Bridgestone aim to keep winning
By Greig Murray
July 21 2002
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Michael Schumacher made history today by claiming a record-equalling 5th world title - and by achieving it in record time. His win at the French Grand Prix made him the first driver of the modern era to secure the championship before the end of July, and with it match Juan Manuel Fangio's record of five world titles.
Victory at Magny-Cours was confirmed just four laps from the end when race leader Kimi Raikkonen ran wide, allowing the German to move into the lead. The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver was one of only two on Bridgestone tyres to take the chequered flag in an incident-packed French Grand Prix. Nick Heidfeld was just outside the points in 7th for Sauber Petronas.
After initially taking the lead from Juan Pablo Montoya at the first pit-stop, Schumacher lost the advantage on being penalised for crossing the white line at the exit of the pit lane. Three other drivers were penalised for the same offence during the race, including Sauber Petronas driver Felipe Massa. However, Schumacher was soon back in 2nd place behind Raikkonen.
The usual ten cars on Bridgestone tyres were already reduced to seven before the grand prix started. DHL Jordan Honda decided to withdraw Giancarlo Fisichella from the race on the advice of FIA doctor Professor Sid Watkins amid fears that the Italian driver may suffer a delayed reaction to his high-speed accident during practice yesterday. Neither of the OrangeArrows drivers took part after they failed to post fast enough lap times in qualifying.
Ross Brawn - Technical Director - Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: "It was a tremendously exciting race and to have won the championship at the end of it is unbelievable. The Bridgestone tyres were very good and without the penalty we would have been quite comfortably in the lead. But overall fantastic!"
Hisao Suganuma - Technical Manager - Bridgestone Motorsport: "A fantastic end to an exciting race and many congratulations to Michael on a 5th world title confirmed so early. He and Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro thoroughly deserve this success and I would like to thank everyone in the team for the support they have given us. A huge amount of work has gone into Ferrari's collaboration with Bridgestone and I am delighted that it has paid off so well for everyone. However, there are still six races to go this season and we must not lose sight of the fact that there is more work to be done, both to help Ferrari secure the constructors' championship and to help all our other teams score more points. I was satisfied with our performance today and without the drive-through penalty I am sure Michael could have won by a large margin. Nonetheless, it's clear our competitor raised its game for this race so we will be back to work tomorrow to find further improvements. Our aim is to keep on winning."
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