July 4 (Bloomberg) -- Germany's Michael Schumacher won Formula One's French Grand Prix at Magny Cours, his ninth victory in 10 races this season, to close on a record-extending seventh drivers' championship.

The Ferrari driver, who started second on the grid behind Fernando Alonso, finished eight seconds ahead of the Renault competitor after making four pit stops to the Spaniard's three and lapping more quickly with a lighter fuel load. Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello finished third ahead of Jarno Trulli, Jenson Button and David Coulthard.

``We decided to go for that strategy after the second pit stop,'' Schumacher told reporters at Magny-Cours. ``We knew it was optimistic but no risk, no fun. Our technical director decided on it and it was just brilliant.''

With eight races remaining, Schumacher has 90 points, 22 more than Barrichello and 42 clear of BAR-Honda's Button. With 158 points, Ferrari has twice as many as Renault, its nearest challenger in the constructors' championship. BAR is third with 62. Schumacher put the latest win down to teamwork.

``It wasn't only the strategy but the teamwork again, in terms of pit-stops,'' he said. ``The guys have just done fantastic pit-stops, very precise.''

Schumacher, whose only defeat this year came in Monaco, won at the slippery track for the seventh time in 12 starts to record the 79th win of his career.

Kimi Raikkonen, who with Coulthard was racing McLaren's new MP4-19B car for the first time, came in seventh with Juan Pablo Montoya in eighth taking the final points-scoring position.

Second Stop

Schumacher trailed Alonso until the 32nd lap, when the Spaniard made his second pit-stop and re-entered the track three seconds behind the German.

The world champion increased his lead to 4.9 seconds by the time he made his third stop after 42 laps, a margin that grew to 11.5 seconds when Alonso went into the pits for the third time.

Schumacher stretched his advantage to more than 20 seconds ahead of his final stop 12 circuits from the end of the 70-lap race before coasting to victory. Alonso secured his second podium- position of the season after finishing third in the season-opener in Melbourne, Australia.

``To carry so much fuel at the end was a penalty,'' Alonso said. ``Anyway, we pushed from beginning to end and maybe second position was the best target we could achieve today.''

Behind the front pair, Trulli and Button fought for third place until a slow getaway from the pits left the Englishman in Trulli's wake and under pressure from Barrichello.

First Pass

The Brazilian, who started 10th on the grid, then made the race's first passing maneuver to overtake Button before also overhauling Trulli on the penultimate corner.

``It was a great race,'' said Barrichello, who missed pre- qualifying Saturday with a hydraulic problem. ``I had a very fast car so I was sorry that I had the problem in qualifying. But I was playing my cards, playing everything I had.''

Button's teammate Takuma Sato, seeking a second straight top- three finish after a debut on the podium in the U.S., suffered his sixth engine failure of the season on lap 16.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Mills in London at at rmills5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 4, 2004 11:08 EDT