Schumacher grabs lead in France

Michael Schumacher scampered into the lead of the French Grand Prix at the start as team-mate Felipe Massa fought a rearguard action to keep Fernando Alonso at bay.

Schumacher led comfortably from pole position but the real fight came immediately behind, where Alonso came within inches of stealing second from Massa.

The world championship leader had two attempts at passing but just fell short and stalked Massa from third.

Toyota pair Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher kept their lofty positions to end the first lap fourth and fifth respectively.

Takuma Sato was soon out of the fray when his Super Aguri crawled to a halt.

Jenson Button started from down in 18th after a disastrous qualifying display and he was only able to make modest progress in the early stages, moving up to 16th.

At least the Honda driver moved forwards, unlike Red Bull’s David Coulthard, who dropped two places to 11th.

Button’s team-mate Rubens Barrichello ran wide on lap seven under pressure from a gaggle of cars but managed to return to the track in 13th, with six rivals close behind.

Massa played his role perfectly to keep Alonso at bay, allowing Schumacher to stretch his legs and build up a five-second advantage by lap 10.

Tiago Monteiro’s race ended on lap 12 when he bounced high over the kerbs, damaging his Midland in a heavy landing. Four laps later Massa made an early pit stop, releasing Alonso to attack Schumacher. But the Spaniard was in the pits himself a lap later and emerged once again staring at the back of Massa’s Ferrari.

Schumacher needed more fuel on lap 18 and he emerged behind the late-stopping Toyotas.

Trulli gave up the lead on lap 20 as Barrichello’s race ended with an engine failure.