Schumacher outsmarts rivals with pit strategy

He used two pit stops to perfection to win the Canadian Grand Prix.
MONTREAL (AP) -- Michael Schumacher knew he couldn't overpower the competition in the Canadian Grand Prix -- so he outsmarted his opponents.
He and his Ferrari team won Sunday, notching his seventh victory in eight races this season by using a two pit-stop strategy to perfection and overcoming a season-worst sixth-place start.
"Everything worked to plan and our competitors had some problems," Schumacher said. "We thought we had no chance for the pole position and sort of went for a strategy we thought would work."
The German, who holds just about every major record in the Formula One series, also earned his third straight victory and fourth in five years on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. His seven victories in Montreal are a Formula One record for one track.
"I have no special reason for all the races I've won here," Schumacher said. "We just have a good package and a little luck here."
Schumacher, well on his way to a seventh world championship and fifth in a row, added to his career victory mark with his 77th Formula One triumph.
He will go into next Sunday's U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis with a points lead of 70-54 over Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello, who was awarded second place when race stewards disqualified four cars for using illegal front brake ducts.
Excluded from results
It was nearly four hours after the race when the results of runner-up Ralf Schumacher, his Williams-BMW teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who finished fourth, as well as the Toyotas of eighth-place Cristiano da Matta and 10th-place Olivier Panis, were excluded from the official results.
The teams could have protested the ruling, but both chose to accept the penalty.
It was particularly costly to Schumacher, Montoya and da Matta, all of whom lost championship points. Formula One awards points to the top eight finishers in each race.
It also negated a lot of drama from the race in which Michael Schumacher swapped the lead several times with his brother. Michael took the top spot for good on the 48th of 70 laps on the 2.709-mile, 15-turn track when Ralf made the last of his three pit stops.
Ross Brawn, Ferrari's technical director, said the team's strategy wasn't easy for the drivers to follow.
"Michael and Rubens had to wait patiently in the first part of the race, when they were behind cars that had a potentially slower pace than they did," Brawn said. "Once they had a clear track ahead of them, they both knew what to do and did it perfectly."
Michael Schumacher built his lead to nearly 10 seconds before slowing in the waning laps to make sure there were no mistakes. He took the checkered flag about 10 car-lengths ahead of Ralf, holding off his younger brother here for the second straight year.
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