Having qualified second yesterday, a thoughtful Michael Schumacher said,' you have to use the strategy if you want to overtake.' Wise words indeed as Ferrari's strategy today bore the Champion out. Having spent the first two stints behind pole sitter Alonso, a combination of brilliant driving and a clever four-stop strategy brought the German his ninth win of the season, the 79th of his career. Behind him, his team mate Rubens Barrichello also drove brilliantly to bring his F2004 from tenth on the grid to third with a daring last corner overtake.

'Once again, a combination of excellent driving and clever use of Shell fuel loads by Ferrari has brought us another good haul of points and a race win,' said Mike Copson of Shell Global Solutions. 'This is the ninth win of the season for us, but they never stop being sweet - especially when Ferrari can comprehensively out-think the opposition as it did today. One of the goals we have developed with Ferrari is to blend a fuel that gives them the opportunity to take the other teams by surprise and today we saw it in action. A shorter third stop to gain track position on Alonso and then some excellent work from the crew for Michael's splash and dash at the end. As for Rubens' move, we can only congratulate him on such great driving.'

The start of the race was clean and relatively problem free. Coulthard bogged down off the line, allowing a couple of cars through, whilst further back, Barrichello and Raikkonen passed Gen© to make a place each. At the front, Schumacher kept hold of Alonso for the first few laps until he made the first move of the race, pitting on lap 11. The rest of leaders soon followed suite, including the other Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello. It was to no-ones immediate advantage however as the status quo amongst the leading quintet remained the same.

 Nearing lap 30 and the race had developed almost into a stalemate as leaders traded lap times and struggled to find an opportunity to pass around this short, twisty circuit. Again, Schumacher's Ferrari was one of the first in, on lap 29 this time. As he left the pit lane, all eyes turned to the timing monitors. As we have seen so many times already this season, the German showed exactly why he is World Champion, setting two consecutive fastest laps and smashing the lap record in the process. When Alonso pitted two laps later, he exited the pit lane to find Schumacher well ahead of him on track and in the lead of the race.

Barrichello meanwhile was having a fight of his own. Stuck behind slightly slower cars, he also took advantage of his final pit stop, clocking some fast laps in and out of the stop to pass Jenson Button's B.A.R. In fact, Button left his stop ahead of the Brazilian, but on warmer tyres and at racing speed, Barrichello dispatched the B.A.R. at the hairpin.

However, as the final stops for the three-stop runners came and went, it became clear that Schumacher might not have filled to the end of the race. Calculators were drawn by all it was evident that the German would have to stop for a fourth time.

When asked if he was worried about a four stop strategy after the race, Schumacher said, 'well no risk, no fun!' but that did little to calm anxious on-lookers when the Ferrari stopped with 12 laps to go. However, fabulous pit stop work by the Ferrari crew and more ferocious pushing from Schumacher on his in laps saw him enter and exit the pit lane in the lead of the race.

Meanwhile, Barrichello was trapped behind Trulli for the final stages with Button still fighting hard behind him. As the Ferrari team gathered on the pit wall to cheer their men over, they were not only treated to the sight of Schumacher taking another win but also of a brilliant move from Barrichello to steal the last podium place with only metres to go.

Schumacher said that he expected the next race at Silverstone to be a tough race - the good news for Formula One fans of course is that they will not have to wait long as the British Grand Prix is only in a seven day's time.

Before that however, Shell staff members are looking forward to seeing both drivers when they visit Shell Centre in London in the week.