Following a strategic tour-de-force at Magny-Cours, and with the victory Champagne still glistening on his brow, Jean Todt sat down to answer some questions.
Was the result more enjoyable because Renault had pushed particularly hard? "A lot of teams pushed us hard to make the extra effort today," he replied, "even the tyre companies, so it was a difficult race, very difficult, with ten drivers on the same lap at the end.
"I think it's been a while since we saw a race like that," he continued. "We had to come up with quite a daring strategy. Rubens also took a risk overtaking and that brought us an extraordinary win: the ninth win for Ferrari and Michael in ten Grands Prix, so it was something quite unique. Rubens has scored points in ten Grands Prix since the start of the season, so it was pretty satisfying."
It's been a good day, would you congratulate those who fought to save the French Grand Prix? "Of course," he replies, "at one time there was possibility that we might lose this race, but a lot of people have worked hard, first of all Jacques Regis who is the president of the FFSA and he has demonstrated that he was right and that has resulted in a great Grand Prix."
Winning is always great, does this victory Magny -Cours taste particularly good, given the conditions in which it was won? "No, not really a particularly taste," he smiles. "It's a magnificent victory like many other wins which we had the privilege to have won in the past few years. So it was won in conditions that were very tight and difficult but it isn't a win that is greater than any others.
It was a great strategy, four stops, when did you decide to use it? "We knew since Friday that because of the situation to begin with that it was a possibility," he reveals. "Because of the way the race turned out, we knew that we had that option among others."
So ultimately, who decided it? "It was the engineers with the facts available to them," he replies. "It was a decision that came from those people on the pit wall and who used the information that we had worked out several days ago.
"There was the risk of finishing second," he continues, "so finally we directed our intentions in this direction, hoping that it would work, but it was obvious that it would work.
But what of Schumacher, he is a significant link in 'the chain'. "At the other end of the chain there are the mechanics who put the engines together, who build the cars, so Michael isn't at the end of the chain, he's simply the tip of the iceberg but it's a very high peak. But you need a lot of people, hundreds of people behind him who earn the success for Michael, the success of Ferrari, the success of Barrichello."
Are you proud today of leading this team? "No," he replies, leaning forward to emphasise the point. "Frankly today doesn't make my pride any bigger than it was two weeks ago. I'm very proud to be the patron of Ferrari, the leader of the team and I love the men who work in this team and our partners who help us.
Before this race were you a little worried that some rival teams could move closer to you and now are you more relieved? "We knew that the second part of the season would probably be closer and it will be, this was a very tight race. Saying that, all the package has been outstanding."
Once again, tell us some more about today's strategy, when did you first consider a four-stop strategy here? "As I said before, it was prepared by the engineers, by Ross and all the group, working on that with the computer, with the information, with the tyre degradation and of course you had to adapt that, depending what was happening with the others: tyre degradation, strategy which you don't know, so it was part of that.
"We had to take some risk because otherwise nothing was granted, that we would be able with Michael or that he would be able to overtake Alonso. So probably the only way that had to be attempted was one more fuel stop, pit stop."
"Before the race, did you consider it likely that you would run a four stop schedule? "It was a possibility, depending on the evolution of the race, the development of the race," he replies. "If three or four cars would have been four, five, seconds behind, there was no way we could have tried a fourth pit stop but at this time, when it was decided, Trulli was over 20 seconds behind. It helped to make the decision."
Do you believe you could have won on a three stop? "I have no idea."
How does this compare to Hungary '98, because it was a similar circumstance, you won on strategy? "That was three, this was three and four. We have had many more three pit stops since we put on board fuel for qualifying laps."
But was it a similar achievement to Hungary '98? "We knew it was going to be a 70 lap race," he replies, "we knew, but again, when you see that ten cars finished on the same lap, if you take the quickest lap times, it's quite close.
