Jean Todt reflects on an emotional weekend

Apart from the emotion of the day, there was also a summary of how the French Grand Prix itself had gone. “Formula 1 is never easy. It was bad for Rubens to see his car left up on jacks on the grid and Michael had to contend with a penalty for touching the white line at the pit lane exit, which made him lose the lead. But then, along with Michael, Ferrari pulled off a grandiose result. This victory is the ninth of the season, from eleven starts. We can be proud of this result.”

Asked if the strategy of leaving Michael Schumacher out for a few more laps was designed to see him pick up a few more seconds, Jean Todt agreed that it was a well executed strategy. “But we also had a good car, a great driver, an extraordinary team and this year, tyres which have never failed to live up to our expectations. Everything went well.”