Michael Schumacher set his sights on eroding Fernando Alonso's world championship lead after an "unexpected" win in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.

The Ferrari driver revealed he almost failed to make the start of qualifying on Saturday after an engine fire in practice.

But once that scare abated he took pole position and followed that with a dominant win, taking the chequered flag from title rival Alonso's Enstone-built Renault.

That trimmed the world champion's lead to 17 points, down eight in the last two races, but Schumacher wants more.

He said: "It was a fantastic result, even if in all honesty it was unexpected. We did not know how the race would pan out.

"Now we have to keep this momentum going. The championship is far from over and these two points we have made up on our main rivals are very important. I hope we can soon make up more ground."

Schumacher's boss Jean Todt certainly has no doubt Ferrari can regain their world titles, despite an imposing advantage for both Renault and Alonso.

"Both championships are still up for grabs," said the Frenchman. "There are seven races remaining this season and, as we have always said, we will do all we can to meet our targets."

However, Todt's Renault counterpart Flavio Briatore refused to lose his cool despite his team's defeat on home turf in sweltering conditions at Magny-Cours.

He admitted Ferrari's pace, aided by tyre supplier Bridgestone's resurgence, had come as a shock but vowed a renewed push from Renault to see off their title challenge.

"This turned out to be a difficult weekend for us and Fernando got the best possible result from it," he said.

"Of course, it is disappointing not to win the race in front of the 6,000 Renault personnel who were at the race, but we are staying calm about the championship and we still have a good advantage.

"The team is working hard to develop the car and engine and we know what is coming in the next few weeks.

"Michelin will be pushing even harder to regain the advantage in Hockenheim, and I am confident we can come out on top in Germany."

Renault's constructors' championship lead has also been cut after Ferrari's Felipe Massa took third place yesterday.

With Renault number two Giancarlo Fisichella down in sixth, Ferrari have closed to within 21 points with seven races remaining.

Toyota have moved into the top five in the standings at the expense of BMW-Sauber after Ralf Schumacher finished fourth, although the German felt he could have been even higher but for a pit-stop delay.

He said: "We could probably made the podium but these things happen.

"Our package has improved at every race recently so we can now look forward to maintaining this kind of performance for the rest of the season."

Kimi Raikkonen was fifth for McLaren with team-mate Pedro de la Rosa seventh in his first race for more than a year. Nick Heidfeld was eighth for BMW-Sauber.