RACE RESULT 1 M Schumacher (Ferrari) 2 F Alonso (Renault) 3 R Barrichello (Ferrari) 4 J Trulli (Renault) 5 J Button (BAR) 6 D Coulthard (McLaren) 7 K Raikkonen (McLaren) 8 JP Montoya (Williams) Race result in full Race report Pictures from Magny-Cours

"Our chief engineer Luca Baldisseri came up with the idea over the weekend, so we had it in our pocket.

"And during the second stint when we had some free space behind us, we thought we'd try it, and luckily it paid off," Brawn said.

Schumacher added: "We knew it was optimistic, but no risk, no fun."

Ferrari decided to do an extra fourth stop after Schumacher became stuck behind Renault's Fernando Alonso, which had started from pole position.

Alonso held his lead through the first stops and Ferrari realised Schumacher would struggle to pass the Spaniard if they stayed on the same strategy.

So they gave the German a lighter fuel load at his second stop, and made two further stops to Alonso's one.

Schumacher's extra pace, enabled by the lighter fuel load, meant he could lap fast enough to make up the time lost in the extra stop.

Brawn added: "We had a pretty good idea when the other guys would stop.

"Jenson Button was the only one we were worried about getting stuck behind. But we didn't think we would get held up and we didn't - Michael came out behind him, but Button stopped just afterwards."

Brawn also paid tribute to Schumacher's team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who fought his way up from 10th on the grid to pass Jarno Trulli's Renault for third at the final corner.

"I said to Rubens that it would look really sweet to have him on the podium and to me he drove a great race - as good as Michael's."