the front was unchanged.

Lap nine and Ralf would set another fastest lap, with a time of 1m:16.696. His lead was now 3.7 seconds. Barrichello would pass Heidfeld. Lap eleven would see Minardi's Jos Verstappen pit, falling from sixteenth to twentieth. Ralf would again set the fastest lap with a time of 1m:16.465. The next lap it would be a time of 1m:.16.357.

Lap fourteen and Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia would pit and falls from ninth place to fourteenth. The next lap would see Coulthard pit, dropping from fifth to ninth. Down at the back of the field Firman stops and drops back behind the two Minardi's. The next lap would see the pits become very busy as third-placed Raikkonen, sixth-placed Trulli, seventh-placed Webber and eighth-placed Panis all stop. Further back Frentzen is also in the pits. Ralf would set a new fastest lap with a time of 1m:.16.343.

The next lap and Juan Pablo, Michael Schumacher, Alonso and Button would all stop. For Juan Pablo he would lose a couple of seconds in his stop. Coulthard would overtake Michael while he was in the pits. Ralf Schumacher would pit and re-emerge still in the lead. Juan Pablo is chasing Ralf and was well clear of Raikkonen. Kimi had Coulthard right with him, The top six was completed by Trulli. Behind Jarno is Alonso. BAR's Jacques Villeneuve would also pits and falls back from eighth place to fourteenth.

Juan Pablo would now set the fastest lap, a 1m:15.660, but he was 6.4sec behind Ralf. Rubens was up in eight position but would have to pit. Webber would takes back the eighth place while Rubens dropped to thirteenth. Lap twenty one and Fisichella would pit dropping from fourteenth to seventeenth, he was on a two-stop strategy. Button would have to stop with a mechanical problem on lap twenty three. By lap twenty four Ralf's lead was out to 7.4sec.

Lap twenty nine and the order was unchanged with Ralf's lead increasing to eight seconds. There was a similar gap between Juan Pablo and Raikkonen while Coulthard was close behind his team-mate. At the back of the field Verstappen stops for a second time, indicating that he was on a four-stop strategy. Frentzen would go one lap down on the leader.

With forty laps remaining everybody had made at least one stop, but the second round of pit stops would begin for those on a three-stop strategy. All the frontrunners would stop over the the next six laps, with the top eight remaining unchanged.

Juan Pablo would set the fastest lap with a time of 1m:15.512. By lap thirty eight the top six was Ralf, Juan Pablo, Raikkonen, Coulthard, Schumacher, and Trulli. Panis was pushing Barrichello for ninth place. By lap forty one Juan Pablo was only 3.8sec behind Ralf who was to lose time in the traffic. For the Renault team things would go terribly wrong when on lap forty three Trulli would slow with a throttle problem and Alonso would retire with a blown engine. Trulli would retire on lap forty six. Also retiring was Fisichella, also with an engine failure.


Lap forty seven and third-placed Raikkonen would pit for the third time. He would drop behind Coulthard and Michael Schumacher. The next lap would see Coulthard in the pits. But there was a problem with the refuelling rig and the team has to switch hoses. David would accelerates away early but no-one was hurt as the hose was disconnected just in time. On the same lap Webber pit, remaining in sixth position.

The next lap and Juan Pablo would pit, followed by Ralf the following lap. Ralf would come out just in front of Juan Pablo. Lap fifty two and Michael Schumacher would stop. He would come out behind Raikkonen but was able to use his new tyre advantage to pass the Finn during the lap. He was now in third. Panis would pit, falling behind Barrichello in eighth place.

Lap fifty five and the top eight was Ralf, Juan Pablo, Schumacher, Raikkonen, Coulthard, Webber, and Barrichello. With the pit stops completed Ralf was ahead of Juan Pablo and pulling away again. Michael was nearly half a minute behind but would begin to close up on Juan Pablo. Lap sixty three and Michael was 1.5s quicker than Juan Pablo. Juan Pablo would now pick up his pace, perhaps it was a case of him just keeping the just necessary pace to finish second without risking his car.

Lap sixty seven would see Ralf nearly missed a braking point but he was able to complete the lap few laps and go on to take another victory. Juan Pablo would finish in second with Michael third, Raikkonen fourth, Coulthard fifth, Webber sixth, Barrichello seventh, and Panis eighth.

Ralf would win his second Grand Prix victory in seven days and it was another WilliamsF1 one-two. The BMW WilliamsF1 team would close to just three points from Ferrari in the Constructors championship. In the drivers title Ralf was now just three points behind second placed Raikkonen.

Even though the team prefers not to think of their championship prospects another good result in the next race in England could see them leading the Constructors Championship. BMW WilliamsF1 are back in the fight for both championships.

P. No Driver Team - Engine Tyres Gaps/Laps Average Stops

1. 4 R. SCHUMACHER WilliamsF1 BMW M 1h30'49"213 203.866 Km/h 3
2. 3 MONTOYA WilliamsF1 BMW M + 0'13"813 203.351 Km/h 3
3. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B + 0'19"568 203.137 Km/h 3
4. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M + 0'38"047 202.453 Km/h 3
5. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M + 0'40"289 202.370 Km/h 3
6. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M + 1'06"380 201.413 Km/h 3
7. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1 lap(s) 2
8. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1 lap(s) 3
9. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1 lap(s) 3
10. 15 PIZZONIA Jaguar Cosworth M 1 lap(s) 3
11. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1 lap(s) 2
12. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 2 lap(s) 3
13. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 2 lap(s) 2
14. 18 WILSON Minardi Cosworth B 3 lap(s) 2
15. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B 3 lap(s) 3
16. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 4 lap(s) 5
17. 7 TRULLI Renault M 25 lap(s) 2
18. 8 ALONSO Renault M 27 lap(s) 2
19. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 28 lap(s) 1
20. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 49 lap(s) 1