Motor Sport Canadian Grand Prix Montreal: It has become something of a cliché from Michael Schumacher. Whenever the world champion is asked about his phenomenal racing record, there's a heavy sigh followed by the constant reminder that he doesn't pay attention to such things.

Sure, he yawns, when he's old and grey he may look back and savour some of the results, cast a fond look back at the panoply of special moments that have made him the greatest racer of his generation.

When that day comes, Schumacher may very well pick yesterday's victory at the Canadian Grand Prix as one of those golden episodes in a career gilded with lustrous occasions.

From outside the cockpit it may have seemed a standard Schumacher march to inevitable triumph, but the sight of the champion pumping both arms in jubilant celebration told the real story of this race. This was tough, really tough. A heroic struggle.

Hampered by under-performing tyres, Schumacher spent the last third of the race with the twin Williams of his brother Ralf, in second, and Juan Pablo Montoya, third, swarming all over his gearbox. The fact that in the last 20 laps of the race Montoya had managed to turn a 12-second deficit into just a single-second disadvantage provided all the evidence needed that Michelin had comprehensively won a tyre battle that had ebbed and flowed all weekend. But while the rubber war was lost Ferrari emphatically triumphed tactically.

Having got past his early-leading brother in the first pit stop, the elder Schumacher sustained a half-second lead over the Williams for the remaining 49 laps, constantly battling as the more powerful, better shod Williams closed through every corner of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's 2.71 miles.

Indeed, the champion's performance in the laps surrounding that first stop was an object lesson in perfect racecraft. While his brother appeared to fail in his attempt at the perfect in-lap, Schumacher's time to the pits a lap later was perfect and, despite a 1.8-second deficit to the Williams while standing in front of the garages, Schumacher was still able to rejoin the race 0.4 ahead of his brother.

"It doesn't get much better than this," said the Ferrari number one. "It's the ideal result. It was a tight race, a tough race. I had to be very careful on brakes. I wasn't able to push all the way, like I would have wanted. But I just drove solidly all the way through. It was a very, very tricky and tight race. I mean the first four cars were separated by just four seconds.

"Just that little bit more fuel gave us the race," he admitted. "That's what it takes. We were good enough today. I had a good start. I was worried about that but it went well. I was able to stay close, do the right speed in the right moments and that gave me the edge."

The champion's "ideal result" was completed by Rubens Barrichello finishing in fifth, behind Alonso, but - for Michael Schumacher - perfectly placed ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who for the first time this season concedes his championship lead to Schumacher.

Barrichello endured a tough afternoon. At the start, the Brazilian clipped the rear of Alonso's Renault, damaged his front wing and was forced to pit for a replacement. That dropped him down the order. But fuelled to the brim during that stop, he enjoyed a long second stint that boosted him up the order as the retirements, in a race of just nine finishers, mounted.

However, shortly after the Ferrari number two's final stop on lap 39 he lost his left bargeboard. Hampered already by tyres and brakes, he was forced by the further imbalance to watch as Raikkonen closed to within a second in the final 10 laps. But Barrichello held on to give Schumacher the ideal present, just two points for the Finn and maximum for the champion - a result that now leaves Schumacher four points clear of Raikkonen in the drivers' championship.

Raikkonen had endured his own problems. A qualifying mistake saw him relegated to the rear of the grid and he opted to start, fully fuelled, from pitlane. That spelled a potentially profitable one-stop strategy, but as the Finn neared the end of his stint his right rear Michelin delaminated.

Fortunately it was within yards of the pit entry, but the mishap hindered his progress and left him trailing Barrichello as he rejoined the circuit.

For Jordan though it was another disastrous weekend. Mistakes by both the team's drivers in qualifying had left Giancarlo Fisichella 16th and Ralph Firman 19th. The rookie opted to fuel up and start from the pitlane, but it was to no avail as his engine let go on lap 22.

It was a similar and almost simultaneous tale of woe for Fisichella. The Italian had climbed to sixth before his first stop, but as he prepared to make his getaway after being fuelled and reshod, he couldn't find a gear. Despite the vain attempt of the crew to push him to a start, he failed to regain the circuit.

1 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari

1:31.13.591

2 R Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW

at 0.784

3 JP Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW

at 1.355

4 F Alonso (Spa) Renault at 4.481

5 R Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari at 64.261

6 K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes

at 70.502

7 M Webber (Aus) Jaguar Racing at 1 lap

8 O Panis (Fra) Toyota Racing at 1 lap

9 J Verstappen (Hol) Minardi at 2 laps

10 A Pizzonia (Bra) Jaguar Racing

Did Not Finish (66 laps)

C da Matta (Bra) Toyota Racing

DNF (64 laps)

Not Classified: J Wilson (Brit) Minardi DNF (60 laps), J Button (Brit) BAR-Honda DNF (51 laps), D Coulthard (Brit) McLaren-Mercedes DNF (47 laps), N Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber DNF (47 laps), J Trulli (Ita) Renault DNF (22 laps), G Fisichella (Ita) Jordan-Ford DNF (20 laps), R Firman (Brit) Jordan-Ford DNF (20 laps), J Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Honda DNF (14 laps), H-H Frentzen (Ger) Sauber DNF (6 laps). Fastest Lap: Alonso 1:16.040 (on lap 53).

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP: 1 M Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 54, 2 K Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 51, 3 F Alonso (Spa) Renault 34, R Schumacher (Ger) Williams-BMW 33, 5= R Barrichello (Bra) Ferrari, JP Montoya (Col) Williams-BMW 31, 7 D Coulthard (Brit) McLaren-Mercedes 25, 8 J Trulli (Ita) Renault 13, 9 G Fisichella (Ita) Jordan 10, 10 J Button (Brit) BAR-Honda 8, 11 H-H Frentzen (Ger) Sauber 7, 12 M Webber (Aus) Jag 6, 13= J Villeneuve (Can) BAR-Honda, C da Matta (Bra) Toyota 3, 15= N Heidfeld (Ger) Sauber, R Firman (Brit) Jordan, O Panis (Fra) Toyota 1.

MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP: 1 Ferrari 85, 2 McLaren-Mercedes 76, 3 Williams-BMW 65, 4 Renault 47, 5= Jordan-Ford, BAR-Honda 11, 7 Sauber 8, 8 Jaguar 6, 9 Toyota Racing 4.