Schumacher secures another title with French GP win
Michael Schumacher made a late pass to win the French Grand Prix and take his place in Formula One history. Schumacher took the lead on the 68th lap last Sunday -- moving past Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren-Mercedes when the Finnish driver's brakes locked on a patch of oil -- and held on to claim the victory and his record-tying fifth championship.
The German made the pass under a yellow flag, but McLaren-Mercedes did not challenge the move. Schumacher, driving his backup Ferrari, finished in one hour 32 minutes and 9.837 seconds, clinching the driver's championship with six races remaining.
The triumph gave Schumacher an unbeatable 96 points in the season standings and was his eighth triumph in 11 races so far. No driver has won a season championship so quickly.
His fifth season title tied the record set by Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio, who won his fifth title in 1957. Schumacher, however, remained humble when asked to compare himself to Fangio. "What Fangio has done is not comparable to what we do," Schumacher said. "The effort he had to put in to his team was probably a lot more than what we do today, so it's not really fair to compare us."
photo: AP
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