When Fernando Alonso was called into the pits at the end of lap 41, attention shifted from the two on-track protagonists, to two other masters of their game, Pat Symonds and Ross Brawn, ace strategists for Renault and Ferrari.

With the two drivers deadlocked in a clear stalemate situation, it was up to the two Englishman on the pit-wall to try and weave some magic.

"With Fernando stuck behind him (Schumacher), we were left with very few options to try and capitalise on our performance advantage," said Symonds, "as we believe our planned lap for the second stop was, contrary to what the figures on television seemed to indicate, very close to his.

"We pulled in early because running longer was unlikely to pay off for us, as the Ferrari's tyres seemed very quick at the start of a stint.

"So we tried to get Fernando a lap of clean air to beat Michael in the pits and it didn't quite work but as the phrase goes, 'nothing ventured, nothing gained', added the Englishman. "And in this case, nothing lost either."