MAGNY-COURS, France, July 16 - Ferrari's Michael Schumacher made Formula One history in France on Sunday, becoming the first driver to win the same grand prix eight times.

Ferrari's Formula One driver Michael Schumacher of Germany celebrates his victory on the podium at the French Grand Prix at the Magny-Cours circuit July 16, 2006. [Reuters]

Schumacher's commanding victory, from pole position on a sweltering afternoon at Magny-Cours, left the seven-times champion 17 points adrift of Renault's Fernando Alonso with seven races remaining.

Spaniard Alonso, the runaway winner in France last year on his way to becoming the sport's youngest world champion, took second place.

Schumacher crossed the line 10.131 seconds clear of the field, lapping all but the top seven, for his 150th appearance on the podium.

"Looking at this race...we clearly have made up ground," said Schumacher. "It (the championship) is far from being over.

"Obviously it's going to be a battle in development but it's a great result when you see this weekend and how difficult it has been at times."

Brazilian Felipe Massa was third for Ferrari, with both Ferraris making three pit stops -- one more than Alonso -- in a race without major incident.

It was the 88th win in Schumacher's career, his fourth of the season and eighth at Magny-Cours.

"We had a great start and we drove our race from there," said Schumacher. "We were not sure how the race would go because we didn't do any long runs (in practice).

"So it was a little bit of a guess how the race would go but I have to say that the car, the tyres, the whole package really worked perfectly."

100TH ANNIVERSARY

The German thanked his mechanics for a great job after his car caught fire in Saturday's free practice, an incident that the team played down at the time as they raced to make repairs before qualifying.

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