Jarno Trulli and Schumacher started the race fourth and fifth on the grid, the team’s best combined starting position of the season and made good getaways after the team concentrated hard on improving the starting process during testing.

The strong grid positions were even more admirable when the team’s heavier two-stop fuel load was taken into consideration in the face of the three-stop strategies adopted by both Ferraris,
which started on the front row.

Trulli and Schumacher ran in fourth and fifth places in the first
stint and, as the three-stoppers made their first pit stops, Toyota
actually enjoyed a couple of laps with a 1-2 at the front of the
field!
Trulli made his first stop after 20 laps and looked on course to challenge for a podium finish until, just after half distance, he felt a slight drop-off in performance as the engine neared the end of its two-race life cycle.
“Then, suddenly, I felt the brake pedal go ‘long’ and it was
too dangerous to continue,” Jarno said, “which was a shame because I think I could potentially have finished third. Points have been hard to come by this year but the satisfying thing about Magny-Cours was that both cars were competitive from the start of the meeting to the end.”

By the time Jarno retired, Ralf had already experienced problems
of his own when a sticking left rear wheel nut at his first stop on
lap 22 cost him almost 10 seconds, dropping him behind Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren and Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault, both of which he outqualified. He had the pace to re-pass both by his second stop, on lap 46, and scored another helping of championship points.

“We could have had a podium but for the delay at the first stop,” Ralf confirmed, “but I think we can be satisfied because both cars had genuine pace, we were competitive throughout and made good strategy decisions. It’s a good indication for us as we head to Hockenheim and what is effectively a home race for the staff at Cologne.”

Michael Schumacher set yet another new record when he became the first F1 driver to win the same race eight times, also recording his 150th podium as he beat championship rival Fernando Alonso into second place. Schumacher’s Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team mate Felipe Massa finished third, ahead of Ralf, Raikkonen’s West McLaren Mercedes, Fisichella in the second Mild Seven Renault,
McLaren’s Pedro de la Rosa and BMW Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld.

Senior General Manager, Chassis, Pascal Vasselon, said: “We had
the potential to finish on the podium, so in that respect it is frustrating to miss out, especially when reliability and procedural issues affected both Jarno and Ralf. But our aerodynamic, suspension and engine upgrades definitely gave us more performance and it was the first time we had chosen this particular Bridgestone tyre, which gave us excellent consistency. Only two other cars had our measure here and that is encouraging.”