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Scuderia
Ferrari scored its third one-two finish of the season,
but maybe not the one that was expected as the win went
to Felipe Massa, who started from second on the grid,
with pole man Kimi Raikkonen in the runner-up spot.
Joining the two Prancing Horse drivers on the podium was
Toyota's Jarno Trulli. This maximum score result means
that the Scuderia strengthens its position at the top of
the Constructors' classification, leading BMW by 91 to
74. Felipe's third win of the season promotes him to the
lead in the Drivers' Championship, with 48 points; two
more than Robert Kubica and five more than Kimi.
After two days of hot sunny weather, the rain put in an
appearance at Magny-Cours on Sunday, first thing in the
morning and then some light drizzle just before the cars
were due to go out on track to assemble on the grid.
However, everyone took the start on dry tyres and the
only further change to the grid from yesterday was that
Rubens Barrichello was starting from the back, following
a gearbox change.
At the start, the two Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro drivers
maintained their grid positions, with Raikkonen leading
Massa. Trulli moved up from fourth to third, getting
ahead of Alonso. Hamilton had moved his McLaren up from
thirteenth to tenth, while Glock in the Toyota had moved
up two places to sixth.
Button was the first driver to pit, bringing his Honda
in on lap 5 with a broken front wing. Raikkonen set a
fastest time on this lap, leading team-mate Massa by
2.1s. Behind them came Trulli, Alonso, Kubica, Glock,
Webber, Piquet, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Coulthard, Vettel,
heidfeld, Nakajima, Bourdais, Fisichella, Barrichello,
Sutil, Rosberg and Button last.
Kimi gradually extended his lead and by lap 14 the gap
to Massa was 4.1 seconds. Further back, Eighth placed
Piquet's Renault was just staying head of the two
penalised McLarens. Lap 15 and the first refuelling
stops began, with Alonso and Hamilton coming in first.
Lap 19 and Hamilton came in again and changed tyres,
having appeared to bang wheels with Alonso as he drove
past him to go twelfth. On lap 20, Trulli and Kubica
came in from third and fourth places. The leader brought
his F2008 in for a 9.8 seconds refuelling, which
promoted Massa to the lead, until the Brazilian came in
on lap 23 for a 9.4 second stop. Webber pitted from
third.
Lap 25 saw Piquet and Kovalainen pit from third and
fourth. Webber had a big moment at the final corner
which allowed Alonso to get ahead to move up to tenth.
One lap later, Coulthard pitted from third leaving just
Vettel in fourth and Heidfeld in sixth still to refuel.
The Stewards imposed a drive through penalty on Hamilton
for gaining an advantage by cutting a corner. Vettel and
Heidfeld refuelled on lap 29. This meant the order on
lap 30, with the front runners all having pitted at
least once was: Raikkonen, 6.6s ahead of Massa, who had
a comfortable 25.7s lead over Trulli. In fourth spot was
Kubica and then came Alonso, Webber, Kovalainen, Piquet,
Glock, Coulthard, Nakajima (yet to stop) Vettel,
Heidfeld, Fisichella, Barrichello, Hamilton, Rosberg,
Bourdais and Sutil.
Backmarker traffic saw the gap between the two Ferrari
men get smaller, with Kimi leading Felipe by only 1.7s
on lap 37. However, it soon became apparent that traffic
was not the only problem for the Finn, as the TV cameras
picked up a component flapping around at the rear of the
car, and lap 39 saw the Brazilian take the lead while
Trulli was third, still over 25 seconds behind
Raikkonen. However, Kimi's lap times were slowing, to
almost two seconds down on Felipe's and it soon became
apparent that he had a problem with the exhaust system
on his car, which is what caused him to slow the pace.
Lap 42 saw a good battle for sixth go in favour of
Kovalainen as he passed Webber and at the same time,
Alonso came in to start the run of refuelling for the
majority of drivers who were on a two stop strategy.
