Minardi felt they had come tantalisingly close to scoring their second World Championship points finish of the season in today's French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. Mark Webber drove a strong race and calmly traded lap times with a number of more fancied rivals on his way to a fully deserved eighth-place finish.

Team mate, Alex Yoong, also on a two-stop strategy for fuel and tyres, suffered with an oversteering chassis in the race, but added to the Faenza team's pleasure by making it two Minardis in the top 10.

"This turned out to be a really good race for us!" Webber exclaimed in a press release. "We made some adjustments to the car after this morning's warm-up, and the guys engineered a little treat for us.

"The boys did a great job on the pit stops, and I really concentrated on ensuring that my 'in' and 'out' laps were strong so that we could do some damage to the other guys on track position. It just all came together in a really satisfying race."

"I'm happy to have finished," Yoong commented. "It was a pretty hot race and a lot of cars broke or fell off, which contributed to what was a good finish for us. I was struggling with oversteer and an intermittent misfire, which adversely affected my race pace, but it's still good to have recorded a top-10 finish today."

Team principal Paul Stoddart added: "What a great result! Full credit must go to the whole team, especially Mark, for what was a truly gutsy drive from lights to chequered flag. We were genuinely racing machinery that should have been far ahead of us today.

"The pit stops were brilliant, the race strategy was spot on, and the tyres and engines performed just as they were supposed to. With Alex also taking the chequered flag in the top 10, what more could you ask for, other than perhaps another points finish? In fact, with a little bit more luck today, we might have achieved just that.

"Our congratulations, however, go to Michael Schumacher and the entire Ferrari team for claiming the World Drivers' Championship today. They have done a fantastic job this season and fully deserve the success they have achieved."