With twenty laps to go to the end of the 70 lap race,
Kimi was still lapping around a second slower than
Felipe, but the gap to Trulli grew when the Toyota man
refuelled on that lap. The Finn pitted on lap 52 as did
third placed Kovalainen, fifth man Coulthard and seventh
placed Hamilton. Massa's final 6.3 second pit stop came
on lap 54, so that one lap later the points positions
were: Massa, Raikkonen, Trulli, Kovalainen, Kubica,
Webber, Alonso and Piquet. With ten laps to go a great
battle was developing for third spot, with Trulli
fighting off Kovalainen, which allowed Kubica to close
right up and join the fight. But despite increasing
pressure from the Finn, which included a wheel banging
moment, the Italian hung on to the final step of the
podium. The remaining points finishers were Kovalainen
in fourth, then Kubica, Webber, Piquet and Alonso.
Fifth win and third one-two of the season for Scuderia
Ferrari Marlboro in the French Grand Prix. Felipe Massa
recorded the eighth win of his career, bringing the
total number of Scuderia wins to 206 from 766 Grand Prix
starts, 17 of them at this race. Kimi Raikkonen finished
second. The reigning world champion, having started from
pole, managed to cross the line despite a broken right
exhaust, which happened at around the halfway point of
the race. He has the consolation of having set the
fastest race lap.
Stefano Domenicali: "A really great result that
came at the end of a very tough race. We had started
with the aim of securing the double and we managed it,
despite the exhaust problem that put Kimi's race in
danger around lap 35. It proves we have all the
potential to do very well, but it also confirms that we
cannot allow ourselves not to be perfect in every
detail, especially on the reliability front. I am very
sorry for Kimi, who was going really well today and did
a really good job to get the car to the line in these
conditions. Now we will have to check on the condition
of the engine on his car and evaluate what should be
done for the race at Silverstone. I am very happy for
Felipe, who drove majestically, without putting a foot
wrong. It is the first time in his career that he leads
the world championship and I am sure that is a great
satisfaction for him. We have pulled out more of a gap
in the Constructors' classification, which also give us
a bit of breathing space, but we cannot afford to ease
up. There is still a long way to go and our rivals will
do all they can to beat us. We must keep our heads down
and work in a determined fashion. It is a special
pleasure to celebrate with a one-two finish the one
hundred and fiftieth win in partnership between Ferrari
and Shell. Behind our victories are some extraordinary
partners."
Felipe Massa: "A great race, a fantastic result.
The win came my way because Kimi had a problem with his
car and at the pace he was running, it would have been
hard for me to beat him on the track. I would have been
happy with second place but of course, the win makes me
even happier. I want to thank the whole team and our
partners, especially Shell. I am leading the
championship and that's a nice feeling, but I am well
aware it means nothing because I am aiming for the title
and to do that, there is still a long way to go. In the
first part of the race I was struggling a bit to stay in
touch with Kimi, then when his exhaust broke, I managed
to get by. In the second part, I thought of managing the
situation, making sure I made no mistakes, especially
when there were a few drops of rain. We have to continue
working this way, race after race, right to the end of
the championship."
Kimi Raikkonen: "Obviously I am a bit
disappointed because I had hoped to win. Unfortunately,
the right exhaust pipe broke just before half-distance
and the engine lost a lot of power, especially on the
straight after the slow corners. After a few laps, the
situation seemed better, but towards the end of the
race, I ran the risk of stopping. This sort of thing can
happen in racing and I have to try and look on the
bright side: eight points are still a good amount and
the one-two finish is a great result for the team.
Luckily, I had built up quite a good lead in the first
part thanks to a car that was really very competitive.
The F2008 is definitely very strong because usually,
when you have this sort of problem, retirement is almost
inevitable. There is still a long way to go in the
championship and I am in a better position than I was at
this stage last year: let's see what I can do in the
next part of the series."
Luca Baldisserri: "A fantastic one-two! This
weekend we demonstrated all our potential, securing the
maximum result possible, both in qualifying and in the
race. The race was very difficult because we had to try
and adapt to the very changeable weather conditions and
also because, on Kimi's car, we had to manage the
serious problem of a broken exhaust pipe for more than
half the race. The team did an impeccable job under very
difficult conditions and both drivers were excellent. We
knew we had great potential, which for various reasons,
was not translated into points in the two previous
races. Today we did it, but these eighteen points must
not go to our heads. There is still a lot of work to do
and we must never drop our guard."
Race Details:
F. Massa: 1st 1:31.50.245 - 70 laps chassis 267; K.
Raikkonen: 2nd 1:32.08.229 +17.984 70 laps chassis 270;
Weather: air temperature 26/25 °C, track temperature 29/26
°C, Overcast, occasional light rain.
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